You may have heard Fusion 360 recently turned 6 years old! I was searching through my journal of old blog ideas and I ran into a good one. I had totally forgotten about this episode in the Fusion 360 history. It lasted only a short week, in the grand scheme of things it was so small that I didn’t even remember it (may have something to do with it being around 5 years ago too). But it demonstrates a huge benefit and the power of Fusion 360’s entire culture and DNA. What happened?
When Fusion 360 Ultimate was first announced, the Drawing environment was initially only going to be available in the Ultimate level. You could design, render, and generate tool paths for your models, but you couldn’t generate a 2D drawing of them in Fusion without the Ultimate version. This story is really one of the great moments in Fusion’s history in my view, and it’s all because of what happened next.
There was quite a bit of discussion at our office about this. We had a flurry of inside sales staff asking the tech team for more information on what exactly was included in each version shortly after the announcement. I did my research, provided some answers. But by the following week, the answers had changed! It was one of those same D3 sales team members who notified me soon after that I was now wrong.
The Fusion 360 IdeaStation
Autodesk had planned to include Drawings only in Fusion 360 Ultimate. However, due to intense user feedback, and I’m sure other factors I know nothing about, they reversed their decision and decided it provide Drawings for everyone! Wait, a software company who listens and acts on the customer feedback, and all within a week?!!
This demonstrates to me one of the most powerful things about Fusion 360. The whole software is built around user experience and feedback. When you have a request or an issue, let your voice be heard! Your feedback is what makes the product better.
Of course, now a few years later even the Ultimate tier of Fusion 360 is no more. All tools are available to all users, and some advanced functions tap into the cloud credits to give everyone access. Did Autodesk see this day coming way back then? Did they get feedback along these lines from the army of Fusion 360 users?
To give your voice and feedback on Fusion 360, simply go to the help menu in Fusion 360 > Community > IdeaStation, or visit the Fusion 360 Ideastation directly at:
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-request-a/idb-p/125/tab/most-recent
Access the IdeaStation from right inside Fusion 360!
Do you use any of these tips and tricks in your daily workflow? Feel free to brag about your success in the comments!
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