Can Shapr3D Shape Up?

Shapr3D, the little engine that could, the CAD program that was stunningly easy-to-use, came to us from the unlikeliest of places, Hungary—in one bold stroke, founder István Csanády, the mad Hungarian, had cut through the Gordian knot of CAD complexity. Shapr3D was the first CAD program that required no interface—no mouse, keyboard, or menus—you simply drew on a tablet.

It was genius, not just for every engineer and architect whose 1^st method of expression is a sketch and not just because I tend to attribute genius to those who agree with me. For decades, I’ve railed against how hard CAD is to use—only to be silenced by experts who know CAD better than me. For them, CAD is easy only because they know how to use it, mastering it over years of practice.

It took an outsider like Csanády to challenge the notion that CAD had to be learned the hard way: over months or years, and that it required a $3,000 workstation.

However, over the years, Shapr3D has grown in functionality—and, in so doing, has lost much of its most valuable trait: ease of use. In order to achieve functional parity with Windows-based mainstream CAD, Shapr3D had to integrate Parasolid and add history-based modeling and parametrics. Each new function added complexity to what was once a refreshingly easy-to-use CAD system. It was a necessary trade-off, according to Csanády, who insists that functionality was increased while maintaining as much simplicity as possible.

 An Apple Award—So What?

So innovative was Shapr3D, which Apple, known for its iconic design, awarded a design prize. Shapr3D remains the only professional CAD program to run on an iPad. At the time, this was a feather in Apple’s cap. When it was awarded, it meant everything to Csanády. The trophy is proudly displayed in Shapr3D’s lobby. But some of its luster may have faded.

Csanády calls into question the value of recognition by Apple to the CAD world, where Windows dominates. That Shapr3D is the best CAD program on an iPad may be of little consolation to Csanády, whose ambitions reach far beyond Apple’s ecosystem. For global CAD dominance, Shapr3D needs to succeed in the Windows world.

 We Do Windows

Switching to Windows may have been a necessary step to gain market share, but along with Windows came its baggage—the mouse, the keyboard, and menus. The natural, intuitive interface was lost, and what was once revolutionary became just marginally easier-to-use CAD.

 Windows Pays Off

Ease of use is crucial for new users. However, for CAD veterans, ease comes from familiarity. Why would they switch programs, and for what reason?

Csanády admits the journey has been long and perhaps not what he first envisioned—everyone with a brilliant idea imagines the world beating a path to their door. The strategy of targeting entrenched competition has yielded some success. An enterprise customer has emerged, requesting a thousand licenses, though Csanády cannot yet disclose who it is. The relief is palpable. Shapr3D placed a huge bet by porting to Windows, and this is the first big payoff.

“You could say this is our second first sale—this being our first enterprise customer,” says Csanády. The first customer was an industrial designer, a market Shapr3D also sought to disrupt.

Shapr3D has been brave, pursuing AR/VR users after the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro. However, Vision Pro has hardly taken the world by storm. I’ve seen only one in the wild—a fellow passenger on a United flight. Everyone else was using their iPhones. Shapr3D has also targeted industrial designers, though the jury is still out on that effort.

 Go for AI

If Csanády’s recent interview on The Wave is any indication, Shapr3D is now targeting the “10 to 20 million engineers” who don’t use CAD. However, the math is complicated. ChatGPT estimates that there are only 7 to 8 million engineers in the world. SolidWorks claims 8 million users, though many are students or designers, not degreed engineers. The pool of engineers that Shapr3D could realistically target as a primary CAD solution may be smaller than anticipated.

 The State of Shapr3D

Shapr3D gives every appearance of success in its native Hungary. Its Budapest headquarters have expanded, it’s hiring worldwide, and it boasts “$10 million plus” in revenue. However, despite these achievements, it still lacks significant name recognition, particularly in North America.

 A Modest Proposal

How hard can this be? Apple’s Notes converts sloppy lines into neat lines, sloppy circles into neat circles. Why can’t CAD programs use sketches to convert into 3D geometry?

Is it time to rethink the strategy? What about returning to their origins: a dead-simple CAD program? Instead of diluting the user experience by adding Windows complexity, why not stick with the original program and wait for users to see the light? Csanády acknowledges that he will never match the functionality of enterprise CAD programs like CATIA, NX, or Creo. So why try?

What if Shapr3D became a front-end for CAD programs—a 3D quick-shape sketcher that takes advantage of the natural tablet-and-pen interface? Engineers could sketch a shape, and Shapr3D could recognize it as a 3D object.

We’ve already seen this in 2D. Apple Notes, Forma, and Freeform will straighten out lines and create rough circles and splines. How much harder would it be to recognize a 3D cube from a rough sketch? Or a quick sketch of an  I-beam that prompts the user to select a standard size?

With this approach, we bypass the process of creating and constraining sketches—an essential but time-consuming part of parametric solid modeling. If a CAD program could handle this 2D-to-3D conceptualizing, it could serve as a front-end for established CAD systems.

As an engineer who has championed CAD my entire career, I still shy away from using CAD for conceptualizing designs. I don’t want to get bogged down when inspiration strikes. Instead, I often reach for my iPad to quickly jot down ideas. The latest version of iPadOS even improves my handwriting. Why can’t a CAD company, one that once championed ease of use, do the same for 3D modeling?