Future features + fixes?

Hey guys,

So been using shapr3d for a while now and im curious if these will be fixed soon or added ( if not currently there).

open spline modeling - I usually do alot of art by extruding splines. Right now you need a closed loop with loft , union or intersect or split which makes it much more difficult to work. sometimes id like to slice an object in half with a spline i extruded to a plane, but i cannot extrude the single line, nor can i easily create part division ( requires creating a box outside, then duplicating, subtracking the box from 1 asset and then doing it again as an intersect to get the other half and then reassemble it to create 2 parts.) its super long to do… :frowning:

fixes to the selection - tool workflow. - So currently the tools are great but you cannot string multiple operations together. when you finish it doesnt refresh the choice of tools, so you must deselect and reselect to regain access to tools. it looses alot of time. wondering when this may be addressed.

different view options - Id like to be able to remove edges without going through 2-3 menus to take a screenshot. most software allow you to toggle in the editing mode. - Also a viewmode with specular would help to see how reflections would play on the surface and highlight pinching etc.

part + assembly workflow - i do alot of parts to reuse and there isnt a way to easier share files. I must delete everything from a file except the part i want to share, then export that part onto the ipad in shapr format. then open the new scene, import the part… etc etc, it takes forever to do. OnShape has a good part + assembly workflow, could be worth integrating.

editing of lofts’ + spline generated assets - spline generated assets are very limited. you cant edit them much at all. Having active splines and ways to add lines to deform and shape would be super useful. as is, i cant use them i go to onshape or fusion for lofting, this one is a big limitation.

export selected - similar to the point above id like to save a part, or sketch without exporting the entire scene out.

fillet splines - this one is super important also. it seems abit silly to have to draw a circle and then constrain them to just trim most of it away to create a simple fillet. Adding that functionality + a chamfer one would be great.

Select edges to generate splines. - so many times I’ll model and delete splines when they get too messy only to realize I probably still needed the sketch to continue some other parts. Generally I have to go select a planar face and do an offset to create a new spline from the model, but requires offsetting it larger or smaller. If we could do the same but duplicate the loop into a sketch instead of offsetting it, then you could quickly make sketches from shapes and would help speed up work considerably

multi direction movement - currently its x or y or z. Having a standard gizmo like other apps, where you could move in 2 directions or all would save alot of time.

Non uniform scaling- scale x or y or z independently. Would help so much for resizing parts.

Movement of faces post fillet. - sometimes this works, most times not. If I get way in a model to then realise it isn’t correct I generally must delete the fillets to move faces or parts of an object. If not it fails or won’t move those faces at all.

Quick fillet add/remove- Onshape-fusion and others have a quick filleting system. Select 1 edge, do fillet and it takes the tangent and pushing the fillet to all edges connected. The pull drag method is ok, but so tricky, you can rarely tell what direction is fillet or chamfer and most times it fails because you dragged too far, on heavy models the dragging part is so laggy and makes getting a precise fillet hard.

align - move an asset to snap to another would also help a ton.

parenting assets with basic hierarchy - right now everything is flat in folders. Could we create a parenting system and a way to set pivots?. this would help in prototyping movements, balljoints, doors etc.

basic lighting - ambient occlusion - cubemap - a way to change lighting direction also adding AO to test contact shadows etc.

A way to create custom color palettes - currently there isnt a way, also a way to name them ( red for bolts - green for wires etc), adding unlit materials ( simulate lights ),

Improvements to union on lofted assets - i always get bad connections when performing a union on lofts, even if they are exactly snapped together the connection will not fillet or chamfer most times. so i cant use the lofting with mirroring ever.

editing sweeps - being able to edit size and fillet would be nice. right now you sort of can, but its limited and rarely gives good results. you generally have to redo the sweep when it needs changing.

text - i import my text and all letter seperate to create my word/signs/logos etc, but it is very time consuming a basic text tool would be really great.

quick slice / paneling - break an object into parts or panels is a really long process. being able to simply say take this spline and cut through this object and create 2 objects would open alot of workflow possibilities. Currently it requires duplicating your mesh, subtracting, keeping a backup on the side then the second one you intersect. Yes there is the perserve original checkbox, but it preserves everything and makes it messier to work in, sometimes making it way more confusing.

splines in 3D space - most CAD software cant do this, but all 3D software ( non - cad ) can… so making wires in 3d space isnt easily done for example. sketches seem to be purely 2D, this I’m less sure it could be fixed

thanks! :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hey, great feedback, thank you! Super insightful.

Split a body with a plane is something we should definitely do, but with splines we haven’t yet considered doing it. Introducing surfaces in the modeling workflow would have much bigger consequences, and it would be really hard to implement just this separately.

Absolutely. Much to improve here. On the roadmap, significant improvements coming in the next few months.

This is currently not in our focus.

Yes, definitely needed. It’s planned, we are not working on it yet, but we scheduled it to next year.

True. The answer to this question would be the introduction of design history. It’s something that we are interested in, but not yet scheduled.

Often requested, good point, thank you.

I guess you mean sketch fillets. With the current direct modeling workflow it wouldn’t make much sense to have sketch fillets, but if we had design history, then it would make more sense.

I don’t get this one, can you elaborate please?

You mean that we should have another widget on the gizmo that allows you to do planar movements, right?

Often requested. We are considering adding it.

If you don’t like the dragging approach, you can simply enter a value. Would that help? Separating chamfer/fillet could make sense though, or a more explicit visual communication of the different meaning of the directions.

Coming in 2 weeks :slight_smile:

Hmm, not sure I understand this one. You can have a hierarchy of folders.

At the moment we are not working on rendering improvements.

General surfacing improvements (more sophisticated lofts/sweeps) are coming next year.

Often requested, it’s on our roadmap, hopefully coming early next year.

Introducing general 3D curves would have a lot of implications. Probably as a first step simply introducing blend curves would be a better solution, combined with an easier way of moving construction planes, so that multi-plane 2d curve networks could be created easily.