Product updates: History-Based Parametric Modeling Progress

In July 2023, we announced that History-Based Parametric Modeling was coming to Sharp3D. Since then we have opened up Beta access to this next-generation version of Shapr3D and released multiple updates. If you haven’t seen the original announcement, you can check it out here. As we close off 2023, we wanted to give you all an update of how far we have come, and what to expect next.

RECAP: WHAT IS HISTORY-BASED PARAMETRIC MODELING

History-Based Parametric Modeling allows designers to access and modify their design’s history. This enables you to retroactively adjust design parameters, with subsequent features updating in response. It is a powerful blend of flexibility and precision, enabling designers to revisit and refine their work without starting from scratch. Shapr3D’s implementation of History-Based Parametric blends this power with the simplicity and power we are known for. It also preserves Shapr3D’s multidevice strength, running natively on not just Windows, but also macOS and iPadOS.

PROGRESS: WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE THE ANNOUNCEMENT?

Since the announcement, we’ve launched an open beta of History-Based Parametric Modeling for anyone to join. Thousands have already tried it out, and many have even made the beta version a core part of their design workflow. We’ve been working on making this a fully-featured implementation, while also iterating based on your feedback.

Since launching the open beta, we've worked to make sure all tools and features currently available in Shapr3D are also compatible with History-Based Parametric Modeling. We’ve also released a number of usability and workflow enhancements. Well-constrained sketches play a fundamental role in history-based models, so we have revamped the sketch annotation experience to optimize for clarity. We’ve also iterated on the point-selection experience and rolled out numerous enhancements to the user experience of the new history sidebar.

It’s also been critical to us to ensure that with History-Based Parametric Modeling, Shapr3D remains as fast and stable as you have come to expect. We’re excited to be working on what we think will be one of the most performant implementations on the market.

We also worked to create and collect resources to help new users get started with History-Based Parametric Modeling in Shapr3D, including sample models and tutorials. These have been released on a new Get Started page, which you can check out here.

PLANS: LOOKING AHEAD TO 2024

Although we have not rolled out History-Based Parametric Modeling to all users by the end of 2023 as we had hoped, we did improve the beta to the point of feeling very comfortable recommending it to anyone interested in History-Based Parametric Modeling. If you haven’t tried it out yet, you can download it from here.

In early 2024, while continuing to iterate on your feedback, we’ll also kick off another major category of improvements to the experience, the addition of variables and support for expressions. This combined  with continued work to open up additional parameters within the 3D modeling toolset will help make sure that we are releasing a truly parameter-driven modeling workflow.

We plan to release History-Based Parametric Modeling to all our users in early 2024. Stay tuned.