Cloud Cad Survey

_Ðave_

Read the blog and take the survey  Here .

daniel_chow

Hmm I guess this is like asking if I should buy a Ford in a Chevy message forum.

Any reason I should pay attention to Fusion 360? The article (and survey) says that Fusion 360 is a cloud-based app that competes with onShape. But visiting the Fusion 360 site, its an Autodesk product that needs to be downloaded and installed. I'm guessing Fusion 360 is to Autocad what Photoshop Elements is to Photoshop and what Word Pad is to Microsoft Word. 

matthew_menard

I've been doing some playing in both OnShape and Fusion 360 when I get home from my day job in Solidworks.  Fusion 360 has more features and a lower price, but is not pure cloud based CAD and can be buggy for some users.  I think OnShape's sketcher is far more reliable than Fusion 360's and OnShape is true cross platform cloud based CAD, but they are both very powerful systems.  I think the market is better for having both of these products in it, pushing each other to be better.

pete_yodis

@Daniel_chow At the moment Fusion is going to provide many more pains in the education market because of the IT requirements with permissions to install, various platforms, etc...  Onshape is so drop dead simple from your students standpoint, it's awesome.  They can use it at school on school devices, at home on their own devices, etc...

juan_aviles

I'm really not crazy about the workflow in Fusion 360.  I'm not totally in love with how OnShape does things either, but I find it easier to do what I need to do when working with OnShape.  The size limitations and cost however keep me from using OnShape all the time, and because of that I've never really dived very far into it.  I use it for small projects here and there, but unfortunately I'll be sticking with my current CAD system.  For now at least. 

michael3424

The CAM included with Fusion 360 is very attractive for me.  I'm hoping that OnShape eventually offers some form of CAM that is comparable to HSMExpress/Works (Fusion 360) but suspect the cost will be a barrier for me unless the CAM is included with the Pro fee.

pete_yodis

juan_aviles said:

I'm really not crazy about the workflow in Fusion 360.  I'm not totally in love with how OnShape does things either, but I find it easier to do what I need to do when working with OnShape.  The size limitations and cost however keep me from using OnShape all the time, and because of that I've never really dived very far into it.  I use it for small projects here and there, but unfortunately I'll be sticking with my current CAD system.  For now at least. 

@jaun_aviles Can you explain what about the workflows in Onshape bothers you?

brucebartlett

michael3424 said:

The CAM included with Fusion 360 is very attractive for me.  I'm hoping that OnShape eventually offers some form of CAM that is comparable to HSMExpress/Works (Fusion 360) but suspect the cost will be a barrier for me unless the CAM is included with the Pro fee.

Let's hope it is included, looking forward to some Onshape CAM action.

michael3424

brucebartlett said:

Let's hope it is included, looking forward to some Onshape CAM action.

From your fingertips to Onshape's eyes!

mcconnell113

adding to the conversation, autodesk just announced that they will be going browser as well, they're calling it project leopard right now but it will be much like fusion but browser based. Still not even in beta yet. I agree with those that say that don't like fusions workflow but it does seem like they are developing quite rapidly which can be good. I love everything about onshape except the fact that it's not 10 years old and doesn't have every crazy little thing you could think of available yet. I second the hsmworks style CAM for onshape.

daniel_chow

I see. 

It seems like Autodesk is to CAD what Microsoft Word is to office software. And onShape is to CAD what Google Apps is to SaaS / cloud office software. 

Google Apps (Docs) came out on a cloud platform years before Microsoft did. Although Microsoft did have an online word processor, spreadsheet ... it was part of their Hotmail service and really didn't compare with their Office product or Google Docs. For starters, it didn't auto save and no collaboration. 

After everyone started using Google Docs (free like onShape), then Microsoft came out with Office 365 to compete. Its been an uphill battle ever since for Microsoft to capture the cloud market the same way they were able to monopolize the office market pushing out competitors like Lotus and Wordperfect. You know Microsoft is feeling the pinch when they started running attack ads on Google ironically hosted on Youtube. I fear that Microsoft missed the ball on Cloud-based office tools. THEY should have been the ones to come out FIRST with cloud based Office. But they didn't, they were too focused on coding and releasing the next big desktop version of Microsoft Office. While they were doing this, another company willing to take the risk ... Google ... came out with Google Docs. Then it became Google Drive. Then it became Google Apps. We know how that story ends.  

If Autodesk is getting into the cloud CAD business, their people may have studied the whole Google Apps vs Microsoft Office / 365 events and are trying to not let that happen to them. 

Is it possible for Autodesk to buy out onShape? If they put $5B on the table would onShape bite? They recently bought out Pixlr, a Photoshop-like cloud 2D image editor. Adobe bought out Aviary, another awesome online suite of 2D graphic editing tools. If Autodesk doesn't buy onShape, what if Adobe makes an offer to jump start them into CAD scene the way Autodesk jumped into the 2D graphics scene? And while we're talking about buyouts. Microsoft bought out Minecraft ($2.5B) and Skype lately ($8B). The good news is that Microsoft for the most part left Minecraft and Skype alone. No big chnges. However, Autodesk and Adobe heavily changed Pixlr and Aviary. I was a user of Aviary, and for the most part, it no longer exists since it was bought out. Remember when Hotmail was a standalone service? It too was bought out by Microsoft. Lets not leave Google out of this either. I'll never forgive Google for this, they bought out a little online graphical tool called Picnik and then shut it down. 

My concern with onShape, is I fear it may not have the resources to compete with Autodesk the way Google can compete with Microsoft. Google of course has their very successful adwords and search engine to back up their development of Google Apps. But then on the other hand, onShape has a much narrower focus than Google Apps. onShape is CAD and thats it. Google Apps is a huge umbrella of all kinds of apps from maps, email, productivity, social media, bookmarks, cloud printing not to mention their cloud-managed devices like Chromebooks and Android ("Chrome Management Console", which we use to manage 236 Chromebooks).   

onShape totally rocks. Please stay. 

3dcad

If Onshape had completely 'unknown' (yet skilled) people behind, I still would have created account. And if it was as good as the one we have, I would have followed the development in the background. 
But I wouldn't be in the group of early adopter for work nor writing improvement requests and pushing them to deliver the tools I need.
I have a lot of faith in these people since they have already showed us that they can build cad software (solid works) which can easily compete with giants like Autodesk. This is very much different from a bunch of college kids building up service that no-one has tried before.

"onShape totally rocks. Please stay. "

Very much agreed.

pete_yodis

daniel_chow said:

I see. 

My concern with onShape, is I fear it may not have the resources to compete with Autodesk the way Google can compete with Microsoft. Google of course has their very successful adwords and search engine to back up their development of Google Apps. But then on the other hand, onShape has a much narrower focus than Google Apps. onShape is CAD and thats it. Google Apps is a huge umbrella of all kinds of apps from maps, email, productivity, social media, bookmarks, cloud printing not to mention their cloud-managed devices like Chromebooks and Android ("Chrome Management Console", which we use to manage 236 Chromebooks).   

onShape totally rocks. Please stay. 

@daniel_chow As I see it... Onshape is a much leaner company than AutoDesk.  That has huge advantages and implications when you think about it...

Onshape is not going away.  It's going to grow fantastically.  When you've got investors like Onshape has, with the foresight they have had, it speaks volumes.  I wholeheartedly agree... it rocks - and will continue to rock even more as time rolls forward.  I'm excited about what's in store for Christmas this year.

peter_hall

@pete_yodis I hope Onshape is in it for the long run. I tried AutoDesk 2D/3D and Inventor didn't like them.Haven't tried Fusion 360 but likely I would not like it also. Solidworks I tried and I like, Catia is a big thing in car industry although personaly I have not tried it, I wonder if this is to do with surfacing which is important in body panel shaping. If Onshape wasnt around I might be tempted with Solidworks and if they moved to a cloud based model at a small monthly charge $100 a month then it would be a serious challenge to Onshape. If Autodesk bought out Onshape I would be likely to move to Solidworks.
Stay independant Onshape, you are rocking the Cad world and have a chance to be the top Cad company in a few years time.

_Ðave_

I hope everyone had a chance to participate in the survey. Check out the results.

3dcad

Wow, Onshape is in it's beta phase and already considered as fully comparable to others that has been around much longer.. Great work Onshape team!

peter_hall

It might be sensible to give Fusion 360 a spin for a month (free trial) at some point. Looking at the videos it looks a good bit of kit and is only $25 a month. Good to have an option as expense is an issue for me too going forward. This being what ruled me out of pursuing Solidworks or Catia.

michał_1

@peter_hall it might be, black friday is coming so you can get F360 for $25 for year (on amazon), note that for hobbyist it's free also for commercial use up to $100 000/yr. of income (gross revenu).

About cloud cad survey itself, very interesting results but it puts Onshape in disadvantage. Website profile is obvious and Onshape don't have cam, yet.

michael3424

Keep in mind too, that the host site is largely an advertising vehicle for the author's software product, a speeds and feeds calculator.  The blogs usually have useful info, but are generally oriented toward the advanced hobbyist.