Hello shapr3d team
The problem that this feature will solve:
I’ve been working on a lot of prototypes that integrate 3D-printed enclosures with leathercraft. The main problem is that when designing items like watch straps, leather binders, or custom mixed-material boxes, the materials are inherently flexible. Right now, solid bodies in Shapr3D are strictly rigid. If I want to model a leather strap wrapping around a buckle or a printed housing, there’s no way to map how that material naturally bends. I have to either model it completely flat or completely wrapped, which makes it incredibly difficult to design assemblies that rely on living hinges, fabric, or leather flex.
(Note: I will attach a few screenshots of my 3D printed and leather projects here to show the specific joints and wraps I’m trying to model).
Brief description of the outcomes that you expect from this feature:
With this feature, I expect to be able to anchor or lock one specific face or section of a solid body in place, and have the rest of the body flex or deform naturally when I manipulate the other end. The outcome should allow me to take a straight, flat body and bend it into its final assembled position to check clearances and fit, without having to redraw complex sweeps or lofts from scratch every time I need to adjust the angle of the bend. I know this steps into advanced simulation/kinematics, but even a basic “bend from locked point” tool would be huge.
What can’t you achieve without this feature?
Without this, I can’t accurately test the fit and tolerances of flexible parts against rigid 3D-printed parts dynamically. It’s a major workflow bottleneck. Right now, I have to model multiple static iterations of a single part at different bend angles just to see if things will line up or if the leather will clear a corner. It doesn’t completely stop me from using Shapr3D, but it slows down my prototyping significantly by turning a fluid design process into a tedious trial-and-error loop.