Time for Android

Hello Itsavan.

We need to talk. Its time that you start thinking of Shapr3d on High level android devices.

I am busy designing a number of parts for my drone and this weekend while i was designing I was forced by the girlfriend to watch a senseless chick flick. So ofcourse I reluctantly agreed while still thinking of designs and how I need to change them.

So I tried onshape mobile and it was the worst experience ever so I could not even use that and realised just how intuitive Shapr has become.

So please help your fellow brothers out and have a serious think about developing for Android. So help a brother out here please.

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Hi @Barryd, thanks for your feedback. I’m really happy that you enjoy using Shapr3D on other platforms. However we won’t ship Shapr3D to Android anytime soon.

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Shame that. I just retired and have been asked to coach a 3D class/group of kids. They have Android tablets. A watered down version of Shapr for Android would be nice.

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I think it is impressive that a team (as the website says) that grew from 7 to 100, is able to support macOS, Windows, and iOS writing native code for each of their offerings with C#/XAML, Swift/Objective-C/C++ for iOS and macOS. From a logistics perspective, it is admirable enough they are able to support 3 delivery platforms and do so incredibly well. Adding Android would mean also adding a Java capability to the team, along with very specific competencies in Java application deployment. Additionally, integrating modeling engines from lower level programming languages with Java applications is not a straight-forward process.

While from a consumer standpoint it would be very desirable to have these offerings in every platform imaginable, it simply may not be feasible for Shapr3D to support something like Android with current team sizes and team capabilities. So please keep that in mind when disappointment about this yields a “thats a shame” response. From an engineering perspective, the team may not be large enough or most importantly, they may simply want to focus on 3 specific platforms in order to provide us, their customers, with the best product for these platforms they can produce. As a software solutions architect, I appreciate that approach because from a technology and core competency standpoint, it makes sense. There’s a whole more to this than just “release an Android version”, especially one that for the sake of platform availability, will not meet the high standards of quality for the Shapr3D team.

Anyway, that’s my 2 cent contribution to the topic. It may be disappointing for Android users, but the production of this software has to make operational sense for the company and team producing it.

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i suppose if shapr3d has some sort of licensing agreements with apple, i imagine it will never come out for android.
But I could imagine that if there are problems with the implementation, it might be possible to run it via a web-based solution? So it’s like a web-based service in the cloud where everything runs online… :man_shrugging:

We are also available on Windows :wink:

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I don’t think that’s how Apple rolls…the software is published through the App Store, and Apple takes a cut. As far as I know (ex-Apple employee), they don’t have agreements with most developers.

But the only agreements I know of are most likely between Amazon and Apple, because they both offer the same type of content.

I have a friend who is a veteran software developer (30+ years). He wrote an iOS app a while back and decided to try and do it on Android too. His words were “it’s an awful platform to develop for. So much nicer and easier on Apple”.

Can’t say I blame Shapr for avoiding it :rofl:

But its not impossible. Millions of apps developed by people means it can be done and it is done on a daily basis

No, of course not. But if the product strategy doesn’t call for it (because the market is big enough with Mac, iPad and Windows) then why inflict pain on oneself by having to code a fourth platform with a reputation for being horrible? :man_shrugging:

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Onshape is a web based CAD program.
So it is possible, but it will never be as smooth and enjoyable as running native apps.

Go with onshape if you want to dish out 1200$ in an anual only license and although extremely resourceful and flexible since they have android/web platform and the use of connectors to directly connect to a huge range of parts vendors that supply prebuilt cad models that can be directly imported to the platform.

The actual intuitive nature needed in 3d modeling is a little clunky on onshape and not well suited for a beginner due to the overwhelming amount of features and limited movement in the ui making you feel like you cant freely navigate around your model.

I recently went through a trial with onshape and dont get me wrong its an amazing platform and i was impressed by its huge feature set, large connector catalog, and awesome sales and support team so im not bashing the platform but…

Despite its positives keep in mind i still chose shapr3d because its intuitive navigation, user-friendly ui allowing me to reduce time to complete models, and its affordable and offers a monthly subscription option. Also its processing runs as smooth as butter on my pc and not goverened by my internet connection.

Onshape scores solid 4.3
Shapr3d scores an earned 4.8

Was a close and difficult choice but i am very happy with the one i made.

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