Paper vs FormWright 3D
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Paper
Create intricate 3D models with a tactile, paper-art feel. This app offers unparalleled spatial freedom, allowing you to draw directly into 3D space without a canvas. Sculpt complex shapes using intuitive tools and realistic materials.
- Zero-canvas 3D drawing
- Intuitive OmniJoystick control
- Tactile drawing and geometry tools
- Realistic material library
- Cinematic lighting presets
- Professional export options (USDZ, OBJ)
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3D Paper Studio: The Most Tactile Modeling Experience on iPad. Step into a digital atelier where the precision of CAD meets the soul of hand-crafted paper art. 3D Paper Studio is a first-of-its-kind creative suite designed specifically for iPad and Apple Pencil, allowing you to build complex 3D structures as easily as drawing on paper. Draw freely in 3D space and use any 3D stroke as a canvas to draw over as well to enhance your ideas and creative expressions. INFINITE SPATIAL FREEDOM: NO CANVAS REQUIRED Forget everything you know about 3D drawing. Unlike other apps that force you to create a canvas surface or plane before you draw, 3D Paper Studio gives you total spatial freedom. Start your stroke anywhere in 3D space and let it flow. Our engine handles the complex coordinate math so you can focus on the form. Draw in thin air, bridge gaps, and weave intricate 3D webs without ever feeling "stuck" to a 2D surface. THE OMNI-JOYSTICK: CONTROL DEPTH WITH ONE THUMB Experience the revolutionary OmniJoystick—the heart of our interaction model. While your Apple Pencil handles the art, your other thumb controls the universe. The same joystick becomes an object controller when any object/s is selected. No need to draw complicated canvases; Simply long press on the ground or any other stroke to set the precise drawing position and start painting in 3D space. Real-time Depth Control: Glide through the Z-axis as you draw to create sweeping 3D curves. Precision Snapping: Use the joystick to "Lock" to specific axes or snap to existing 3D "Magnets" for perfect alignment. Tactile Feedback: Feel the "click" of the grid as you navigate through your 3D studio. BEYOND DRAWING: TRUE 3D GEOMETRY Don't just sketch—extrude, revolve, and sweep. Use our advanced geometry engine to create ribbons, tubes, and complex lathes with a single stroke. The Bridge Tool: Connect two existing points with a sinuous paper ribbon that respects the surface normals of both objects. The Revolve Tool: Turn a single profile into a 3D vessel, bowl, or column in seconds. Edge Perturbation: Choose between "Clean" or "Torn" edges to give your models a raw, hand-crafted aesthetic. PHYSICAL MATERIALS & CINEMATIC LIGHTING Watch your creations come to life with our high-end material library. Choose from Smooth Bristol, Cold-Press Watercolor, Crumpled Foil, Corrugated Cardboard, and more. Use Cinematic Looks to light your scene with professional studio presets like Golden Hour, Midnight, and Vaporwave. KEY FEATURES: Zero-Canvas Drawing: Draw directly into 3D space with no setup required. OmniJoystick Workflow: Master depth, rotation, and snapping with a single, intuitive control. Tactile Tools: Draw, Bridge, Arc, and Revolve to create complex 3D meshes. Advanced Deformers: Warp, Twist, and Liquify your 3D geometry in real-time. Symmetry Engine: Mirror and Radial symmetry for intricate architectural patterns. Professional Export: Save your work as USDZ for AR, or OBJ for professional 3D pipelines. Camera Tours: Create cinematic fly-throughs and export them as high-quality video. UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY IN 3D. Join a new generation of designers who are redefining what it means to create on iPad. 3D Paper Studio—where paper becomes infinite. The app supports finger touch drawing but we recommend using apple Pencil for the best drawing experience and to access pressure sensitivity features. No subscriptions - Ever! Once you purchase the app, thats it. No additional in-app purchases, no subscriptions ever again. Every future update will be free for the life of the app.
FormWright 3D
Create, sculpt, paint, and animate 3D models on your mobile device. Build intricate designs, shape characters, and bring them to life with animation tools and lighting effects. Supports various export formats for further use.
- Solid modeling with precise dimensions
- Sculpting with brushes and modifiers
- Texture painting with layers
- Rigging and animation tools
- Motion capture integration
- Export to various 3D formats
- Optional Apple Watch companion
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FormWright 3D brings modeling, sculpting, painting and animation together on iPad and iPhone. Build a mechanical prop, shape a character, paint its surface and bring it to life in the same project. SOLID MODELING Sketch rectangles, circles, polygons and paths made from lines and true circular arcs. Extrude, cut, round or chamfer edges, make insets and pockets, and arrange repeated forms with arrays and radial patterns. Enter dimensions, move bodies with a gizmo and export exact Solid geometry as STEP. Bake a mesh to continue in Sculpt or Paint while retaining the original Solid source. MODEL, SCULPT AND RETOPOLOGIZE Edit points, edges and faces; use modifiers, instances and symmetry. Start from a clay sphere or build an organic character with Branch Forms. Sculpt with brushes, masks and movable transform controls. On regular iPad layouts, Retopo Draw lets you lay out loops and strips, preview fills and refine topology with grab and relax tools. PAINT AND LIGHT Paint on models with texture layers, selection tools and mirror or radial symmetry. Explore live procedural materials. Use the Light workspace for lights, shadows and photo-based environments. Import your own image for an environment and see it in supported Beauty renders. RIG, PERFORM AND ANIMATE Build and pose rigs, save keyframes or enable automatic keying. Record movement in Perform, compare poses with ghosts and trails, layer performances and clean up motion. Frame camera takes, add imported audio or optional voice recordings, and export video. CAMERA AND CAPTURE Use supported hardware for handheld camera control, mixed reality and on-device body, hand or face motion capture. Import footage to estimate camera movement and a placement plane for 3D objects. Footage tracking is a best-effort estimate: blur, occlusion and low-detail shots can drift or lose tracking. YOUR PROJECTS, YOUR FILES Save locally and share editable .fw3d projects with their referenced assets. Import and export supported geometry, materials and animation through formats including USDZ, GLB, OBJ and FBX. Export STL or 3MF for printing. Format support varies; export guidance explains when baking or a simplified result is needed. AR Quick Look is available on supported devices. OPTIONAL WATCH COMPANION Send lightweight model previews from a paired iPhone to Apple Watch, then orbit and zoom on your wrist. Use Watch orientation as a motion controller for the connected iPhone editor. A paired iPhone is required; direct Watch-to-iPad control is not included. ONE PURCHASE One-time purchase with no subscription, in-app purchases or FormWright account. This version includes iPhone, iPad and the optional Watch companion. Existing owners receive version 1.2 as an update. Your own original work can be used in personal or commercial projects; imported third-party assets retain their owners' terms. BEFORE YOU START Apple Pencil is optional; hover needs a compatible Pencil and iPad. Retopo Draw requires a regular iPad layout. Camera/AR and motion capture depend on device capabilities; room scanning needs supported LiDAR hardware. Watch requires watchOS 10 or later and a paired iPhone. Solid is a direct modeling workspace. Its feature record is read-only; editing a retained sketch does not rebuild an existing extrusion. Full sketch constraints, automatic tangency, revolve and shell are not included. Keep a copy before updating important work; older versions cannot open projects containing Solid data. Complex geometry and exports take longer to process. Creative processing stays on your device. No ads or tracking SDKs. Sharing is your choice. Privacy, support and open-source acknowledgments are available in Settings and on the developer website.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Paper at $6.99 against FormWright 3D's $19.99. FormWright 3D's advantage is chart position (#150 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). On rating, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Paper costs $6.99 and FormWright 3D $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Paper against 5.0 for FormWright 3D. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Paper | FormWright 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 — better | $19.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #150 — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.4 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 62 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Imran Gul | Don Stevenson |
In-app purchases
Paper
No in-app purchases
FormWright 3D
No in-app purchases





