123D Design Shutting Down

Have questions or comments about Simplify3D, Slic3r, Cura, Reptier, etc? Or wondering about which CAD software to use...discuss it here...
steve220
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123D Design Shutting Down

Post by steve220 » Sun Mar 26, 2017 3:52 pm

As a user of this software, I'm pretty bummed. It is easy to use and relatively intuitive. Now Autodesk is closing down a bunch of their software. I'm just wondering if some on the group can recommend similar free software. Autodesk is suggesting users go to Fusion 360, but that appears to be a minimum $25/mo charge.
I'm not really able to invest a lot of time in complicated products or learning a program language to design.
Thanks for any thoughts you have.

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sthone
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by sthone » Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:25 pm

Yeah not surprised... I used their 123 Sculpt and they shut that down a few month ago too without any warning.

Fusion 360 is nice (and I pretty sure its free to students and business under $100k at least it was when I signed up) but I'm a little leery of getting to involved with it because who knows when they are going to up and abandon that one too.

Onshape is another good one to try and it's free if you don't mind sharing your designs with the world.

While I do use Onshape (I like it because its browser based) I prefer Solidworks and while it's not free you can get the student addition pretty cheap as seen in This Post.
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zemlin
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by zemlin » Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:29 pm

Check out ONSHAPE - https://www.onshape.com/
They have no-charge access - with limits of course, but it seems to be on the number of models, not functionality. In my limited dabbling with it the capabilities seem pretty good and you can have multiple parts in an assembly that only counts as one model for the account.

sprior
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by sprior » Mon Mar 27, 2017 8:19 pm

Fusion 360 is free to enthusiasts and startups which they define as making less than $100k/year.

Bratag
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by Bratag » Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:52 pm

This is why I joined the EAA when it was 25 bucks. Access to Solidworks, granted the app has a learning curve like Everest and is the least intuitive piece of software I have used in a while - but its a stable entity.

javafuel
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by javafuel » Wed May 10, 2017 12:28 am

Bratag wrote:This is why I joined the EAA when it was 25 bucks. Access to Solidworks, granted the app has a learning curve like Everest and is the least intuitive piece of software I have used in a while - but its a stable entity.
Solidwroks learning curve is a steep one indeed. But once you understood the concept of parametric workflow, it's a time saver for making changes in a design project. Especially in a complex project. Its price is another barrier, but EAA membership deal sounds incredible! Is it a full standard version or educational version?

One thing I dislike about Solidworks is its retroactive subscription policy. You have to pay for the years you skipped if you decided to upgrade. If you purchased it in 2014 and didn't continue the subscriptions and now want to upgrade to 2017, you'd have to pay full price for the two years you skipped and the current year. That's a BS pricing policy IMO.

Bratag
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by Bratag » Wed May 10, 2017 6:04 am

Its the student design version.

thunderbt3
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by thunderbt3 » Wed May 10, 2017 1:31 pm

If I remember correctly from my college days, the student version has full access to the entire software suite including FEA. The only limitation is any drawings created in the student version will have a watermark that says it's the student version and non-commercial use only.

Solidworks also has a veteran program where a veteran can get a student version for $25. Some Solidworks resellers also have a program for veterans to attend the Solidworks Essentials training course for free.

Bratag
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by Bratag » Wed May 10, 2017 8:04 pm

thunderbt3 wrote:If I remember correctly from my college days, the student version has full access to the entire software suite including FEA. The only limitation is any drawings created in the student version will have a watermark that says it's the student version and non-commercial use only.

Solidworks also has a veteran program where a veteran can get a student version for $25. Some Solidworks resellers also have a program for veterans to attend the Solidworks Essentials training course for free.

That appears to be the case, certainly I haven't noticed any limitations. That being said Fusion360 remains my favourite CAD program. It has parametric modeling as well and is far more user friendly. The addition of the ability to model various stresses etc makes it a solid product for designing mechanical parts.

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jimc
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Re: 123D Design Shutting Down

Post by jimc » Fri May 12, 2017 5:00 am

being a veteran myself i got solidworks a couple few years back. was 20 bucks for the shipping. i never really got into it though. i didnt want to confuse myself trying to learn two different programs at the same time. didnt hear about the free training though. that would have been awesome.

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