See also: Clara.io [0], Onshape [1], Lagoa (bought a few years ago by Autodesk) [2]<p>I must confess I struggle to see the long-term market for these services - I was working on a startup in the field for a while, and eventually decided it wasn't worth continuing.<p>The only thing these services really offer above desktop equivalents (which Autodesk totally dominate) is the collaboration (like Google Docs for 3D). But do you really need to collaborate to create 3D? Maybe to review/annotate etc. but to actually collaborate during the process of creating an object/scene?<p>To put it another way, are you going to convince your entire art team to leave behind the toolchain they have used their entire career, just so they can 'collaborate'? And if so, do you think Autodesk are going to let that happen? (Obviously not, as they bought in to the field a while ago).<p>[0] <a href="https://clara.io/" rel="nofollow">https://clara.io/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.onshape.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.onshape.com/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://architosh.com/2014/11/autodesk-reportedly-acquires-cloud-based-3d-design-platform-lagoa-for-60-million/" rel="nofollow">https://architosh.com/2014/11/autodesk-reportedly-acquires-c...</a>
I am a Mechanical Engineer and we use SolidWorks for CAD. I was surprised to find there exists no 3D modeling software (Nurbs / Polygonal based) that I can model using accurate dimensions. 3DSMax, Maya, Modo, C4D, Blender, Houdini, you name it. I understand that they’re not doing parametric modeling such as SolidWorks, Inventor, etc. but there has to be a way to merge both modeling paradigms. I was honestly shocked at this fundamental lack of capability.<p>I wanted to accurately model a product for visualization and there is no way to specify dimensions. Everything is done by “eye” in the visualization industry. When accuracy is required, especially proportions, manual element dimensions are typed in during creation of primitives.<p>I am used to the extreme discipline and constrain based modeling in engineering. Does anyone know why visualization folks don’t care about dimensional accuracy?
Does per monthly pricing turn off a lot of people?<p>My usage patterns are pretty uneven and - although I know I can unsubscribe/resubscribe - I end up feeling like I'm probably wasting my money when I'm not using it (despite the low price)<p>It's irrational but there you go.<p>Does anybody consider a per-usage pricing model? Is there some reason why that is a terrible idea?
Here is a video of what is possible inside a browser!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dC1ZRdf9JM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dC1ZRdf9JM</a><p>Wow!
(not affiliated with them)
This looks pretty cool. Tinkercad is another tool like this that works in a browser. I find Tinkercad is a little more intuitive but from what I can see this seems to be a little more powerful.
To get extended functionality, you need to sign-up for a Premium account. This tool need's to be more open in first place as 'fully functional' before it can attract people to sign up for premium account.<p>The 'collaboration' aspect isn't what will sell this product. It could have potential when they allow creator's and designers to fully explore it first.
So can you actually do useful work in this? Or is it just drag & drop of prefabs like the marketing would lead you to believe?<p>What about modifiers and tools, what can I actually make with this aside from drag&drop of prefabbed iphones?<p>Why would I choose to pay for some cloud BS over just downloading blender?
We've come a long way since VRML [0] running in java applets!<p>Re-live the experience:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eghlSdGvuC0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eghlSdGvuC0</a><p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRML" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRML</a>
To add to the list of other similar projects already mentioned, Nunu Studio[0] is a solid MIT-licensed tool based on three.js.<p>[0] <a href="https://nunustudio.org/" rel="nofollow">https://nunustudio.org/</a>
Oh man I hate receiving spam from these people. They don't provide an unsubscribe link, and when I ask them to stop sending me these e-mails, they say they won't and that I should manually log in to their website and delete my account. I don't have time to deal with this but I hope someone takes them to task for that.