Lars Christensen speaks with Steve Hooper VP Fusion 360

Special Interest Groups Design
#1

Lars Christensen speaks with Steve Hooper VP and General Manager of FUSION 360 about the changes to the Personal version of Fusion Fusion 360. This is a very good explanation of the changes.

>Video Here

STEP Files are back!
A STEP file is a 3D model file formatted in STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data), an ISO standard exchange format. It contains three-dimensional data in a format that can be recognized by multiple programs, such as Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, IMSI TurboCAD, and Autodesk Fusion 360.

In the CAD industry, it can be difficult to share models between users with different CAD systems. The STEP format was developed as a solution to this problem. It is designed to be used similarly to how the .PDF format is used for saving documents in a widely supported format. Because of the interoperability of the format, STEP files are often shared between CAD users that use different programs to open the 3D models.

You cannot save to PDF.

2 Likes
#2

They may have put it back but it is not a new idea that STEP is used for design exchange with other CAD software. They decided to restrict that file exchange from their free personal use version and only put it back after pressure from users.

As a software developer I had to endure almost two decades of those kinds of practices from Microsoft. Burns me up to see it continued and they will do it again.