I Found A Much Better CAD Software than Fusion 360 (Never going back)

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. :)

the video starts at 6:07

I’m an engineer. Non parametric is absolutely no go.

The lack of parametric modeling for anything that requires prototyping is a big deal breaker.

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.

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.

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.

A perfect example of comparing apples with oranges

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

FreeCAD is now pretty good full parametric real cad and does milling gcode and printing all while being free

I got RhinoCAD 8, its not cheap but its super powerful with the grasshopper toolset and I own it forever with one purchase.

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

Fusion360: You're making $1,000 per year, pay us $680.00. F no way.

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.

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.

Why does this video have 4 minutes of self promotion and only 2 minutes of content?

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. 🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼😑🍀😊☮️😂

I swapped to onshape and have zero complaints so far.

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.

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.