Not quite there yet
I cannot rant and rave about this app enough - it’s awesome!
I myself, am a mechanical engineer, and I make sure to show all of my workmates and friends in the field of design and engineering your product. It makes designing easy and more natural.
However, this app has some drawbacks.. as a professional, why would I want to pay this much money per year to do only half of what the AutoCAD suite and Solidworks packages are capable of? If it was a once off payment, I think that would be different and more competitive, because otherwise, how can you compete? 99% of industries will choose more professional packages because they can do more, they secure large deals with big engineering firms for years, and not every company wants to then invest in an iPad Pro which has to be charged and results in work downtime, which is not ideal either.
I have a mate who’s an industrial designer, and he says your app is great, and more suited to his profession rather than mine, but again, it’s not something he’d take to work, but more of something to do at home when working on your own, small scale projects.
Great potential, but I think you’re aiming at the wrong market.
3/5
I myself, am a mechanical engineer, and I make sure to show all of my workmates and friends in the field of design and engineering your product. It makes designing easy and more natural.
However, this app has some drawbacks.. as a professional, why would I want to pay this much money per year to do only half of what the AutoCAD suite and Solidworks packages are capable of? If it was a once off payment, I think that would be different and more competitive, because otherwise, how can you compete? 99% of industries will choose more professional packages because they can do more, they secure large deals with big engineering firms for years, and not every company wants to then invest in an iPad Pro which has to be charged and results in work downtime, which is not ideal either.
I have a mate who’s an industrial designer, and he says your app is great, and more suited to his profession rather than mine, but again, it’s not something he’d take to work, but more of something to do at home when working on your own, small scale projects.
Great potential, but I think you’re aiming at the wrong market.
3/5
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback - appreciate it. We believe this is the right strategy, both for our professional users and for us as well. We will take your use cases into account next time we will discuss this topic.
5 Star App but 0 Star Monitization
So I think this app is fantastic, exactly what I thought my iPad Pro apps would be. But I just hate the approach of free app that allows you to create but not export your creations? Allow users to export their .obj files at full resolution scale and detail. Nothing worse than paying $30 for a month, then not being able to use the app after. I am sure you could add a single fee ($10ish) to open up to 10 save slots with full export options? I’d add a “Tip the Dev” option and a $5-$15 a month silver level but don’t trap users creations in your app as some hostage we have to pay a $260 fee a year to liberate. So the app is great but it’s the worst concept regarding money. Lastly to put this in a professional designer context, I pay $55 a month for the entire Adobe CC Suite, so for $20 more a month I can create art, websites, animations, sound editing, vector and about 10 beta apps on the same level as this. I’d recommend this if people could at least export their models, keep limitations on color or save spots or other high end adding but it’s not right to allow creation but not give ownership to the creator, if that’s your plan then make this a pay only app up front!
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Response from developer
Hi - thanks for liking our app in general - appreciate that. As for our business model - we believe this gives users the best opportunity to try out the app and make an educated decision on what they buy into. We give the 2-week Pro trial to check out all the export functionality, and if they can use it in a professional environment.
Be very careful subscribing, you may get screwed out of your money
UPDATE: As for the developer telling me I have to get my refund through Apple, I tried the day after I got the notice that I had been charged for a year instead of a month, and Apple refused the refund. So yeah, that didn’t work and the developer kept my money. They also demanded I jump through hoops to prove I “deserved” a refund. I just finally gave up.
I accidentally went with the year subscription just by downloading the app, didn’t notice the default was the 260$ yearly subscription. Then after trying for a refund from apple they told me I wasn’t eligible for a refund, a day after I got the receipt. Shapr wasn’t much help, they just said try the different refund options, none of which worked, and There doesn’t seem to be any avenue that gets a reaponse from Apple.
Now I’m trying to get my money back from Visa and they’re wanting me to jump through hoops to prove that I ‘deserve’ my money back.
Why shapr can’t just give me my money back is beyond me. And I was even nice enough to switch over to the monthly subscri-tion. At this point, if they think ithey’re getting more money out of me than they have, EVER, they have another thing coming.
I would say, if you want to try them, be very very very careful about going more than the monthly subscription. Maybe they’ll change my mind, in which case I really like the software, just their subscription refund handling is totally lacking.
I accidentally went with the year subscription just by downloading the app, didn’t notice the default was the 260$ yearly subscription. Then after trying for a refund from apple they told me I wasn’t eligible for a refund, a day after I got the receipt. Shapr wasn’t much help, they just said try the different refund options, none of which worked, and There doesn’t seem to be any avenue that gets a reaponse from Apple.
Now I’m trying to get my money back from Visa and they’re wanting me to jump through hoops to prove that I ‘deserve’ my money back.
Why shapr can’t just give me my money back is beyond me. And I was even nice enough to switch over to the monthly subscri-tion. At this point, if they think ithey’re getting more money out of me than they have, EVER, they have another thing coming.
I would say, if you want to try them, be very very very careful about going more than the monthly subscription. Maybe they’ll change my mind, in which case I really like the software, just their subscription refund handling is totally lacking.
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Amazed!
Stumbled across this application and after reading the description it hinted at a similarity to a highly expensive parametric design software for pc known as Solid Works. That caught my interest because that was a software I fell in love with while in school for mechanical design. So that alone made me download and try the app. I tried the free version which is fully functional when it comes to design but limits certain features and number of designs that can be created. After a few versions of a design which I completed. I decided to bite the bullet and sign up for the monthly full version. So far I am glad I did you gain extra features to not only save your designed without limited number but also adjust colors to make designs look and feel more real to get a better idea of the vision of the product you are considering constructing. This app is intuitive but I have extensive Solid-works and AutoCad exposure and that helped tremendously with designing on this because this program is a slight mixture of both applications and tooling works similar to a blend of each of those two programs. Apple Pencil is a necessity for this because it acts as a mouse/courser and is very precise.
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Loved it but..
Edit: with the app now at $47 a month or $370 a year it has become even more unaffordable for hobbyist designers. App now requires sign up too that was not mentioned in the update notes. Sadly I have had to find alternatives.
The app is a work of art itself, works fantastic. My only issue is the $40 a month subscription. Maybe a once off iap to unlock a hobbyist version with some more workspaces and some other export or save options that would suit a hobbyist would fill that missing middle gap between trying the app and being a pro. I find I have to screenshot the app to output a png image that I then have to redraw before I can use it too.
Other than that, it is the perfect compliment to my iPad but I am not a professional and don’t use the app for work. I do use it for 3D design hobby projects. I have found it to be extremely stable, easy to use, and actively developed. Anyone with even a basic level of 3d design will be able to use it and there is a host of tutorial videos.
The app is a work of art itself, works fantastic. My only issue is the $40 a month subscription. Maybe a once off iap to unlock a hobbyist version with some more workspaces and some other export or save options that would suit a hobbyist would fill that missing middle gap between trying the app and being a pro. I find I have to screenshot the app to output a png image that I then have to redraw before I can use it too.
Other than that, it is the perfect compliment to my iPad but I am not a professional and don’t use the app for work. I do use it for 3D design hobby projects. I have found it to be extremely stable, easy to use, and actively developed. Anyone with even a basic level of 3d design will be able to use it and there is a host of tutorial videos.
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Response from developer
Thanks for the feedback. Our pricing might be high to some, but still more affordable than most CAD tools. A little insight into the industry: While other desktop solutions can cost up to thousands of dollars a year, we offer our CAD software for $149 / year. We think that's very competitive. We have created the app for professional in the first place who'd use the app for their daily work. But we know that there are others as well who might be interested. So to help students and educators, we have created an educational program, where they can get the PRO version of the app for free as long as they are enrolled in any educational institution. If someone is only a (3D printing) hobbyist, they can use Shapr3D without paying for a PRO plan as there is an STL exporting possibility for 3D printing. We think that is a fair exchange. We provide the full PRO version to students and educators for free and 3D printing possibilities without paying for the app. It's good and free for 3D printing. And we ask for a competitive price (third what Fusion is) from those who use the app for professional, daily work. We believe this is a fair value proposition on our end. Hope more and more people will agree with us in the long run. :)
Looks amazing, but not for casual users or hobbyists
I found this through the Concepts blog and was initially really excited. Went through the tutorial which was great.
Then I got to the subscription. Don’t get me wrong, compared to other CAD tools this is clearly a great buy.
The problem is I’m not a professional, and even at the price point offered it’s an order of magnitude beyond what most non-professionals doing 3d scribbles for fun will likely be willing to invest.
The mobile market is predominantly based on micro transactions. The pricing model for this more closely resembles the professional desktop tools moving to tablet, similar to what Adobe has done.
For the moment i’ll have to be content with sketchup on desktop.
For the developers I’m sure you’ve agonised over the possible pricing models and arrived at the one you feel best balances your costs versus growth of your user base.
I’m not suggesting you should change anything but I’m sure I’m not the only potential user priced out of the market.
For what it’s worth, some things I probably would have bought straight up as one-off unlocks:
* import jpeg/png
* export skp
* up to 10-ish save files
For hobbyists and casual users, what we’re looking to buy is the convenience of doing things on a tablet that we’re already able to do for free on a desktop (or a Surface Pro).
This might not be that tool, but one will come along to fill that gap soon enough.
Then I got to the subscription. Don’t get me wrong, compared to other CAD tools this is clearly a great buy.
The problem is I’m not a professional, and even at the price point offered it’s an order of magnitude beyond what most non-professionals doing 3d scribbles for fun will likely be willing to invest.
The mobile market is predominantly based on micro transactions. The pricing model for this more closely resembles the professional desktop tools moving to tablet, similar to what Adobe has done.
For the moment i’ll have to be content with sketchup on desktop.
For the developers I’m sure you’ve agonised over the possible pricing models and arrived at the one you feel best balances your costs versus growth of your user base.
I’m not suggesting you should change anything but I’m sure I’m not the only potential user priced out of the market.
For what it’s worth, some things I probably would have bought straight up as one-off unlocks:
* import jpeg/png
* export skp
* up to 10-ish save files
For hobbyists and casual users, what we’re looking to buy is the convenience of doing things on a tablet that we’re already able to do for free on a desktop (or a Surface Pro).
This might not be that tool, but one will come along to fill that gap soon enough.
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Getting there, full of promise
The first few versions of this app had a unique approach to modeling, but they lacked important features. It was rough, but fun in its method and work flow. Then came 3.0, and it started out just bad! However, the developer seems to really try hard to get things right and after a few updates to version 3, it is just starting to get its groove back. Creating complex curves is getting back on track and the more intuitive method it had in earlier versions is starting to appear again. Now, if they get .dxf import going, I’ll really be excited. I want to thank the developer for really working to address the concerns of the users. In a few updates, this app will be worth 5 stars no doubt.
And still no .DXF import/export. It has been well over a year, if not two since this feature was promised... Nice work guys 🤬
And still no .DXF import/export. It has been well over a year, if not two since this feature was promised... Nice work guys 🤬
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Better get it right the first time
This app is not a viable 3D modeling solution. There is no means to go back in the history of operations and edit your drawing. Recently, I just found out that the rudimentary forward and back arrows give up after a difficult operation. Some fillets generated improperly in my drawing now I am left with a broken model. Shapr3D has given up after that operation and now I can’t go back and fix it. I understand the concept of being able to just sketch and the app figures out what you want but it’s too clunky. Often times the app chooses the wrong plane, wrong sketch, wrong operation etc. There needs to be a way to manually select the operation I want. The view is also limiting because if I want to perform an operation on the inside of a hollow body the only way I can get to that view to see what I’m doing is to cut a hole in the side of what I am working on and try to fix it later. I would love to be able to do CAD work on my iPad but it looks like I’m going back to my Mac. For the price this app is seriously lacking functionality.
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Mostly Gimmick, Somewhat useful, too expensive...
Working with CAD has long been the dream of many creatives with iPads. When I found this app I was so excited. When I cracked it open and started using it, a familiar and simple interface delighted me. And then the gimmick of using my Apple Pencil to create CAD drawings wore off. The usability can be extremely tedious when you want to perform multiple actions at the same time or sequentially. You have to extrude, confirm, back out, and then enter the tool again to extrude more than once. It’s also quite difficult to get used to navigation, whether in the viewport or using the buttons. For a premium price, I’d rather forego the convenience of creating on my iPad and spend it on a full featured suite on my PC that does more and isn’t as much a hassle. Both my wife and I also tried applying for student Pro versions by providing legitimate credentials and photo proof of our ID badges only to both receive emails asking for more information and then silence. I’m very doubtful that they even provide student or educational licenses. After contacting them asking for a status update, they simply didn’t respond. If they can improve on the user experience issues, lower the price and fix the buggy nature of the 3D models themselves, I’d consider trying again.
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Response from developer
Hi - we have student licensees, thousands of people. Sorry that you had this experience, please send your credentials to daniel@shapr3d.com and I'll make sure you will get approved. Don't know what happened in your case, but we usually answer every email quite fast Also, Extrusion works with the pencil, not only with the tool. Just select a face and pushpull it, there is no need to enter the tool. It is needed if you are drafting something, or in certain edge cases.
Amazing
I have used multiple 3D CAD programs in my day, including Solid Edge and SolidWorks, and feel that Shapr3D is not quite on their level yet, but it is absolutely amazing what its able to do given that it is running on a mobile device. One feature I would love to see though, that I have not seen on any other CAD program, but is not essential, is AR functionality. Other than that, the app is amazing.
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