# Anyone using (or thinking about using) Shapr3D?



## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

I realize this might gain no traction since the platform is limited (for all practical purposes) to iPad Pros with an Apple Pencil. I did a search on LJ and only two posts came up and they were from the same thread. Basically just someone saying they use Shapr3D and someone else saying yeah, me too. That's not much…lol

Before I spend a lot of time talking about the app, I thought I'd just see if there is any interest out there. Chime in if you have something to say-other than "I like Fusion 360," or whatever your current modeling favorite is. I'm not trying to be a buzzkill, but there's enough discussion of those tools out there, and I'd like to keep this focused on Shapr3D.

I've immersed myself pretty deeply into it, and it has real promise. There are things missing, but new features come along fairly regularly.

FFTJI


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## LeeRoyMan (Feb 23, 2019)

I like SU….....hehehehe

It looks interesting, but it also looks like it has a pretty big learning curve.
How is it to use?


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## sansoo22 (May 7, 2019)

Color me intrigued. This might be the thing to finally get me to jump into 3D modeling entirely. I prefer to draw with pencil and paper. Years of art and drafting just made that more comfortable. However being able to use the Apple Pencil to quickly sketch something and then jump right to Shapr3D feels like a workflow I could get behind.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> I like SU….....hehehehe
> 
> It looks interesting, but it also looks like it has a pretty big learning curve.
> How is it to use?
> ...


I thought that too when I first looked at it, but within a couple of hours (and watching a few videos) I was off and running. I've only been playing around with it for a short time, but I've managed to model a cabinet, complete with bead profile frame and panel doors, a table with tapered legs, etc. Edge profiles are especially easy. It always takes me a couple of tries to get the Follow Me thing to work in SU.

The tapered leg threw me because I went into it thinking like a SU user. But instead of creating a line for the taper to begin at, you do the taper part, pull up the square part where the aprons will attach and then join the two.

It wouldn't come close to what you use SU for though. A big thing missing is being able to apply textures and patterns to surfaces, so no wood grain look. You really need that if you're presenting a design, and you do a really good job with it. There's no Layout feature per se, but you can project parts onto the three planes and create a 2D view with dimensions.

I'll post a couple of things I've done when I get around to exporting them.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

Alrighty, here are a few items.

A dovetail joint:










A cabinet (door is missing panel)










And table (with no top yet)










And here you can get an idea of how the bodies that make up the cabinet are organized. Each of the items is a folder that contains the bodies that make up that item.










Here's one of the table w/ a leg and apron hidden to expose the joinery.


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## BlasterStumps (Mar 13, 2017)

Wow, I like that. I just started trying to learn a cad prog. I might have to swipe the wife's ipad and look into it. She has a pencil someplace.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

I really think anyone would find it approachable if they give it a chance. The main downside is the pricing.

The free version allows two designs and disables the import/export and some features like coloring the parts. Other than that, it does everything the pro version does, so you have a free platform to learn and play on. You can keep deleting and making new designs as often as you want, but you're limited to two at a time.

I hesitated to go pro because the subscription is $240/year. If that was broken down into $20/mo payments, it would be fine, but the price for the monthly plan is around $32/mo. My problem with large yearly subscriptions is that they always sneaks up on me.

Well, as it turned out, after my two-week free trial expired, I got an email from them offering the year for $168. That, combined with the fact that I can pay on their site using PayPal means I can use my PayPal credit deal and get six months to pay with zero interest. Assuming I have to pay full price next year, if that PayPal option is available I'll go that route. Frankly, if I stay as enamored with it as I am and they've added new features, I'd probably just bite the bullet and do the $240 as one chunk on the app store if I had to. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

Interesting, i already have an ipad pro, and my wife could use a pencil for teaching remotely. I am technically going back to school and may qualify for their student discount. Otherwise the price is pretty steep(i hate subscription plans)


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> Interesting, i already have an ipad pro, and my wife could use a pencil for teaching remotely. I am technically going back to school and may qualify for their student discount. Otherwise the price is pretty steep(i hate subscription plans)
> 
> - SMP


Same here. I can appreciate that they charge more monthly, since the user might not stay for the full year. But, why can't they set up a contract deal where you pay $20/mo towards the $240/yr cost with the provision that you are obligated for one year and if you end early, you'll be charged the balance?

The other thing is, persons buying the yearly plan at $240 contribute $20 per month into their coffers. The difference is, they get it all at once. Apparently that lump sum amount is valuable enough to warrant stifling monthly subscribers with that over-the-top monthly fee.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

I just hate the whole subscription scam that most software is switching to. In the old days you paid a price and owned it. Now they are charging monthly for something you should own. Most decent software used to even include free updates if you paid full price for a license. I even bought one program that had "lifetime free updates" and they switched to a subscription model and broke the old software. Basically ransomware at that point.


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## Pjschu (Mar 31, 2019)

Rich, I have been playing around with the free version, but have been having trouble figuring out how to make the taper on a leg and, of course, dovetails. I'm about to order the full version, but before I do, I want to be sure I have learned those two techniques first. I mostly build cabinets and tables, like the ones you have shown in you example files. I'd appreciate any help or tutorials that you found helpful. Thanks,

Paul


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

Paul-It's definitely difficult to find woodworking-specific information for Shapr3D. Most of my learning came from trial and error. One thing that is important is knowing when to switch to 2D mode and draw directly on one of the planes. A good understanding of construction axes and planes is important too. I've found planes to be the most useful in most of my stuff.

OK, let's see how well I can explain the tapered leg. First off, as is usually the case with these things, there are probably many different ways to accomplish it, but this one is super simple and works.

Make two rectangular prisms and align them vertically. The dimensions of the top one should be the same as the upper, non-tapered part. Let's say it's a small table with 4" wide aprons. I'd make that prism something like 2×2 x 5 inches. Make the bottom one the same, except make its height whatever is needed to get the overall length. If the leg was going to be 24" tall, make that lower part 19". Now it's easy to do the taper. If you tap on the bottom line of the first face to taper, you'll see that it defaults to Chamfer/Fillet. That's not what you want. So just tap the Move/Rotate tool and now you can move that line in to create whatever taper you want. Do the same on the other taper.

At this point, you still have two separate prisms, with a line on the outer non-tapered faces where the two prisms meet that you want to remove. All you have to do now is select both objects and do a Union. That's it. You now have a single object with solid faces on the non tapered sides. For the other legs, just duplicate and rotate.

For something like a dovetail or box joint, make a prism that represents your board. Double tap on the end face and draw lines to indicate one of the joints. In the case of a dovetail pin board, you can select one and set its angle to the dovetail angle, and then do the same to the other, but with a negative angle. Then copy them and paste along to make the full joint face. At that point you can push in the parts that will be cut out between the pins. For the tail board, all you have to do is bring the two together and do a Subtract.

I realize those instructions are brief, but it should point you in the right direction. Play around with your own methods and see what works best for you.


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