Hi there
I am interested in using Shaper3D with a very specific use case of designing bicycle frames and components, these will be fairly complex designs, with aero profiles, multiple surfaces, custom geometry etc as well as multiple iterations, will also need to be able to export for CNC and/or 3D printing etc, so not building rockets or sky scrapers, but also not modeling toilet roll holders.
I am not particularly computer proficient, and come from an old school technical drawing background, which is the appeal of this CAD program as I am hoping it will be a little easier to learn with a pen and a touch screen. To that end I am looking for the best most future proof, and affordable device to purchase to start and grow on. Am currently torn between an IPad Pro, and a Microsoft Surface Studio laptop, with the IPad being slightly more affordable, I am concerned that the lack of a “dedicated graphics card”? If that’s a thing? might be a limitation going forward especially when it comes modeling for CNC etc?
And in either case what would be the minimum requirements for the RAM, CPU etc etc. Explain it to me like I’m a bit dumb…
Thanks so much for any advice and assistance.
Dan
Hi,
If you are planning to CNC or 3D Print from the same device, a Windows running laptop might be a better choice, as far as I know there aren’t much alternatives for these on iPadOS yet. From hardware performance, I would say the latest iPad Pro is definitely strong enough for your use cases, so that part doesn’t matter much. For RAM on Windows, I would go with 16GB at least, on iPad, it really depends on the complexity of your models, most cases 8GB is enough but it’s hard to know beforehand.
If you have any, even older Windows device, you could use it for CNC and 3D printing, and use the iPad to do the actual modelling, since Shapr3D syncs between platforms, so you just have to log in to both devices with the same account in Shapr3D, and you will have all your designs on both.