Autodesk is helping everyone in the Makerspace community by granting registered Fab Labs worldwide with access to its software. The Autodesk Product Design Collection includes 12 programs and tools, including Inventor and AutoCAD, as well as access to 25 GB of cloud storage. This is excellent news as the software can be quite costly, and ensuring makers have access to the tools they require is important to keep Fab Labs up and running.
“Autodesk and the Fab Lab network are a perfect match, so it’s great we’re teaming up. Getting easy access to core Autodesk products and technologies with lots of flexibility around license allocation will be really beneficial for the entire Fab Lab community – and for the maker movement as a whole. Autodesk is wisely putting itself right at the heart of this movement and helping encourage a global culture of experimentation,” said Andrew Gregson, Co-Founder and Director of Fab Lab London.
“The maker community in Japan is growing rapidly, and Autodesk has been a leading supporter of the movement through its software and services. Here at Fab Lab Shibuya, we created a project for Maker Faire Tokyo and used Autodesk tools like A360 for design collaboration and Fusion 360 for CNC fabrication. We see that Autodesk’s services are expanding to a broader range of integrated digital manufacturing, so we’re thrilled to learn of this announcement at Fab 12,” said Mr. Hiroaki Umezawa, Chief Director of Fab Lab Shibuya.
Last summer, Autodesk granted access to Tinkercad, 123D Circuits, and Fusion 360 to Fab Labs, and earlier this year Autodesk made its full portfolio of product design software available to Fab Academy attendees. Now Fab Labs registered with the Fab Foundation can receive free access to software by applying for a grant here.
Participating Fab Labs will receive a grant that includes 10 subscriptions to the Autodesk Product Design Collection for the Fab Lab which can be used on or off-site by its members. The subscription includes the professional-grade 3D design tools needed to succeed in the changing landscape for product makers, hobbyists and manufacturers.
About Fab Labs
The Fab Lab Network is an open, creative community of fabricators, artists, scientists, engineers, educators, students, amateurs, professionals, of all ages located in more than 78 countries in approximately 1,000 Fab Labs. From community based labs to advanced research centers, Fab Labs share the goal of democratizing access to the tools for technical invention. This community is simultaneously a manufacturing network, a distributed technical education campus, and a distributed research laboratory working to digitize fabrication, inventing the next generation of manufacturing and personal fabrication. You can read more about Fab Labs here and other partnerships here.
