SolidWorks Maker is Broken... Choose Fusion 360 in 2024
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- čas přidán 8. 01. 2024
- As a professional SolidWorks user I was very excited when they announced the Maker license for people who want to use the software at home for their hobbies. I wanted to do exactly that and use the maker edition for my personal projects.
I've had a SolidWorks Maker subscription for the past year and it has constantly had issues. Always having to install hotfixes every time you go to use the software, sometimes it would work after a hotfix but most times it wouldn't and you'd have to waste an hour trying to find an answer to your problem or having to uninstall and reinstall the software.
Now with the 2024 edition being released it will not allocate me login credentials even though I have a valid subscription.
I've switched to Fusion 360. So far it has been very reliable, when I want to use it: it just works...
This isn't an endorsement for Fusion 360, more a PSA about how terrible the 3D experience platform is and especially the maker license. - Věda a technologie
Thank you for affirming my exact experience. I tried for months to get it to work and never could and of course there is no support. The educational license install is a cake walk as is the full license but the Maker version should be pulled until its works.
Yeah we can't be the only ones experiencing this... It's a shame cause I would have liked to keep using solidworks at home but the maker edition is just so broken.
Thanks for sharing. Had given it a look. Truly confusing trying to set up the free version.
I used SolidWorks professionally for over a decade and found the exact same issue with the maker edition. Another option might be Onshape.
I spent money for personal hobby use and 90% of the time you can't login, it doesn't barely work as it should, almost impossible to find anything that helps. They should really should be made to refund customers for this as it's a breach of trading standards, almost no support.
I agree, the entire customer experience is miserable. I don't know how they can't see that and aren't doing anything about it.
I guess their priority is their higher paying customers paying thousands for full licenses per year.
I disagree. I have been using Solidworks at work for years and recently started using the Makers subscription at home. No problems yet, seems to work well, especially with the old laptop that I am using right now.
Yeah that’s fair. I’m sure some people have had seamless experiences and when the maker edition did work for me I was happy with it. But when it stopped working for me when they switched to 2024 and it never started working again even after reaching out to support and not getting a response… I’m just done with the maker edition.
in my working life I have used proprietary CAD\CAM for CNC machines, now that I use Fusion 360 I feel free to create for printing without constraints or licensing problems like you have had. I will probably opt for the paid license since the proceeds can well cover the expense, happy printing everyone!
Thank you for the warning.
No worries
Thanks. Saved me some money.
No problem 👍
Current Fusion "On Sale" price is $510 (vs the $382 in your 6 month old video)! Autodesk can go pound sand.
The free version is more than enough for most hobbyists or people just getting started. But to each their own. Maybe solidworks has improved the user experience of their maker platform since I made this video.
Thanks! I was considering a Maker license and this put the nail in the coffin. SolidWorks used to have a program that allowed employees whose companies had a license to have a home license as well.
Oh that would be cool. We had floating licenses at work. It would be cool to be able to pull that to your home device, that might even still be an option. We used to just remote into our work desktops if we needed to use it from home but that was super slow and almost unusable.
Gave it a month here. Couldn’t get it to work either. Back to fusion.
Even the Full version of Solidworks is broken , they keep adding hotfix but there juste more thing who just stop working as they should. Ben working with Solidworks for the past 10 year and it never has been that bad. I'm considering to move out with an other platform , but i'm not a fan of all those cloud one. the day you dont have an internet connection it wont just work. I mean Autodesk especially.
"solidworks has encountered a problem and needs to close" will forever haunt my dreams haha. Interesting to hear this is the worst you've seen in 10 years.
I've been using the Makers License for 2 years. It has issues and I stress out each time it requires an update since I'm concerned it may finally stop working (seems to update quarterly on average).
That said, I've modeled a ton of parts I could not have otherwise, and once I get it booted up and going it has no problems. I had some very frustrating issues on initial install which were cleared up by emailing customer service, since then every update is a hassle that I somehow get past and keep going. It's also my understanding if I ever convert to the Professional version I cannot take these models with me. At the end of the day I've learned a lot about modeling I could not have otherwise, and am only paying less than $10 a month for it.
PS: As you said yourself the Dassault website is sooooo bloated!
@3DPrintStuff so what exactly is the problem? Do you just have issues on how to install it or do you have issues with the functionality of the software? I recently started using solidworks maker and i can't realy see a big issue with it (other than me not beeing used to it, but thats not really the problem of solidworks maker)
I installed it and had it working fine. I have no issue with the user experience when it is actually working. It is basically just regular solidworks and that's what I'm used to. I really like solidworks as a platform. When they updated to 2024 my license stopped working and I haven't been able to find any way to fix it. Support has been non responsive.
Every time I went to use it there would be an update and when they released an update something would break and the install process is painful. Maybe they've fixed it by now but I've moved on.
My biggest problem is that Fusion 360's subscription model is fucked, there's no inbetween, Solidworks offers education licenses for what, 40$, and military for 20$, its *really* hard to beat that.
If Autodesk offered a like 100-200$ a year plan (with discounts for studentds/mil) instead of fucking 700$ a god damn year. Its such a trash way to do business, and stuff like this makes me *never* want to use their products.
My question is: other than the issue you are having, how about the workflow/ease of learning and using the software? is one really easier to use? I know in general the sort of "industry standard" for many higher level jobs is Solidworks, but for a hobbyist who just wants to do some fucking around 3d modeling stuff for some random 3d prints, what would be easier to learn?
This company reached out to me claiming to offer a full year fusion 360 subscription for $89.99: www.mykeysshop.com/product/683574232492801024.html
They seem legit enough but I'm not sure how they could possibly be providing it for that cheap.
Anyways as far as ease of use. It's hard to say. I've spent so much more time in solidworks so that feels "easier" to use but that's just cause I don't have the reps in fusion 360. The tools you have at your disposal for making 3D models are going to be almost identical. Everything in both software packages is built from a sketch that you then extrude, revolve, sweep and many more commands. I think they'll both be the same difficulty to learn from scratch so just commit to one and learn in that. The core concepts will transfer over to the other if you decide to switch just the workflow will change a bit.
I've painfully learned to review software before buying. #1 What's the general opinion, #2 How's the support, You Tube, Facebook, Forums, Discord (Video Chat).
Sucks bc Solidworks is what I was trained and certified in.
Their website is horrible, so dealing with anything tied to the internet with Makers is a no go
Same here, it's what I learned in school and used at work... sad to have to switch but I haven't had any of the same licensing issues with fusion 360 so far.
@@3DPrintStuff
Did it take long to get used to the different system? I imagine basics are the same with planes and such. I’ve heard everything is basically an assembly in Fusion. No seperate part and assembly files.
Also, Is surface modeling available in Fusion? I always liked how you can go from surface modeling to solid modeling a part quickly in solidworks by using the fill tool.
Thanks you for telling me.
No problem
Lets make one thing clear, solidworks has never ever been stable. as soon as you try to do anything new on it or some complicated geometry, solidworks is known for its erroring out potential
What a bullshit!
I tried using it, cancelled my subscription, went back to fusion 360, I hated 360 before that now I am using it and nothing else
The damn thing is such a mess.
I loved SW, worked for SW. But was forced into Fusion for 10 year contract. Now that theirs a maker version I wanted to go back. Not that a disliked Fusion, it's that I LOVED SW. but HOLY SHIT, I can't get any reply from SW or 3rd party forums, Not that AD is any better however. So back to Fusion. Fuck I hate AD! The devil you know.