Ultra Librarian
Digitally signed app
Description
Search. Download. Design.
Ultra Librarian® has teamed up with Autodesk® Fusion 360™ to provide users with access to all the parts they need directly within the software to complete their designs. Quickly find verified schematic symbols, PCB footprints, 3D STEP models, and reference designs in our ever-expanding database of verified parts from leading component manufacturers.
Ultra Librarian for Fusion 360 Features:
- Search millions of verified CAD models
- Browse native reference designs from participating manufacturers
- Save models and reference designs directly in Fusion 360 libraries
- Place models in your design without ever leaving Fusion 360
About Ultra Librarian
Ultra Librarian is a free online resource to help take the busy work out of the design process by providing the largest amount of CAD models available for download. Receive unlimited access to FREE schematic symbols, footprints, 3D Models, simulation models, reference designs, and many other helpful tools to help make smart design choices. Get back to what matters most; innovation, not part creation.
Great concept but unusable.
Each button click in the menu causes Fusion to freeze for 5 minutes.
A lot of drop down menus require to keep the mouse pressed to be able to select an item. If only clicked once the drop down only shows up for a split second before closing again.
The setup is also cumbersome, you can't have a globally managed library but have to manually create a component library in a specific project first before being able to download parts into it.
While its nice that I get to choose where the parts should be added to it would be nice if I could add it to my global libraries.io parts and not just project specific library files.
Creating library files if none exists would also be helpful.
As I am converting my business from Eagle to Fusion 360 Electronics, Ultra Librarian stuck out as a great innovation to help the transition. In practice, it is just not ready.
Launching Ultra Librarian is awkward because it is a tool in the schematic, not in the library manager or even library editor. So to add to a library, you need to open a schematic to get to UL, with some luck, download the part you need, and then go back to the desired library and hope it is there. Sadly, it usually isn't.
Installation is not ideal. First, you need to find the app store, which for some reason is not linked in any way I can find from Fusion 360. Then when downloading, Windows 10/11 is not happy about the file. So there is a lot of effort to install it due to lack of popularity and digital signature. Really, it seems weird that it needs to be installed locally at all for a cloud service CAD tool. So that means you need to go throuh all the effort on any machine where you want to use the "available everywhere" Fusion 360. Components can't be downloaded from their website, but only through the add-in from what I can find.
Then there is the quality of the library parts. The schematic symbols are not well done with lots of off-grid elements. The footprints often need some work especially on the paste layers. And the 3D cad are hit and miss along with having no file organizationi. In fairness, that is a Fusion 360 general deficiency.
As much as I want this to work, it just isn't worth the effort.