A Budapest-based startup, Shapr3D, has designed a 3D CAD tool specifically for the Apple iPad Pro. Working in collaboration with Siemens PLM software and Tech Soft 3D, the company sought to create the world’s first CAD system to run Siemens’ industrial-strength Parasolid® software and HOOPS Exchange natively on Apple iOS.
The announcement comes after securing a seed round of funding led by InReach Ventures in August of 2017.
Bringing Big CAD Power to iPad Pro
István Csanady, Founder, and CEO of Shapr3D says, “The barrier to entry with CAD software is high in the case of traditional CAD tools that are complicated and expensive. We want to make 3D CAD modeling available for creative professionals, and now, all you need is an iPad Pro, an Apple Pencil, and some inspiration.
01 – Shapr3D for the iPad Pro has impressive capabilities. Be sure to watch the video below.
The new Shapr3D, now available, integrates the Siemens Parasolid modeling engine and HOOPS Exchange to allow solid modeling and data translation locally within the app. Csanady says this takes mobile CAD to a new level of experience unmatched by any other CAD tool.
By integrating this industry-leading technology combination, Shapr3D is offering the market the power of desktop modeling on a tablet in the iPad Pro.
“After years of research, we found that touch screens are not optimal for precise engineering. Detailed 3D CAD design on tablets only became a reality after Apple released the iPad Pro line in early 2016, which uses a pressure sensitive, active stylus. The key to success was to integrate the Apple Pencil’s pixel‑perfect precision and the touch-based user interface. We were the first company to do this successfully,” added Csanady.
Big Power in Siemens Parasolid and HOOPS Exchange
HOOPS Exchange is the leading CAD translation software development kit (SDK), and Siemens Parasolid is the world’s leading 3D geometric modeling kernel (software engine). We have written extensively about the Parasolid modeling engine here on Architosh before.
By integrating this industry-leading technology combination, Shapr3D is offering the market the power of desktop modeling on a tablet in the iPad Pro.
“Finding a way to do professional-grade 3D modeling natively on a mobile app has been the something that so many in the industry have been striving for,” said Gavin Bridgeman, CTO at Tech Soft 3D. “The team at Shapr3D has taken mobile 3D CAD modeling to a new level, and the feedback we’ve seen from users so far is indicative of just how powerful this new app will be. We are thrilled to be a part of this pioneering journey to bring industrial 3D modeling and data conversion to mobile devices—a move that will have a lasting impact on the engineering world.”
“Siemens PLM Software has a proven track record of making Parasolid openly available to other software vendors so that designers and engineers working in different domains can design, edit and share Parasolid models, regardless of their choice of application,” said Jim Rusk, CTO, Siemens PLM Software. “Working closely with Shapr3D accelerated our release of Parasolid on iOS, which has enabled us for the first time, to make Parasolid available to users and developers of apps for the iPad Pro.”
The Background by Shapr3D
Shapr3D is a direct modeling tool with an intuitive 3D modeling user interface and broad CAD software compatibility for a tablet device. Easy to learn and use, it is built for the professional market. Fundamental differences between it and similar tools are that everything runs locally on the iPad Pro. There is no pushing files or rendering jobs up to the cloud, and it runs offline without an Internet connection. There is no cloud storage with Shapr3D; all data is stored and secured on your iPad Pro.
“While most of our users have been professionals such as product designers, engineers, architects, jewelry designers and 3D printing hobbyists, we also have users from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, Columbia, Cambridge, University of Tokyo, Singapore Polytechnic and many other schools worldwide,” added Csanady. “We see this as an opportunity to empower as many students as possible, all over the world, to fuel their creativity and design aspirations. To help them, we are offering the Educational license for free.”
Availability and Pricing
Shapr3D is made exclusively for the iPad Pro and comes in a free and Pro version. Both are available now. The free version can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, and the Pro version is an “in-app” purchase.
The free version includes 3 workspaces and 3D printing export. The Pro version includes unlimited workspaces, expert to other CAD apps, image import/export, and construction plane/axis colors. Learn more here.