Just Go Here and Do This...

I'm on the list for an invite.  Did you get the invite yet?

I signed up 3 days ago and I just got the invite this morning...

I think so...you can have unlimited documents, but only 5 can be active at once; active meaning they can be shared and collaborated on but still private and editable.  You can have over 5 documents, you just need to select which 5 will be active at any one time.  If inactive no one, including the owner, can edit them.

Interesting to note that a single document can have MANY parts within it.  I don't yet know the limit.  This is an Assembly within a document I did which contains 2 discreet parts...note the tabs across the bottom:

And here is one of the discreet parts:

Note here that I have 6 documents and only 5 active...you pick the status with the radio buttons on the left of the document name:

Does it have any library of common parts? (Or will users eventually be able to create and share parts libraries)?

I'm definitely asking for an invite to see if I can get the hang of it (but openscad still fits my brain better).

I wonder how slow the cloud will get with every maker in the world signed up though :-).

is this web based or actual software you download?

It is surprisingly fast as long as you have a decent (6mb/sec) connection speed.  They utilize 1,000s of core processors on their end to do the heavy lifting...transmitting only the graphics.

So far, very positive experience.  The one negative so far is having to have an internet connection to use it, but then again, where is there not a connection these days

I'm with you on this.  I'm "old school" in that respect. 

I never put anything on the "cloud" that I'm not willing to loose or give up, and I refuse to use any cloud based apps, unless they are the last resort.

I got a Chromebook as a gift last year, but the web based apps just irked me to no end.  If you lost connection, you had a door stop on you hands. 

I used the notebook for about a week, put it back in the box and haven't used it since.

Anyway, back on topic.  If this was a downloadable program, I would snap it up in a second, but the mere fact that you have to apply for an invitation, tells me they have big money plans for this app.  They will get a bunch of users "addicted to it", and then turn it into a licensed product, with pay per use, or by the month.

So all those folks that created lots of models, will be left with the option to pay, or move on to something else, and hopefully be able to convert their models to some other usable format.

I've seen this business model many times, and don't particularly like it.

Unfortunately cloud based computing is becoming more prevalent, and big companies from Adobe to Microsoft are moving in that direction, but at least you know upfront what you're gewtting yourself into when you sign up.  It's the "free to start with, and who knows what next" services that I don't really care for.

I would try it out, if I had the time, which I don't, so maybe in a few months or so.

It looks like it only supports the big guys' formats. None of my current apps can export any of them.

I'm also having problems editing previously-created sketches. i need to troll their forum some more.

You must be referring to Inventor Fusion, not Fusion 360.  Fusion 360 is cloud based and has a monthly subscription (unless you're student/teacher).

The last version of Fusion that was standalone was Fusion 2013.  That version was free indeed, but Autodesk has managed to remove it from existence once 360 became available.  In fact, they've removed every link to any of the existing downloads, and short of going to the P2P sites, it's impossible to find a copy of it.

Anyway, I didn't get into the 3D modelling thing until about 3-4 years ago, and I got straight into Solidworks, but I used to be an AutoCAD user way back when in the 90's.

BTW, Fusion came out around 2008-2009, Solidworks came out in 1995.