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by asdfasgasdgasdg 1522 days ago
I found fusion 360 even easier to pick up than SketchUp, and it can do a lot of things that SketchUp just can't. Highly recommend trying it out.
2 comments

Fusion360's parametric modelling approach was a breeze to pick up after struggling with SketchUp for a while. Being a software developer probably helped as I was immediately comfortable with the formulas, variables, and constraints.
Yeah I love it. It made it easy to tweak various details of my design after I established the basic shape.
I used to love Fusion 360, but I eventually moved to Linux and couldn't use my school's copy, so I gave it up. I've mostly used Blender to replace it, and while their workflows are definitely not 1:1 comparable, Blender can still do 90% of the things Fusion can, with a much more palatable price tag.
Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists tho? So the price tag is about the same either way. Although Blender is a lot cheaper if you're doing professional work or need to upgrade F360.
And for students. There is even a little documented (imo) way to use it on the browser with a student account. Autodesk basically runs an instance of fusion360 remotely for you in a VM for free.

https://fusion.online.autodesk.com

Is it suitable for engineering drawings (or just graphics design)?
It's a weird middle-ground. Blender's workflow is more comparable to Sketchup than it is to Fusion, but it has a ton of mesh editing capabilities that blow Sketchup and Fusion out of the water. The downside is that it doesn't really account for engineering stuff out of the box, but I've certainly used it to 3D print things in the past.

It's not a drop-in replacement, but since I'm already pretty familiar with the tool, I don't really have trouble making it work. YMMV.