If you’re on the go and you don’t have access to the machine with Fusion 360 installed, you can use the browser client. This release also marks the debut of a browser client that lets you create new designs or edit existing designs in Fusion 360. Sheet metal workspace in the updated Fusion 360 (image courtesy of Autodesk). HSM CAM product is also available as HSMWorks, a plug-in for SOLIDWORKS users. “Not only does it let you catch these design issues, but if you decide to make design changes in the sheet metal workspace, it updates throughout the whole process,” said Daniel Graham, Sr. Fusion 360 users can therefore use HSM tools to study and analyze their sheet metal features for potential manufacturing problems.
2500 beta testers participated in the trial to help the R&D team refine it, according to Autodesk.Īlso integrated into Fusion are CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) simulation tools from HSM, a product acquired by Autodesk in 2012. This is a great tool for people requiring that extra bit of horsepower for their personal projects!”Īutodesk EAGLE is available for subscription for $100 per year.Ī significant addition to the new release of Fusion is sheet metal workspace.
In the post-acquisition Q&A published online, the company sates, “The $169 non-commercial Maker license lives on and will continue to live on for the foreseeable future.
In March 2017, nine months after Autodesk’s acquisition of CadSoft, Siemens PLM Software purchased ECAD software maker Mentor Graphics.īefore Autodesk acquired it, CadSoft offered EAGLE under the affordable $169 maker license, attracting many tinkerers, DYI users, and academic users. SOLIDWORKS PCB is the outcome of SolidWorks’ partnership with Altium, makers of the ECAD software Altium Designer. But IoT and the popularity of connected devices bring ECAD’s role to the forefront, prompting strategic partnerships and acquisitions. The four major CAD vendors-Autodesk, PTC, Siemens PLM Software, and Dassault Systemes SolidWorks-have strong roots in mechanical CAD. The new tool came from Autodesk’s acquisition of CadSoft, makers of the ECAD software EAGLE (image courtesy of Autodesk). The workflow can help designers identify problems like chips and circuit boards overheating due to poor airflow in the mechanical housing.Īutodesk adds PCB editing features in Fusion 360. Integrating Autodesk EAGLE into Fusion 360 allows Fusion users to conduct thermal and structural analysis of product assemblies with nested PCB components. As such, the bundle includes thermal and stress analysis tools. With the integration of Autodesk EAGLE into Autodesk Fusion 360, the MCAD-ECAD collaboration goes beyond “moving files back and forth,” Berggren added.Īutodesk Fusion 360 is Autodesk’s integrated CAD-CAM-CAE product, with some cloud-hosted functions for collaboration and data management. “We have mechanical engineers chomping at the bits to add electronics, and electrical engineers similarly trying to use mechanical tools. “This is about Autodesk moving into electronics,” said Berggren. The tighter workflow helps prevent conflicts between PCB designs and mechanical housings, for example. But the new tools allow both MCAD and ECAD users to see each other’s design changes. In the past, the mechanical-electrical collaboration was limited to file exchanges. Examples from Autodesk rivals include PTC’s ECAD-MCAD Collaboration Extension and SOLIDWORKS PCB. The trend has prompted some design software makers to develop and offer MCAD-ECAD collaboration tools. The boundaries between mechanical and electrical get blurry in robotics and connected devices.
The new Fusion 360 update includes MCAD-ECAD collaboration features (image courtesy of Autodesk).