Creo vs Fusion 360: Which is a better fit?

Karee S.: Hi, my name is Karee and I am a STEM teacher. And I would give Creo a four out of five. And for more reviews like this, click the link below. We use Creo a [inaudible 00:00:13] third, fourth and fifth grade students to create virtual models. So they did 2D into 3D sketches, and then we were actually able to then 3D print their engineering designs and then test out their physical prototypes as well. Some things I really liked about Creo is, is a really professional software that was used in real world. I know a lot of actual engineers use Creo software. So if students actually ever decided to take those career fields, it'd be a product that a lot of professionals use, which was really great. And also, it created really high quality products for us to be able to 3D print. So even though we liked the software because it was professional and really high quality, some things that were difficult about it is it made harder for our younger students to use. It wasn't as kid friendly or intuitive, especially students that weren't used to using the mice and the certain tools. And there weren't as many tutorials in Creo as there were in other CAD softwares that might be a little bit more kid friendly. So even though we really liked using it, it was a great high quality product, it definitely was harder for our students to learn and use.

Brock: Hi, I'm Brock. I'm the vice president of marketing at StewMac. We are the world's largest supplier of parts and tools to people who make and repair guitars, and I give Fusion 360, a five star review because it has been an absolute dream for us to work with. Prior to using Fusion 360, we used a range of things. We used Vetric VCarve Pro, we used Vetric Aspire, we used Rhino, we used SolidWorks. I think the thing that we really loved about Fusion 360 was it had all the power of the big, complicated, expensive programs like SolidWorks, but it was at a much lower price point and it was much more accessible. It can do everything we needed to do and more. Another reason that we chose it was because it has a huge install base, so there's lots of information online, there's lots of videos, there's lots of forums and help groups, as well as there's a lot of people out there that we can continue to work with. So, if we needed to work with freelancers or bring somebody in to help us with the CAT or the cam, no problem. There's a ton of people out there using it, and that was another really big reason why it has been so effective for us. When we were getting started, I would say that the folks who had prior experience with Rhino or SolidWorks or one of the other bigger 3D programs had no problem. They were up and running immediately. The folks that were coming in and starting from scratch, there was a bit of a learning curve, but it wasn't too bad. Usually after about a week-ish or so of learning the program that they were in there and they were doing productive work with it pretty quickly. I would say if you are considering Fusion 360 versus programs like Rhino or SolidWorks or anything like that, this is the way to go. It has a ton of power. It has an immense amount of folks out there that know what they're doing. There's a huge base of knowledge online to learn from. It's great, like I said, I can't overstate how much we love it for that. For folks who are just getting started, I think you should be prepared to make an investment in time to learn it, but it's absolutely accessible. It's a relatively easy program to learn, but it's a complicated program and there's a lot to it, but if you invest the time, it'll no problem. You'll get it down quickly.