I Found A Much Better CAD Software than Fusion 360 (Never going back)
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- čas přidán 22. 03. 2024
- In this video, I tell you why I'm done using Fusion 360 for 3D printing. I give some background on how I started using Fusion 360 after trying out several other CAD software's like Blender and shapr3d. Then I will discuss the new software I'm going to mainly be using from now on..... plasticity.
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I see where you are coming from with this video and while I totally understand the people who are objecting to your presentation of Plasticity as a full replacement for Fusion 360, I understand what you mean. You're like me - wanting a good INTUITIVE 3d modeler to use for your 3d printing projects. Yes, parametric is a wonderful tool to go back and revise things, but some of us love Direct Modeling so much and are so fast with it that the negative of being unable to go back in time and tweak a parameter are outweighed by just the sheer quickness we can model with Direct Modeling. I have been searching and waiting for something like Plasticity for literally YEARS. The combination of direct modeling with precision, low price for OWNERSHIP of the software (not a effing subscription), and rapid improvement (and responsiveness!) of the author make it a winner *for me*. It doesn't need to be a full CAD/CAM package *for my situation*. I can just model it up in Plasticity, export, and do all the analysis/kinematics/etc. I want in another package like FreeCad (also waiting impatiently for FreeCAD 1.0 to release, fixing the main problem with that software: the dreaded topology naming bug). Anyway, carry on with the making and showing! I'm subscribing to your channel. :)
Thank you, and this has to be the best comment I have received (especially from all the negativity and people basically calling me a shill when I was just trying to tell my experience using these software's). You nailed it, though, and I couldn't have said it better myself; that is exactly how I feel about it for my situation. I don't think plasticity is a complete replacement for Fusion 360 (because it's not parametric), but like you said, it's just so intuitive and fun to use. Not to mention, it runs so much better on my PC, plus there is no limit when it comes to how much revenue you can make with it. Anyway, I'm ranting a bit, but thank you for your kind comment.
As a CAD nerd I am super excited about Plasticity. Alibre Design Pro (or your choice) + Plasticity for surfacing blows anything I've tried out there for home use. I can drop a plasticity surface right into Alibre and get to work with parametric history. People have to adjust the traditional CAD workflow a bit. If people see Plasticity as a tool package to complement a CAD package then you can do most of what the expensive packages like NX can do. Plasticity uses the same geometric kernel as NX by the way! If you have to work with dumb solids from other CAD packages, Plasticity is also great for repairing bad geometry, even being able to undo fillets in a lot of circumstances.
Ugh. That topology naming bug is the bane of my existence.
@@kevbot. I think its because its cloud based.. I got a super computer and I gave up on fusion 360 since my internet connection is crazily slow, and the pricing is kinda insane for hobbyists. I’ve been using freecad a bit, but I have problems assembling big stuff and its such a messy workflow.. its ok for small parts. Appreciate the video, I’ll try it.
@@eyestonemontanus6377 Only storage is cloud based, and every couple of weeks they check your subscription. The software itself runs locally on your hardware. The only times you can experience lagging is maybe when it's trying to update the software while you work, or when you have complex sketches. Not sure what problem you had, but it wasn't what you think. Maybe compatibility issues?
the video starts at 6:07
lol wish i would have scrolled down and saw your comment before watching this entire video. I can usually make it through these pretty easy but man. This one was rough haha.
Thank you.
Thanks man
Thanks~
Thank you, I was skipping around trying to figure when the story part ended
The lack of parametric modeling for anything that requires prototyping is a big deal breaker.
Totally agree, it definitely makes prototyping way more difficult.
I disagree. I ve been using direct modeling CAD softwre for years and it is quicker and very simple editing 3D models. It is a different approach
@@francismarcoux1985not for prototyping though. Parametric modeling is almost completely necessary for prototyping. When you need to make adjustments that rely on other dimensions, there’s nothing better.
@@jaymuffinz idk how much of a difference it makes but my approach when dealing with parts that need to conform to another part I would just model the part in question and then Boolean.
@@ipodtouchiscoollol yeah but that’s super basic. When creating a shell for electronics for instance (such as the imaged joystick in the video), you can adjust your dimensions to change dynamically. Every adjustment builds off previous steps allowimg you to create alternate models very quickly that abide by the rules given to it. If you needed it to change it to fit a different sized hand. Then you can quickly change a few variables and the new model would adjust according to your steps. This is especially really important if there’s certain tolerances, or regulations, standards, etc that always need to be adhered to. You can operate within those rules while also quickly making alternate options.
I’m an engineer. Non parametric is absolutely no go.
yes absolutely correct...😅
Engineers have struggled to adapt to new ways of doing things, just like it happened for paper drawings, CAD (to paper), model based definition (PMI). I can find many use cases where it may not fit the fillet machining mode we're used to. In standard cases yes, but free-form surfacing doesn't necessarily lend itself to requiring model history. Typically, only constraints are required. I'd hate to be the Hasbro tooling engineer working with Zbrush models! Plasticity is not an engineering tool either, but it is a very powerful tool to complement others.
But I feel like as an industrial designer. It is a very nice tool for a first ideation modeling that allow some basic prototyping, dimension fixing, etc as a first step before pushing into a complete CAD on SolidWorks.
Exactly. Parametric modelling isn't just for correcting mistakes like he says, it is for being able to tweak and alter the model as you need to. Without parametric modelling and a timeline if you need to change anything in the model you either need to keep altering it with direct modelling which just leads to issues or you need to completely remodel it.
@@modelenginerding6996 This is not a case of engineers struggling to adapt to new things at all, it all depends on what you are actually doing. For the vast majority of engineers that use CAD, changing to a direct modelling program like Plasticity is not a good idea and would make their jobs harder. Changing from paper drawings to CAD is not the same as switching to a direct modelling software with no history or timeline, switching from paper to CAD had a lot of benefits, changing to Plasticity or other direct modelling software doesn't for the majority of engineers.
For beginners who aren't sure if they need parametric or not, consider this example: I recently had to design an accessory part for industrial machinery. This part needed to exist in 15 different lengths. Depending on the length of the part, it needed to have a different number of threaded holes. Instead of creating 15 different models, I created only 1 and assigned variables to some of the dimensions, and I entered a simple formula based on those dimensions for some of the features like the number of holes. When my design was ready, I only needed to enter all 15 lengths in a data table and the software generated all 15 variants of the same part for me, computing and drawing the correct number of holes in the right places. If I needed to make a change, it was automatically applied to all variants. That's the power of parametric.
Well, i am using direct modeling CAD for years and you can also add formulas to drive the model OR it is so quick at designing the 15 models can be created as fast as it takes to setup the parametric table. That is the true power of direct modeling!
@@francismarcoux1985 there's a really good reason that pretty much every single engineering design company out there uses parametric design software as the backbone of their physical product development processes. It's because they are more EFFICIENT by a long stretch, than direct modeling; especially when dimensional modifications to the original design are required.
@@francismarcoux1985I used parametric Alibre until the new owner drove it into a ditch then tried a direct modeling program. NOPE. Once you use parametric, direct modeling feels like kindergarten playing with clay.
Thanks for answering my question. No CAM is a deal breaker. I'll stick with Fusion. I spent way to many years working with CAD and CAM software that was from two different companies. It was very kludgy, cumbersome, and you had to remember so many required tweaks to get anything functional. Fusions built in CAM solved all that and I'm not about to go back to the old ways.
@@francismarcoux1985Formulas are not a substitute for parameters they are an adjunct. Good software practice means that anyone should be able to look at the model and figure out whats going on - even yourself in a year or 2. Parameters with descriptive names help. If you are only making quick throw away models for yourself then anything goes I guess.
Very bold title. Plasticity was developed for hard surface artists and is not a full CAD Software like Fusion 360. No CAM, parametric modeling or FEM analysis. Which software is better just boils down to your individual usecase.
I agree. It definitely depends on what you do. Plasticity is just working better for me as of late.
Only a few people need FEM add on and parametric is way over rated. Modifying existing in Plasticity is generally much easier than traditional CAD. The Blender bridge is the icing on the cake IMHO
definitely click bait
Does Plasticity allow you to model profile and then extract it along a path or follow a path? I am in the process of downgrading from my full version of Autocad to AutocadLt. A major reason is the lack of FBX extension support which they stopped after the 2018 version. You literally limited to which other programs you could export your 3D models to. So I'm planning to get the AutocadLt/RevitLt Suite and then just add another 3D modeling program. Which will work out to less than the $2,000 /year that I will be paying. I have had Autocad for many years but Autodesk is just getting too greedy, literally forcing me to get another of their prog5just so I can have the FBX feature. There is no reason whatsoever for them to have removed it from Autocad.
So I am looking at Sketchup and now will be looking at Plasticity and Shapr3D. Hadn't heard of them until you mentioned them.
@@s.patterson5698 You can use the 'sweep' command to extract along a path. Profiles can be extracted but sheets can be used to extract to a solid.. It's pretty intuitive.
Former Autodesk employee here:
They will not fix it. They will patch the critical stuff, but their interest is in their tokens and credits to get you paying per use. The price ONLY goes up, as well. It's a big thing in every all-hands meeting about how they want to project the profits, and talk about how they feel each iteration is worth more money because they acquired some developer and rolled their software's functions into fusion. Autodesk is BIG on acquisitions.
Honestly, they're just like every other big tech company in that they do not give a shit about you, the consumer. I encourage everyone to use literally anything else but their software, because price will only drop if demand drops, since supply is not actually a thing with subscription based software.
What’s a good alternative? I have a CNC Machine running Mach3 or 4 I can’t remember right now. I liked that Fusion360 could do the tool paths for it but they charge $400 if I want to use tool changing. It’s a hobby I’m learning and all I’ve done is spend money lol. I haven’t made $1 haha. Trying to find something that lets me model and does Mach tool paths with tool changing. I’d be ok if I needed a second piece of software to do the tool pathing.
They always have been this way. Its nothing new. They, like Oracle, are all about getting large orgs hooked on their products and to provide universities and schools less expensive options to help feed that in an ongoing solution. I remember my Mom using a product for drafting homes (ArchiCad) that required a parallel port dongle to be installed on her PC before she could use the product, this dongle managed her licensing and likely total hours of usage, etc. So this industry in general has been all about squeezing money out of the creatives for as long as possible.
@@scooteracersFreeCad is what you want, steep learning curve I agree, but in one year you will be looking for me to bring me that beer.
@@severpop8699 awesome, I’ll give it a shot and see. It’s not like I was great in fusion anyways so I’m learning one way or another. I’m just sick of paying $400 a year when I’m barely using my machine. I want to be able to use the tool changer when I am ready to go though. So much better than trying to do things with one endmill.
It is a shame that Autodesk has that view. But then again, they don4t give a shit about me feeling shame LOL.
I needed a "tab and pocket" feauture just this week. After searching the net high and low, I found a thread that has been logged 6 years ago, requesting that tool. To date, it still hasn't been implemented! I am looking at Solidworks now for a potential replacement. But dreading the learning curve. Oh, BTW, I'm a hobbyist too. To create those tabs manually is a right pain in the arse.
Unless there is another software that can do it? Or even better still, edit a IAM file to add tabs (highly unlikely right?)
A perfect example of comparing apples with oranges
@@weplaywax it's always suspicious when some previously unknown piece of software is suddenly recommended by youtubers and you still never hear of the software outside of the youtube videos. Could just be that the CZcamsrs discovered it before the rest of us but most of the time it isn't.
Onshape is a good example, all of a sudden a lot of youtubers were using it, they didn't hide that it was sponsored though but they did miss out on one major detail, everything you make with a free account is public, anyone else using onshape can copy and use your models.
@@weplaywax yeah its surprising how many influencers suddenly dont need parametric CAD. Shouldnt he have to declare hes been asked to do this.
@@carlperkins1812 If he was paid for it or receives a benefit for making the video, yes, he has to indicate that. It is a requirement of the FTC Endorsement Guidelines. He explicitly states that he was not paid for the video though.
@@carlperkins1812 The whole "Oh no I'm going to hit the artificial $1000 a year limit, whatever will I do" thing makes this video very clearly have a hidden agenda. The $1000 a year thing can be safely ignored by small time creators and AutoDesk must be well aware of this fact.
He acknowledged that it doesn't do everything that Fusion 360 can. It is just a different tool to do the work he does. Painters use different tools brushes, rollers, or sprayers. They choose what does the job at hand the best. I used to use SketchUp to create visuals, there was a large user base with numerous user made plugins that allowed incredible shapes to be created. It was great until they changed the terms, and killed the free version. Maybe plastic can fill that niche.
Another plasticity ad..........
Thank you for saving 8 minutes of my life
I wish I seen this before watching..
Plasticity is garbage. I don't understand the hype.
@testboga5991 It depends on your use case. Plasticity is targeted towards artists who are primarily interested in just making something that's visually appealing, and Plasticity is great for that. You can make a cool model very quickly and efficiently. It combines tools from other CAD softwares like Moi, Fusion, Rhino, etc but offers them at a much cheaper price and typically with better functionality. There's a fuck ton of things that Plasticity does better than other CAD somftwares, like direct face/edge editing and faster calculations to name a couple, but it isn't perfect. Again, it depends on your use case. For example, Plasticity sucks for precision modelling, so if you're making models that are intended to be manufactured or used functionally, stick to something like Fusion or Solidworks.
@@LeoD.J FreeCAD
I've been using OPENSCAD for about 12 years now. It's purely script which means you can edit separate parts of your objects, reuse code etc very easily. Only complaint I have with it that it doesn't have 3D fileting. Despite that though, I use it for everything. Scripted vases, cogs, home and work related stuff and for friends. Latest one is a hydrofoil mast where I did 3D fileting between a foil section and a plate by unioning a series of scripted resized foil sections in pairs to create the mathematical curves I wanted. If you're good at scripting it's a great choice and it's free. If I;m designing something I start with measuring up the environment it's fitting in to, record these in comments and then start implementing.
Try my pathbuilder for OpenSCAD, you get SVG path commands to build a path with the addition of fillets and chamfers. It's 2D though.
DSLCAD is an option that does have filets, though it is a bit more barebones
In that vain, you could also be looking at Build123d, which is a bit more complicated but more powerful / faster to run.
I started out with openscad, moved to cadquery and now moved to build123d.
Yeah, but it's no good for complex models and assemblies, and there's no CAM output.
This is where cadquery and build123d come in, they export to step / brep which can be used in other software. They also support asemblies and work reasonably well for more complex models.
FreeCAD is now pretty good full parametric real cad and does milling gcode and printing all while being free
FreeCad is excellent, it's what we adopted, too bad he didn't give it a go.. There is a learning curve with the sketching, etc, but if you have some experience with another software, you'll have most of the basic concepts and there are lots of good videos to help you. It's literally free, and you can export your models for production or to take into blender for modeling right away. We've send production parts overseas for milling and 3d printing, it's flawless...
FreeCAD is horrible.
There is a reason that most people avoid FreeCAD. It is a good idea but it isn't there yet.
@@conorstewart2214 It is there. Works very well
@@conorstewart2214”most people” meaning you and a few people you know.
What about Onshape? Have you consideret it?
I swapped to onshape and have zero complaints so far.
Me too
1500$/y for commercial use....
Onshape looks great but having to choose between all your designs being public and paying $1,500/year ("best for individuals" lol) is kind of ridiculous. I wish they'd offer an affordable plan, like a "maker" price for people who are willing to pay a bit but aren't making money from their designs.
On shape is good but the constraints boggles my comprehension
@@tratzum I had that same feeling when I started. My break through came when I decided not to use dimensions, or use them as little as possible, and only place items using constraints. Click! Then it seems I was able to use the constraint system without issue.
I got RhinoCAD 8, its not cheap but its super powerful with the grasshopper toolset and I own it forever with one purchase.
Hmm I'll have to look into it. Thanks.
Can confirm Rhino is a powerhouse for CAD modelling and super fast
Interesting
Sverchok in Blender is supposed to work in a similar way to Grasshopper. It was originally based on the Grasshopper workflow.
Rhino with Grashopper is great but can crash with complex shapes or lattice structures.
If you don't want to watch everything. The software is plasticity and the price was the reason why he switched. The Video starts from 6:07
So, what is this high spec computer? I have been using Fusion for the better part of 5 years, also in it's Beta stage, and I have no crash issues or performance drops even in huge models.
Same and I have what would be considered a low to mid range PC (CPU is Ryzen 5 2600 with 32 GB of Ram and at the start an rx580 for the GPU, with slow internet (30 mbps)) and fusion has always worked fine for me as has solidworks.
I can't remember what it was, but there was something about the editability of the software that threw me off of Plasticity. I think once you join you can't adjust. Something like that. Really hurt my workflow, and saving a bunch of shadow groups is just clunky and weird. If they fix that - I'll jump back to them ASAP.
Why does this video have 4 minutes of self promotion and only 2 minutes of content?
Fusion360: You're making $1,000 per year, pay us $680.00. F no way.
just dont tell them the income amount lol
it's not even making $1000 a year, it's the revenue so it will be far less since you'll have a lot more costs as just the software license.
You can just pay for a single month if the designs dont change over time
Yeah well in the UK the price is £85 GBP a month hahaha. Because every currency is the same. I bet they charge ¥85 per month.
😂
I very much appreciate these reviews of 3d modelling software. This is the first time i've heard of Plasticity, but i'll be looking into it further.
Thank you for watching!
I know the video is about your change to another program, but how do you move pieces like you do at minute 4:12?
Thanks and nice video :D
Making Joints, in the Assemble section
Thank you! Just like Max stated below, you just use component and joints. It's a little tricky but there are tutorial on CZcams that can show.
THX GUYS!
As a professional CAD designer for the last 10 years, get used to always learning new software and keeping up with the updated tool sets on big update releases. It's part of the profession and honestly, what keeps me excited about it. Fusion for me is the winner because of the features for the manufacturing tab, creating tool paths for CNC, the decent renders you get without having to set up detailed scenes, testing joint movements with real physics, stress testing parts, having versions and history of the design I can revert back to, being able to export right to my slicer software, sheet metal workflows, mesh/form workspace, and creating detailed drawings for shops to build from. I pay $60/month for it since I have been paying for years and I can't think of an as robust software for the price. I think for YOU, it may not be the best option as you seem to barely touch on any of its main features. I do get upset with all the updates that seem to break one thing or another but all in all, it's a great software.
> testing joint movements with real physics
Do you mean real kinematics?
In my mind, physics means you'd be able to get loads at joints, which as far as I know can only be done with painstaking manual creation of load ces in simulation models.
@@noahkatz9616 I meant within the realm of assigning joint types. ie. rigid, revolute, slider... And yes you can do stress testing of parts. It isn't too much of a pain. Not any more than other software I have used.
@@ChrisMacier Right, so kinematics.
I must say I do really like Fusion's joints and the ability to grab parts and move them within their allowed DOF (degrees of freedom).
Simulation for parts is straightforward, assemblies not so much.
I wish Fusion had a mechanism analysis module, though if they did it would probably an add-on with a prohibitive price.
I totally agree. It's definitely a great software for most people but it's just not working for me.
I pay 400€ per year for fusion. Which is too fng much considering making the corporate account slightly earlier would have made it free for me forever (at least that was the spiel at that time when they changed the pricing).
Anyway, whatever you use for the modelling of some bits and bobs. Fusion does have something that regular hobby user would not need but for corporate use is rather useful. Collaboration. I can get a teammate in other side of Europe to check whatever needs to be checked and confirm the design. And I have control over it who is in what project etc. We could make some sketches or share files like normal people but the system of collaboration is built in fusion. Second part we regularly use is documentation. How many pdf drawings hobbyist usually makes? Model-export to stl- print. Corpo world needs those drawings more than the file itself sometimes. It will pass around ten random desks with no cad software in sight and collect 10 stamps of approval (sometimes actual physical stamps and signatures). Fusion is rather good at making the drawings system function well within what we need. So it may feel like a hardcore hobby cad program, but it's actually light commercial program. There's plenty of stuff I would prefer in SolidWorks or some other expensive program. But I ain't willing to cough up the dough for it. In the end if the day even most corporative license users don't produce the cad itself for a living but some actual physical product. Cad is only helping to achieve the design of sayd product.
I'm a CAD designer of about 25 years.
I'd be willing to bet that Plasticity eventually goes parametric (Just like FreeCAD used to not be, but is now).
A tip for your viewers:
You can get a solidworks makers license if paid up front for a year, for $48 for the year. If you pay monthly, it would be $15 per month, so it's worth paying up front. You do have a similar stipulation on how much you can make per year. I believe it's $2,000, so there is that.
Solidworks is pretty good. I'm a CATIA user and love it, but solidworks is a capable software that has a huge user base and I do have the maker's license that I use at home and for designing things to 3D print.
I'll definitely keep my eye on plasticity and see how it develops over the years.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing. I always thought Solidworks was very expensive; its awesome to hear that they have a maker license now (especially only being $48 a year). Also, you are definitely right. I'm sure plasticity will go parametric at some point.
For the problem with freezing in this video and those in the comments, I feel like you have to be doing something wrong. My fusion 3d files are all over the place and some of them have several hundreds if not a thousand entries in the timeline and I never have any of these issues. I recently made a change hundreds of steps back and it only took about 30 seconds to recalculate everything that came after. The only time i've ever had ridiculous lag or a crash is when I accidentally type in the wrong number on a pattern and try to copy it many thousands of times. Also a huge part of Fusion 360 is the CAM side so if you're only 3d printing plasticity is probably fine but Fusion is also my CAM software for my milling machines so it would be a huge pain to change.
It definitely could be user error but even when I initially installed fusion it still didn't run too great. It's a great software, I just wish it could utilize the high end hardware of my computer better like other softwares. Also, I didn't think about the CAM side, that definitely makes sense for you to use it then.
well hopefully they don't ever just decide to jump their prices like VMware did. You will never own that software, and as such, you are completely dependent on their "moral" judgements..... where they quite often buy out competitor companies and force people into subscription pay models.
Lagging for me even on simple designs on MacBook m1
I agree that if all you’re doing is digital design then Fusion 360 is over priced. However it’s not just intended for that. As soon as you click over to the Manufacture space the rubber meets the road. The tool paths for CNC make the value proposition go through the roof. No other company even comes close. Your video paints it in a negative light. However, you are doing so from a very narrow use case. You should disclose that or at least make note of what you are paying even if you yourself are not using those features.
^ That. CAM and simulation are quite powerful. Not to mention many of the other advanced features. The toolpaths for CAM are pretty good, even though they too are "with an instruction manual" - that being the case, I haven't seen better software that supports that, not to mention the many post processors that are available. I don't just want some fancy picture on my screen, I want to make it happen.
I'd throw F360 away in a heartbeat if there was a better alternative, but I'm afraid ignoring this is just totally missing the point. That being the case, I have designs with thousands of steps in the timeline and often struggle with parametric designs not updating well (yes I know what I'm doing; it's just buggy when you get to the advanced features)... openscad is still much better at certain things than f360... Anyways.
We can use autodesk maya
i am beginner i want know about 3d modeling industry and how things work.
Originally I learned 3d studio Max 3.1, completely from two hugely thick bibles, plus a smaller book for character studio.
Back in 1998 we relied on excellent manuals, with a small written tutorial section.
Now we have amazingly connected communities, that can give you answers to extremely specific questions.
So written tutorials are still king, but from that you can create a community greater than the parts that make it up.
🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼😑🍀😊☮️😂
My hat is off to you. I can't imagine learning it from two thick bibles lol. Things have definitely come a long way.
I went to Taft Union High in California, and I too took 3ds Max in 2000 and 2001, and had the hugest bible's to carry around. Printer was probably half the cost of the school too. lol
@@kevbot. I remember downloading and printing the book about 3d max in aprox. 1995. I spent like whole day printing the book on the loudest matrix printer. That was wild.
Reading your comment took me back 😂 i remember those bibles. My dad was a reseller for autocad and 3dstudio (Dos version). I still have my manuals for max 3.1 and softimage 3d extreeme and XSI
@@TheParelius I tossed a coin between 3dsmax and Lightwave. Then learned that from a massive book. Then Maya came onto the scene.
Does it offer toolpathing for CNC machines with tool swappping?
No, it's not a CAM software.
How well does Plasticity import and modify complex STL files? I modified a pretty complex STL in Fusion. I had to upgrade to 32 GB of Ram just to make it possible. It would crash and sometimes corrupt files. I made multiple saves so I wouldn't lose too much work. It took weeks, but I got through it. I also tried Blender, but I couldn't figure out how to make it do what I wanted.
Out of curiosity - how is Blender for CAD-ing? I know it's not really for that but I know it and I love it so I was wandering how easily could I use it for designing 3d prints.
you would be shocked when you will discover Rhino
You said you have a high end computer and Fusion 360 struggles on it. Can you share the specs you have for your computer? I'm curious what cpu, gpu and how much RAM you have. Also, curious how much dedicated RAM your GPU has.
all CAD software I know greatly benifit from a good single core performance, more than 16 core 32 thread CPU's.
I run fusion on a 1000$ laptop with no issue. I know 1000$ isnt "cheap" but it is on the lower end of things as far as computers go. Its an asus tuf16 gaming laptop. No issues at all for modeling, i dont do alot of rendering so im not sure how it would handle a huge render but the basic ones i do work fine.
Fusion always ran fine for me on a low to mid PC (Ryzen 5 2600, 32 GB of ram and an rx580), I ran into no issues or crashes even when rendering.
Im not sure I understand. You pay, once, you get the full package, for 12month, and after that, you can keep the software but wont get the updates?
And do you have to pay the full price one more year to get them again?
would the blender bridge work for parametric modelling if you use the geometry nodes? if that works then im getting it
F360 has been in a downward spiral for years. The price keeps going up, new features are being locked into "extensions" that cost multiple times that of the software itself, stability and performance are afterthoughts at best, etc. If at any point Solidworks makes its way to the mac, I'm ditching Fusion without even thinking twice.
I agree it seems like Autodesk is dragging their feet when it comes to keeping fusion 360 relevant.
It comes and goes, some features made included, some moved to $1200/yr packs, and some to a credit based process for simulation and rendering. It works for my business because it has a bit of everything and about 95% or what we need even for strange projects. Oh also, the electronic pack included? It's pretty good, I just spent $12k on altium designer, and that's a lot of cash in comparison for we already had included. Nice breakdown!
You given onshape a go? I think a few people from solidworks broke off to make it. It’s expanding in utility rather quickly.
Autodesk Modus Operandi, sadly.
Blender when CAM
A few more to consider: Alibre Atom 3D, FreeCAD, Onshape, SolveSpace, Vectary.
Thanks
Alibre is the way I went. Perpetual license, no forced upgrades. My only regret is not learning CAD twenty years ago.
Onshape just feels like a cheap copy of Fusion360
@@henrytikka3315 It is different just some of its features arrent very apparent and some major ones are coming out soon. but i can see why you say that, your definitely not wrong where on the surface it does seem pretty similar to fusion.
openSCAD
Very helpful. Thanks for the insights. Learning something as complex as 3d modeling has got to be a journey. Like many tools, you've used one until you ran up against a limitation, then moved on.
So after 12 months i will need to pay full price again to keep the software up to date?
Fun to see my shapr3D bottle design tutorial shown here;)
For what you model fusion360 is overboard - it is a mechanical tool.
Plasticity is a Freeform modeler that also offers DM and possibly soon will have a history / interactive modeling.
For the price it is a top tool.
There is also for cad freeCad.
For what you model blender isn’t suitable or look at the mesh machine add-on.
Was that your bottle design!!? No way that's awesome!
@@kevbot. yeah I make many of the Shapr tutorials. They have that German accent voice;)
Shapr is pretty amazing but I think as you found out Plasticity will honestly we your best tool.
I love those tutorials, man; they are great! I do like shapr a lot, but plasticity's price was more appealing to me at the moment. I may end up using shapr though, if I'm making a prototype that will need lots of revisions.
Freecad is an absolute pain in the ass compared to each everyone of those
Great video editing style! You got yourself a new sub!
Thank you!
I've started with shapr3d too, but i didn't like some aspects yet I liked how easy it was to make solids and objects. I saw fusion 360 before, but it looked complicated until i finally tried it.
I wasn't expecting it to be this good: it has awesome looking graphics, it's not as hard as I expected and the small features like section analisis and quick design shortcuts that just add that cherry on top. I don't think i'm going to change anytime soon.
Interesting. You like fusion better than shapr huh? I liked them both; but shapr just looks better and runs better for me. I do agree that sectional analysis is a great tool, though.
I'm new to all of this. How would fusion know if you were making more than 1k off of your designs? Are they able to trace STL files they find online back to their software?
honor system
@@espressomaticwhat that mean?
@@0ssaa Honor system just means that they will trust you that you are not making more than $1000. Kindof like a handshake promise instead of a written signed contract.
@@andersax1 so they cant and wont find how much you earn. And actually they cant prove how much your earn, and wont bother with that. If they will chase someone, probably that will be some bigger companies. Hope I understand it right
They have no way of knowing, they would likely go after companies trying to use the free license rather than individuals anyway since most of their money comes from companies.
SW has a hobby license too. It was ~$10/month and it ran super smooth when I tried it l. I’m guessing you can ignore the income limits as this seems unenforceable for small business - but that is some degree of personal risk never the less…. Maybe you can subtract your time, electric bill and other home office costs from your profits to make yourself feel better? Idk…
In the end I’m back to F360 because I learned so many little tricks and don’t want to spend the time to find those tricks in SW. I need to rip off the bandaid though…
SolidEdge has a hobby license for 0$ which make me sad because I really like SolidWorks. But SolidEdge offer way more thing and even give you Generative Design (Only Flexion optimisation in the community edition, the free one)
I'm investing in Rhino. I've started recently and found it really amazing for industrial design in general. With Grasshopper, it's unbeatable! Also, perpetual licenses are really important to me, so it was no brainer.
How does this software fare in the 2D realm? I don’t currently use any 3D printers, but I have a home built cnc plasma table and a few lasers for cutting materials. Would this program be viable? I dread when I have to use fusion360, it bogs down my computer as well. I have been using openbuilds cam, but would like a decent program to draw up dimensionally accurate cutting tool paths..
You need to be using Lightburn.
Plasticity does not support CAM at all. It is just for modelling.
Welcome to the amazing, fun & exciting Plasticity universe 🚀
Thank you Nikita! I love your videos by the way, they are fantastic! I've learned a lot from you 🙏
Thanks, I appreciate it!:)@@kevbot.
I use F360 on a 5 year old laptop. Never had a performance issue. True though that the price is getting out of control.
Than you are only doing very simple objects. F360 is slow af.
I've created all sorts of complex stuff in fusion. Never had a performance issue.
How does fusion know how many models you make and sell?
What is steering you from Solidworks? I’m experienced in Fusion, Creo, and Solidworks and Solidworks is definitely my favorite. Unfortunately I can’t run it on my Mac :/
Is it really? I really want to try it now because there has been a flood of people suggesting it. Thank you for sharing!
@@kevbot. you will have no issues using it it is very similar to Fusion, less laggy, but price…I get academic license, I’m not sure what their other offerings are
@@kevbot. it's only $99/year for a Maker license, but if you use it for business, it's thousands of $'s... per year...
@kevbot. if you’re interested in trying SolidWorks, I’ll teach you for free. Legit offer
For me it's a mix between Solidworks and Siemens NX. Never really got into Fusion
Fusion was my intro then blender. Them having a baby is a good analogy.
Fusion feels so rigid it's stifling. Plasticity feels right. It's smooth, uncluttered, intuitive. I feel connected.
The lack of history is my sole problem with it. It's so important. Many hours spent redoing something instead of being able to change in real time.
The creator put a vid out yesterday and that was mentioned as a future feature.
Also, there are some shapes that fusion can do which plasticity can't though that could've been a flawed approach from me or an earlier, less capable version.
Plasticity has history, it's just linear.
Once youre used you a non parametric modeling history, it's not bad at all.
You just have to keep your splines and you can easier edit and recreate most things. Parametric would be better of course, but it would also limit the flow and usability it has.
If you need to use it to drive a CNC machine though, you're out of luck.
If you recently posted your models and have nearly reached $1000 then it sounds like you are making enough money to justify fusion360.
He's making close to a 1000$/year and you expect him to buy a yearly license for 680$/y... That's insane. And the 1000$ is the revenue not the profit
@@aliismail2962 First...He said he recently listed them for sale...i take that to mean the last few months so if he made $1000 in the last few months he would be closer to 4k per year. Now he may be treating recently as an entirely different timeline and he can interject if he wants to correct my assumption.
Second, Anything beyond the cost to produce something is profit. Since you have no idea how much it cost him to produce his individual designs and how much the individual designs have made him you have no way to say what is and is not profit.
Third, His digital designs do not have ongoing costs which means all of them given enough time will produce nothing but profit and the more designs he posts the more profit he will bring in.
With all that said, yes i think it is perfectly reasonable for him to spend $700 a year on a more powerful CAD software that he is already familiar with and his designs stored in.
@@aliismail2962well this is exactly how the goverment and lefties in the Netherlands think. Where are they based? 😂
What do you use to convert STL to an editable object?
I did learn to model in Blender and I use the software for multiple purposes but I've also recently switched to Plasticity for the modelling aspect. I realised when iterating on parts for 3D printing (which I do more of currently) that I was wasting a lot of time having to undo and repair meshes just to make simple changes. Placticity is a good fit for me, it might be direct modelling but making changes is super simple. Adjust, match or delete a chamfer or fillet (bevel in Blender) afterwards - instant... in Blender. 😬
I still love Blender for the many other things but hard surface modelling will now be done much more quickly in Plasticity.
Stick with rhino from McNeel. Thats the real beast in CAD solutions. For students its cheap, else its expensive, but you're buying a lifelong licence. +It has grasshopper. Not just parametric, also a fully fletched visual programming language. And its fast. Easily handles large scale complex models.
@@marcosolo6491 Rhino UI is also horrible. MoI3D is a big improvement on that UI.
@@marcosolo6491Can you give good examples of each (cheap/free VS paid), from your experience? Anything at all would be helpful :)
@@marcosolo6491 First and foremost, Rhinoceros isn't used as a engineering tool but rather a industrial design tool for advanced surfacing without complex assemblies ( which can be done with various plug-ins but not the best native option). Compare it with something like Autodesk Alias or Catia or ICEM Surf, rather than Solidworks, Siemens NX etc, Autodesk Inventor etc... Secondly in product/ industrial design , nobody advanced enough does automatic fillets, rather they choose to do them manually for surface quality and continuity and better design purposes. Those type of Class-A and Class-B surfaces are exported further into engineering softwares for them to do their magic and finalize a product for manufactoring. Not every tool is for every job, that's why most hobbyist guys stick with basic softwares like fusion or shaper3d because they don't even have the skills to do a intermediate design and model.
THANK YOU for confirming that its not my computer that sucks, its fusion 360 that has the issue.
😄
A low-end Mac notebook makes Fusion fly. Just saying.
Internet connection is the bottleneck with Fusion as it is cloud based.
Solidworks when I switched required decent computer power, a year later they went all Autodesk on us so I moved to Freecad.
No it isn't the old local install Solidworks, but it is a genuine local install with no bloody cloud.
I don't regret switching to Freecad, you don't have to fight it like Fusion and it is mostly more stable.
Taking hours to solve the Windows 10 / Fusion update rock, paper, scissors debacle a couple of times a month became untenable even before the price gouging started.
Version 0.22 should cut a lot of time from designs especially the dimensioning going more like Solidworks.
CZcams resources are becoming good, try Mango Jelly Solutions for instance.
May I add another gripe re: F360? It was solely because AD INSISTED on my moving to Windoze 10 that I finally knuckled under. WHAT A BLEEPIN NIGHTMARE! DOG - slow for EVERYTHING now, not JUST F360! Boils my BLOOD!
my 2018 macbook pro can run fusion360 with no lag what are you doing
I'm exactly in the same boat as you described. I decided to stick with Fusion (personal) considering the power of it's features. At the same time, I'm also hoping my CAD learned skills will not be lost should if something equivalent/cheaper comes along.
I worked with F360 a number of years ago when it was $100,000 threshold for the free license. I knew then that was an illusion that was going to change.
The business model is basically get you to do all your designs in their proprietary format then pull the rug from under you. Suffer the updated agreement or you can't use any of your models moving forward.
I moved mostly to FreeCad, OpenSCAD and Blender very quickly. I'll be keeping my designs with me thank you very much. Fuck AD
You are comparing apples and pairs here. The Design Part is only like 25% of what Fusion can do. It is also a fully capable CAM software, you can do generative design with force calculations and a new feature is it can automatically generate manufacturing drawings. So yea if you are just using the cad portion it might be expensive. But your title that plasticity is much better than Fusion is just plain wrong.
PAIRS? That's a FUNNY way to spell ORANGES!
Would you mind sharing what percentage of the models you are selling (and have revenue) is in fusion and what in your latest choice ?
I'd say 70 percent were made in fusion but now I'm moving on to plasticity and possibility shapr3d if I need parametric.
What's the best for mold tool modeling?
i like fusion..especially because of the parametric...but i do see what you mean about speed. it is horrendously slow at times. nd some other software appear faster. i heard it is because cad software only use 1 core of the cpu, but still it sometimes feels bad. why not maybe offload computations to the gpu. 😅
You are totally right, they should at least have an option to use more of your gpu. Maybe it would run a bit smoother then 😅
@@kevbot. It's because you are streaming the software over the web. It caches certain bits locally that allow you to take advantage of your GPU, but only partially. It's not a native Windows application so it can't take full advantage of all your computer's horsepower. The streaming feature allows Autodesk to remove the app or discontinue your access to it whenever they feel like it. That's the primary reason I will never use them again. They are worse than Adobe and that's saying something.
Great video BTW. I have been using Blender but will definitely give Plasticity a shot. The biggest drawback of Blender I have found is they bury everything in sub-menus and panels. It took me 10 videos to fine out why I wasn't able to subtract a cylinder from a block, only to find out you have to apply the modifiers you added, which is a menu item buried in a sub-menu of a panel.
Streaming Fusion360 ? Ha? It is a local install - nothing streaming.
@@TimothyBoydenYou can use F360 without internet. It only needs connection for updates and for your project uploads. You can cache projects locally (saving them).
it's cloud-based crap software.... cloud-based anything has severe limitations and flaws that you have to deal with.... Yea, you the user, doesn't have to do much on your end, but your sacrificing power, efficiency, speed, portability, simplicity, and local Ownership and Copies of everything, that you have with non-cloud software.
And..... hopefully the company never tries to extort you for money just for you to use your own stuff, kinda like esxi VMWare did with it's customers, where they are seeing prices jump from 200% to 1500%. Just remember, you don't actually own anything you are designing. Subscription and Cloud-based services are a solution to a problem nobody really had before those predatory practices started getting pushed onto everybody.
Onshape Gang 😎
What do you like about Onshape?
Thank you so much for this video. I have been looking into 3D modelling for the past few weeks. The main issues I have found is that there isn't much details about enough software, also to much software types are to expensive for general hobbiest.
Of course, thank you for watching! Yeah the software landscape is very confusing. They all have different capabilities and pricing. You really need to try some out and see what will work best for you.
Would this work for woodworking design?
So how does fusion 360 knows how much money are you making???
@KevBot. I am here with same question? How is that calculated? I want to know limits of use
the honor system
They don't. They have no inherent way of knowing or tracking how much you make with your files and it would likely cost them more to hire people to try and catch people making over the limit.
I switched to Alibre CAD a few years ago and never looked back!
Atmos 3d or the Professional license? Whats its been like for you? I have been considering that, but not sure if the hobby version is too limiting
@@erik3205 I started with Alibre Atom3D and it does pretty much everything I need. I did end up buying Design Expert also. I think I could have probably stayed with Atom3D though because I don’t use most of the features in Design Expert.
i also have been using alibre and find it is simpler but still parametric, good set of constraints. ive been on the atom version for several years. only runs on windows though.
@@johnskinner683Do you find yourself missing the booleans? I know those tools are in the Atom3d verison.
I also use Alibre, it does seem to be having a moment now. More and more CZcamsrs are making tutorials, official channel is doing some good stuff too. The cad speed competitions are starting to have folks use it as well. It’s not as slick as Fusion, but it also is perpetual license. Moi3D is worth a look, before plasticity came around, it would have fit the same bill. Rhino3d is another interesting product to look at but pricey, I’ve started to play with it since it’s a perpetual license and the amount of training and videos on it is very big. Able to do stuff I got stuck with on lesser used/documented CAD apps.
How does Fusion 360 know the user sold over $1000? is that on the honor system?
I switched from Fusion 360, due to the heavy limitation of max. projets you can have at the same time. If I want to change something, I want to hop right into the design and change it.
This is not possible with Fusion 360, above 10 projects. I dont want to switch projects from archive to the project folder and then start my editings.
Which CAD software am I using now? OnShape. So far, I am happy with it. I would like to have the voronoi sketch creator in OnShape too!
Thank you for sharing! I'm definitely going to look into Onshape.
You should try rhino+grasshopper to make parametric model of any pattern.
I highly doubt that this video was not sponsored.
I wish it was. I would love it if Plasticity paid me some money to promote there product, but AdSense will have to do.
I am missing a bit of the point about what you wanna do, you compare CAD software with vfx software here, this is like comparing your car with a Formula 1 car, both are cars but they are meant for very different purposes.
Blender, Maya, Houdini, etc... are meant to be used for vfx. Precision, building instruction, part lists, and all that stuff that does not matter for those software packages.
shapre3d is a software created for a machine called Shaper Origin, yes it is a CAD software but the only focus really is to work with their machine.
Plasticity is using cad technology but is also meant for vfx this is why the focus is more on modeling and feels like software to create models for vfx.
And that is really not clear to me from this video what is your intent, do you wanna make movies, do you need 3d models for printing, do you do rapid prototyping are you drawing instructions for your workshop? those are the things that will define which software you use.
Shapr3D has absolutely nothing to do with Shaper Origin or the Shaper Tools company. It's a 3D CAD software first made for iPad and now with history-based parametric tool set, available for Windows, Mac and iOS.
Blender, Maya, Plasticity, etc. can be used for anything. But they're not CAD. The same way Adobe Illustrator, while an amazing vector illustration tool, is not 2D CAD at all.
My recommendation to anyone consider Blender is to also look at Moment of Inspiration (MoI - absolutely stupid name that's holding it back). It has a lot of promise, even if development is super (super!) slow.
Well if you checked the thumbnails of his videos on his channel you'd see that he's selling 3d printed models which is why I can see why he'd want something cheaper than Fusion and Plastictiy is good enough for 3D printing projects
I used 123d make for a few 3d prints... Using objects to cut the models holes and shapes then modifying the edges. It was cool to see you use the same extrusion technique.
Very cool! I've never tried 123D but it sounds interesting!
wait? how is it that fusion 360 takes so long to start up or when it crashed? is it because of a windows update? or do you need more RAM or a better video Card?! I am not good with computers and would really like to know. I had similar experience with using AutoCAD Mechanical Desktop Inventor. 🤷♂️
It is cloud based, no amount of expenditure at your end can fix it.
subscription based softwares are the most predatory practice in the world even more predatorry than c predators...
aight bro, it's not thaaatt deep
So you're saying that you could afford paying thousands of dollars to purchase outright?
@@lindseyjohnson1130 implying that is a reasonable price in the first place. the prices were only jacked up because they wanted everyone locked in to subscriptions (because it makes them more money). one time perpetual ownership purchases for specific versions are the only real way out of subscription hell.
Well spotted. I have been saying that for years. You'd be a fool for comitting your IP to rentware. I even go as far as avoiding software that needs to call home to verify your license. One day tht license server will be turned off.
Open source is painful, the learning curve steep but it's yours forever.
@@critical_always good points!
Non-parametric for Plasticity? WTF? Who would even spend time programming such a backwards system? Do they have plans to make it parametric in the future? Even 10-year-old versions of FreeCAD would be better atm.
Thanks for this I have been learning fusion 360 and for a learner I can not see me paying loads a year for it .
Speaking of steep learning curves, I noticed you had FreeCAD. How was your experience with that?
Not parametric dont care.
At least you know what you want.
3:37 "The price is really a shame, because the software is actually pretty good" - God forbid somebody makes a living off of their quality work.
Seriously. "I'm not making enough to pay that" literally have to be making more than it costs before they require you to pay. Not sating it's cheap but damn.
I'm not saying they shouldn't make a living. I think its a great product and they should get paid for the hard work they put in. It's also half the price of Fusion 360 which is great. For my use case, though, it costs a little to much at the moment. If it were 150 dollars a year, I would be all over it.
Um, I mentioned somewhere here that you can have a full version for 3 years for 150 bucks. It is the startup license. Have you looked at it?
@@chublez I do agree with what you are saying but the $1000 limit is quite low compared to the yearly cost. Even if it was $2000 or above then that would be more reasonable. If you use it to make $1000 in a year you have to give most of that back for a license leaving you with around $320.
I have been using shapr3D for over a year now, mostly at work but sometimes from home with my iPad. Have used plasticity a few times but struggle to do CAD modeling because of measuring. Always need to know exact distances of surfaces. I did see solid works has a makers license now, but from what I have seen it has a bit of a learning curve.
I permanently abuse lines to measure in shapr3d and it actually works
when i went to design school we started out with 3ds max and then we moved on to maya..i got into fusion because i wanted to print with accuracy..i never got into blender..i bought plasticity when it first launched "love that software"!! definitely incorporated it into my workflow with my hard surface modeling its way faster..
Mayor of yappington over here
I do my best lol
149 for a hobby printer, no way. Fck em
software is great, i upgraded to the studio version after really enjoying the basic so much. can't wait to see more features they add to it
Yeah, hopefully they keep making it better and better.
Thank you so much for public this solution. I had the same issue with choosing software after i buy 3D printer. After freecad who is seriously sucks, i lern fusion 360. This plasticity looks Wery interesting and price is more affordable tran other softwares, so thank you for sharing.
Of course, thank you for watching!
For those of you that didn't catch this. If you can outright buy a piece of software with a one time purchase but then you only get updates for a year, then you're not outright buying the software, you're still paying per year. Unless of course you enjoy immediately having an outdated pile of crap with no new features.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. The company where I work still uses Maya 2019 instead of the latest versions, because they don't want to spend money on licenses to update the software. And we continue to do our work without any major setbacks for this reason.
Not as bad as being required to pay an annual license fee to be allowed to work on the same software, however.
This is even more relevant considering how new Plasticity is and how big features seem to be added regularly
No. That's just how software worked before subscriptions. You'd buy the version they had for sale then buy the next one when it came out if you needed/wanted the new features. The idea of getting the new features "free" all the time with constant updates came with these subscriptions. Look up all the Office(199x)versions. You think you bought just one of those and got all the ones that came after?
What? That is how it always was before subscriptions. You pay once for a specific version of the software. It feels like you're trying to spread misinformation to defend subscriptions.
I'm always curious about this attitude. You want to pay once but get continuous free updates for life? How does that work sustainably for any business? It costs money to develop software. The classic model from the '90s is to buy a specific version of software, and then pay to upgrade when a new version comes out... You keep paying money and the company stays in business. That's a great model, you own your software and no one is forcing you to upgrade. Subscriptions also aren't so bad, although losing access to the program and your data if you stop paying is definitely sucky.
i try plasticity for 1min and i dont see import option for SVG files, for me usless
Makes sense if you are only doing CAD, introduce CAM and it doesn't work anymore. But I agree there is a need for a more scalable offer : price should'nt be the same for 5k/year family weekend shop or a 200k business.
4:55 How would fusion know if your close to that threshold though?
I'm not sure, but I don't want to find out especially since I publicly post my models. I wonder if anyone has got in trouble with Autodesk for going over the limit. I would love to hear about it.
I have been doing the same calculus for the past year-ish. Plasticity looks so good but I just can't let go of parametric and having a timeline to refine earlier operations. I really hope they add parametric and a timeline because it would be perfect, it looks so intuitive to use for 3D modeling. I would buy it in a heartbeat if it was parametric.
I decided to go with shapr, now that is has parametric history and syncing.
Plus, being able to work on my iPad is really nice. Didn’t think It’d be something I would do, but it’s so nice to grab my iPad, my calipers and walk anywhere I want to design a part for. Saves noting down measurements and gets me working right away.
It’s easy to use, costs half as much as Fusion and it’s super easy to use.
Plasticity is nice, and the non subscription thing is nice at first until you realize that in order to get the newest Features you’ll have to pay yearly anyways, more or less.
Yeah, Shapr3d is definitely a great piece of software, especially being parametric now. You are right about plasticity too; I'll see how I feel about it when I run out of updates. Hopefully, it will still be worth it.
I would be VERY curious to know how you would feel about Rhino. If you ever give it a go please make a video, I would be very interested to hear what you think.
im having the same problems of trying to find a good and free software for my ender3 printer. Thx for the video this is gonna help A TON!
plasticity isn't free
@@michaelgleason4791 it is to a limit
Of course, glad I could help!
If Fusion is crash when using complex models, you might not have enough ram. The when starting back up fusion does things in the background with the large model (preloading/uploading to cloud) that makes it hang.
Thanks for letting me know about Plasticity... I guess when it can do parametric modeling it will be something for me to take a look at.
Can you use that same platform for a plasma table?
No.
Autodesk is a Giant that is going to have to learn to lower their prices.....A LOT! I'm a Blender User for 3 years now....but I'm still in need of a software that allows me to make parametric changes, I've been leaning towards investing in Plasticity for that....Thanks for the VIdeo!
I use a $10k commercial version at work for mechanical design, but Solid Edge has a totally free Community Version. Free forever. It's exactly the same version I use at work, the only caveat is that anything created or saved in the community version can never again be opened in the commercial version. It can be fully parametric, or run in what they call a synchronous environment. A single part can have features in both environments simultaneously. It has a reverse-engineering feature set that will allow importing surface (like STL models) and convert them to solid models. If you use step files, you can edit them directly, like add or delete features, move or resize holes, or the entire entire model. There's also a 3D printing tool set, but I normally just export step to my slicing tool. It can do true surfacing as well, but it's great for more prismatic mechanical parts. I like it a lot better than Fusion 360. But I'm going to try Plasticity out too.
Have you tried Rhinoceros 3D? The best NURBS (CAD) modeling program for me?
useful thanks. im fustrated with f360, being laggy but also the parametric aspect is not robust, very brittle. did you look at rhino? my application is bike frames, i have a parametric sketch with the key dimensions, but as soon as you get into asvanced surfacing and fillets and boolean operations, f360 breaks. am still looking for something para and robust.....
I have thought about switching to freecad, however it has a brutal learning curve (like blender)