00:08hey guys it's chris at highline guitars
00:10in today's video i thought i would touch
00:12on the subject of why i don't use fusion
00:15360 for my cad cam work
00:17instead i'm using rhinoceros 3d for the
00:21cad side and then mesh cam for the cam
00:27opt for that solution rather than using
00:29fusion 360 because i know a lot of folks
00:34well there's actually a bunch of reasons
00:37first of all i was using fusion 360 when
00:40it first came out and i was using the
00:43free version of it because at the time i
00:46was just sort of a hobbyist
00:50not enough money to require
00:52the paid subscription
00:55so i was able to use the free version of
01:01it got to a point where that software
01:02wouldn't work anymore i couldn't launch
01:04it and when i talked to the folks at
01:06autodesk they said it was because
01:13the software to create products that i
01:18now even though i wasn't making
01:20enough money to no longer qualify for
01:25my business was more than three years
01:29so they kind of got me
01:31with that aspect of it as a result they
01:34wanted me to pay the subscription price
01:36which was or at least nowadays it's 60 a
01:42or i think it's 400 and some odd dollars
01:48yeah 495 dollars a year 60 dollars
01:53um i don't have a problem paying
01:55subscription prices for software because
01:57after all i do have the adobe creative
02:00which is i think that's
02:03almost 60 bucks a month now
02:06but the difference is with the adobe
02:10uh illustrator photoshop indesign
02:15premier rush and a whole bunch of other
02:17software programs both on my computer as
02:21well as on my phone i mean it's a
02:23significant amount of software that i
02:27for that monthly subscription price
02:30with fusion for 360 it's just fusion
02:33360. now that does cover the cad and the
02:37because you get both
02:39capabilities in one software program
02:44sixty dollars a month is still kind of
02:47i use adobe creative suite on a daily
02:52but fusion 360 even though my business
03:00maybe a couple of times a week i'll go
03:03through these bursts where i'll use it
03:05every day for like a week or so
03:07and then i'll go for a month or two
03:10where i don't use it at all
03:12because i've created the files that i
03:14just keep re-running
03:15so in my situation it doesn't make sense
03:18to pay sixty dollars a month
03:20i know a lot of other users
03:26fusion 360 every single day
03:29all day long that does make sense
03:32they're getting value for that
03:36i'm i'm not a hobbyist
03:38but my business is more than three years
03:41but i don't use the software every
03:43single day i just wish there was a tier
03:47between free and sixty dollars a month
03:53would attract me to using their software
03:55you know i'd be willing to pay
03:57thirty dollars a month
03:59because i don't use it that often
04:01i don't know if that's something they
04:02would ever consider doing
04:05but until they do i'm not going to use
04:11a lot of folks who do use the program
04:14like it for the fact that it is both the
04:16cad and the cam combined into one
04:19and that does make it attractive
04:24as i tell people when you're considering
04:26using a software for cnc for both the
04:31side of things whether it's one
04:34program like fusion 360 or separately
04:38you know a program for cad and a program
04:41what you want to do is is
04:43not only download and test demos to see
04:45how the program works and see if it is
04:48something that you feel comfortable
04:51but i also recommend that folks will go
04:53out and take a look and see if there are
04:57that support that software
05:01social media sites that have groups that
05:04would support the software like facebook
05:08when you if you find those take a look
05:11the sort of issues that folks are having
05:17and that was one of the reasons why i
05:22fusion 360 and look for an alternative
05:24because i noticed that there were a lot
05:26of forums and there were a lot of
05:28facebook groups that support the program
05:31when i would start to read through the
05:33sort of issues that people were having
05:35it was apparent to me that there were a
05:38lot of users like myself
05:40who are constantly battling issues
05:42trying to get the program to do what
05:48i thought you know wow there's not not
05:50only a steep learning curve
05:55once you've mastered that learning curve
05:57there are still so many issues that
05:59people run into trying to get the
06:00software to do what they want it to do
06:03as a result when i downloaded demos
06:07rhinoceros 3d and mesh cam
06:13the sort of work that i need
06:15my cad cam solution to do very easily i
06:19didn't have any trouble doing it i
06:21didn't have to constantly
06:25you know post questions on forums or in
06:28facebook groups trying to help me to
06:30solve problems that i was running into
06:32it was pretty simple to use
06:37once i was able to build my 3d models in
06:413d and then import those into mesh cam
06:45it was really simple to write the tool
06:48paths and the g-code that i need to
06:52now i'm talking about guitar bodies and
06:54guitar necks and fretboards and that
06:59any issues creating the g code for those
07:04rhinoceros 3d and mesh cam
07:07i had a lot of issues trying to do it
07:10with fusion 360. it was just a constant
07:12battle of trying to figure out how to
07:14get things to work the way i wanted it
07:16to and to produce the kind of parts that
07:18i needed to produce on my cnc machine
07:26rhinoceros 3d and mesh cam
07:28and was satisfied with how they worked
07:31those are the programs that i purchased
07:35but what i really like about it is i
07:37don't have to buy a subscription i could
07:40just purchase and download
07:43rhinoceros 3d and the mesh cam i didn't
07:47sign up for a subscription
07:51i was just a one-time purchase
07:55and i'm pretty happy with that it works
07:57well for me now if you're
08:00have no issues with paying a
08:03you know then obviously fusion 360 might
08:06be the solution for you because after
08:09all-encompassing it's cad and cam all
08:15that might work fine for you however
08:17before you pull the trigger and start
08:20paying that subscription price i would
08:22encourage you to download a demo of the
08:24software and at least try to work
08:31for one of your projects from start to
08:34and make sure that that's the direction
08:36you want to go and if you find it
08:39try rhinoceros 3d and and try meshcam
08:42and see if that might be a little bit
08:44easier i'm not promising that it will be
08:47definitely not because some folks
08:51they can understand and work well within
08:54the autodesk environment
09:00but if you find that to be difficult you
09:02may find rhinoceros 3d to be a little
09:05bit easier to use you may find mesh cam
09:07a little easier to use
09:10you know it's kind of a hit and miss
09:12some for some folks it's going to work
09:14well for others it won't
09:16for me it worked well and i don't have
09:19sixty dollars a month to use the
09:24at any rate that's the reason why i
09:26chose not to use fusion 360 and why i've
09:30with rhino 3d and mesh cam and that's
09:34just some food for thought so hopefully
09:36you'll find this video to be useful you
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