Cloud Solve and Credits

Overview#

Autodesk's help states that all Fusion simulation studies are solved on the cloud and rely on cloud computational services. There is no local-solve option to choose in the current documentation, so older tutorials that show a Local choice in the Solve dialog describe earlier behavior. What you pay depends on the study type and on how you hold access:

1. Included with your Fusion subscription: Linear Static Stress (the Static stress study) cloud solves.
2. Flex tokens (pay per result): every other simulation study type, and generative design outcome generation. Autodesk calls them Flex tokens, or simply tokens; older material says "cloud credits".
3. Fusion Simulation Extension: unlimited simulation and generative design studies. Autodesk states that the features previously offered by the Generative Design Extension are now part of the Simulation Extension, so there is no longer a separate extension for generative design.

The token amounts below come from Autodesk's help topics "Tokens for simulation studies" and "Tokens for generative studies". Autodesk's Flex Rate Sheet is the reference for the price of a token in your currency, and the Solve and Generate dialogs show the cost before you commit.

Where to find it#

• Solve: Simulation workspace > Setup tab > Solve panel > Solve. The Solve dialog lists every study in the document with its status, a Pre-check icon and a Tokens column.
• Token costs and balance: in the Solve dialog, open the Settings list and select Token costs & balances. Under Account (pay as you go) you see Required, Available and Will Remain; under Extension (for subscribers) you see which Simulation Extension option you hold and its status. Options on the same list show or hide Solved studies and Studies with errors.
• Job Status: the dialog opens automatically when you launch an analysis. To reopen it, use Setup tab > Solve panel > Solve Status. It reports jobs that are running or have run in the past 30 days, in a Simulation tab and an Uploads tab. While it is closed, a progress bar appears at the bottom of the Data Panel.
• Token balance: click your profile icon on the Application bar > Preferences > Tokens. There you also choose which account is charged by default. The balance is also in your Autodesk account.
• Buying tokens or an extension: click Extensions on the Application bar to open the Purchase Manager (Advanced Capabilities tab for extensions, Flex Tokens tab for tokens). On the Flex Tokens tab you enter Users and Days per Month and Fusion recommends a token amount, then Add to Cart opens a cart in your browser.

Step by step#

1. Complete the study setup and run Pre-check (Solve panel > Pre-check). A red icon means the study cannot be solved; orange means it can be solved but may produce warnings; green means no issues.
2. Click Solve to open the Solve dialog. Tick the studies to solve. You cannot tick studies that are already solved or that show a red Pre-check icon (click Repair next to a study to see what must be fixed).
3. If you have access to more than one account, select the account to charge.
4. Select Token costs & balances from the Settings list and read Required, Available and Will Remain. If Available is lower than Required, choose another account with enough tokens or buy more.
5. Click Solve. The Job Status dialog opens and shows the phases of each job (Upload, Mesh, Solve and Receive) when you expand the entry. Name, Status and Action columns show what you can do: Cancel, Results or Details.
6. If you quit Fusion before the files finish uploading, Fusion warns you: Quit Now cancels the pending study, or you can wait for the upload to complete. Once the files are uploaded, you can close the project or Fusion; the results download when you reopen it.
7. The first time a study solves, its results appear automatically. Later, click Results in the Action column to open the results of any listed study.
8. If a job fails, click Details in the Action column and read the Solve Details before resubmitting.

Options reference#

Token cost per study (Autodesk, "Tokens for simulation studies"):

The Autodesk page says there is currently no cost for Preview functionality.

When tokens are consumed, cancelled and refunded#

• Pressing Solve charges tokens to your account, and the system consumes them when results become available. For most studies that is when the analysis completes. For Injection Molding Simulation, tokens are consumed when intermediate (transient) results become available.
• Failed job: if a job fails with an error, the cost of the job is refunded (Autodesk FAQ "Is the cost of a failed job refunded?"). Check Solve Details and fix the problem before solving again.
• Cancelled job: you can cancel while the cloud solve is in progress by clicking Cancel in the Job Status dialog (only one solve job can be cancelled at a time). If no results are available yet, you are refunded. If at least one intermediate result is available you are asked to confirm, and you are not refunded; Autodesk says that once you can see results, you are charged.
• Generative studies follow the same pattern: you can cancel before one iteration of any outcome has been generated and get tokens back; once the Explore environment shows at least one outcome, the generation is not cancelled and tokens are consumed. A generative study whose status is Failed with no outcomes is refunded.

Service limits Autodesk may apply#

Autodesk's "Cloud computing services in Fusion" topic says it may adjust, at its discretion, the job timeout limit, the number of jobs a user can have in the queue, the number of concurrent solves per user and the maximum allowed study model size. These limits are not published as numbers, so a very large model can be rejected or time out even if you have tokens.

Tips and pitfalls#

Tip: Develop with a coarse mesh and run Pre-check first. Setup, meshing and Pre-check do not solve anything, so they cannot consume solve tokens.

Tip: Linear static stress costs no tokens under your subscription, so use it for fast iteration, and use token-based studies for confirmation.

Warning: Older documents and reseller FAQs list a "Cloud Credits" scheme with different numbers. Use the token figures shown in your Solve and Generate dialogs, which are the live values.

Note: not confirmed in Autodesk's documentation: whether Personal-use licences can buy tokens or start extension trials, and whether simulation studies beyond static stress are enabled there. The help only notes that the options shown in the Purchase Manager depend on your type of Fusion access. Check the Purchase Manager and Autodesk's plan comparison before building a project around these features.

Warning: If a study is changed after it is solved, the results in the Results browser are marked out of date. Solve again to get results that match the setup.

Practice exercise#

Take a finished static stress study and open the Solve dialog without pressing Solve. In the Settings list select Token costs & balances and read the cost for that study. Then create a Modal Frequencies study in the same document and open the dialog again. Expected result: static stress shows no token cost under your subscription, while the modal study shows 3 tokens (or an Extension entry if you hold the Simulation Extension).

A token budget worked example#

The tokens-per-solve figures are Autodesk's. The project mix and the price per token below are illustrative assumptions for the exercise, not Autodesk data.

Multiply 44 by the price per token you actually paid (shown in the Purchase Manager or your Autodesk account) to get the cost of the project. Compare that with the price of the Simulation Extension for the term you would buy. The break-even is the extension price divided by your average token spend per project.

Reading the Solve dialog#

Before you confirm, check:

1. The Status of each study and its Pre-check icon.
2. The Tokens column, and Required, Available and Will Remain for the account you selected.
3. The Extension entry, if you are an extension subscriber: it should show the option you purchased and its status. If it is not what you expect, the extension may be on a different Autodesk account; check which account is signed in.
4. Any warnings carried over from Pre-check.

Job Status and queue behavior#

The Job Status Simulation tab shows each job's Name (model, study, simulation model and study type), Status (a solution phase, Complete or Fail) and Action (Cancel, Results, Details). Expanding a running job shows separate progress bars for Upload, Mesh, Solve and Receive. The Uploads tab lists model uploads (*.f3d) with progress, Complete or Fail.

Practical habits:

• Submit long jobs and let them run; you can close Fusion or the project and the results download when you reopen it.
• A study that is already in progress cannot be solved again; cancel it in Job Status or wait.
• Duplicate-submitting a queued job is pointless; wait for it to finish.
• Keep a short log of study name, mesh size, element count, tokens and wall-clock time. After a few projects you can predict your own cost and time; Autodesk does not publish solve-time figures.

Reducing cost without lowering quality#

These are general modelling practices, not Autodesk figures; the effect on element count depends entirely on your model.

Failure modes and fixes#

Related#

• Simulation Workspace Overview
• Generative Design Workspace
• Mesh Controls