Using Shapr3D with Rhino 3D

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Hey, I'm Sam and I do design, and in the video today, I'm taking you through exporting and importing files into one of my favorite CAD programs, Shapr3D. I've been using Shapr3D for years now, and it really has become my go-to tool for doing design work in my daily workflow. A little bit about me and how I might use Shapr3D in my workflow: I am an industrial designer, specializing in furniture, lighting,

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consumer electronics, and currently, I'm working on a furniture range for a 3D printing company out in America. So what I'm going through today is my genuine live file for this project. It's not something that is made up for this tutorial; this is a genuine live file based on my genuine workflow with Shapr3D. So this whole video is all about being able to export your files and then also...

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Now you might say, Sam, why would you possibly need to do that? Well, usually, you're not just the only designer working on a project. You might have other people, larger teams, more stakeholders, and they might not be using Shapr3D. Some people might be PC-based, some people might be Mac-based, and all of these different people in different teams, different stakeholders, even outside of the company, will need to view the file and leave feedback.

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Being able to export these files is perfect to work collaboratively. It might also just be for your own benefit as well. If you're a single designer with a workflow from start to finish, you'll still need to export these models for 3D printing, sending to specialized visualization software, and everything in between. Another reason might be that you're sending this file to people who don’t know anything about 3D files at all.

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They just want to see the object, spin it around. They don't have any CAD software; they just have access to the viewer. So being able to export this for other stakeholders who might not be 3D object-minded is an amazing feature that you can do in Shapr3D as well. Now, usually, when companies ask me to cover their software, there's a strict clause in the contract that says I'm not allowed to mention...

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any other software whatsoever. But we know that's not what it's like in the real world. We know that we can be fluent in different CAD softwares that give us different attributes to our CAD model. For example, in this live file here, we can see my history, and that's because Shapr3D is a completely parametric-based software. Anything I do earlier on in the feature tree updates later on as well.

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As an example, I've got my side profile sketch here. This is the chair that I'm making for Decibel, the 3D printing company. In this side profile sketch, I can come in and maybe change the angle. Once I change the angle there, the whole chair updates. Right? So I can change that back to 95, I think it was, and everything updates.

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This way of working is amazing for me when I'm doing these sorts of furniture projects. It means I can stay within the same design file and do different iterations, each with slightly different proportions, angles, and really hone in on the comfort of this chair. There are other videos on the internet, and I even have one of myself going through the feature tree in Shapr3D. If you want to dive into parametric modeling...

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and really hone those skills, go check out those videos. This video today is all about exporting this file for other programs. Let's say, for example, that I've got this chair now, with all the perfect dimensions and angles, and now I want to share it with a program like Rhino, where I can really dial in some of those surfaces.

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Models like that are good for surface finesse, but not for parametric modeling. Rhino can’t keep updating all the different angles and surfaces. So my process is modeling everything in Shapr3D, doing all the iterations, and then exporting to Rhino to finesse surfaces. To do that, it’s easy. All we have to do is go to the Share tab, click on Export, and export the project.

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Now we're given a choice of so many different formats. This is like when you have either a Word document or an Apple Pages document and you transform those into a PDF that can be read by all sorts of different programs. This is exactly the same format here—it's about taking the data we have and exporting it in different formats that different programs can read. I want to export to Rhino, which is a surface-based system.

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For that, I recommend using the STEP format. STEP is universally read and keeps all of your nice, clean surfaces intact. You can see here, any of these lines on our model define a surface, and anything plain gray is the span of the surface itself. So a STEP file...

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will keep everything in the same orientation and ensure a really nice model to work from in Rhino. Other options I like to use are IGES, OBJ, and FBX. Each has its quirks, and if one doesn’t work, I export in another. That’s not a Shapr3D issue—it’s a universal modeling format issue. Let’s say we go with STEP and want to export. The AP242 will save any material splits and differences, or you can go with a format that packages it as one color.

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All we have to do is name it, press export, and save it where you want. I’m on my iPad, and I also work on PC, so I like to save it to my cloud drive. This way, it's synced and instantly importable on my PC. You could also email it to yourself or save it on another format, but I'm going to save it in the cloud. Then we can open up Rhino and continue modeling as if it was built natively in Rhino.

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To open that file in Rhino, just go to File, then Open, find the saved file, and use it in Rhino like usual. This tutorial isn’t for Rhino, so let’s say I’ve made some surface tweaks and now we're ready to bring it back into Shapr3D. Why do this? I can show you why in a second. To do that, just go to Import, select the altered file from your cloud, and import. Here it is in the exact same spot.

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You'll notice I've done some minor tweaks, like reworking some of these surfaces to ensure they’re completely curvature continuous and also adjusting the outer radius of the chair for consistency all around. Changing an individual surface gives me more control than the solid body surfaces Shapr works in. Like I mentioned, it looks exactly the same as the rest of the model, right? We can even turn on zebras to see...

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how nicely these surfaces are flowing, making sure everything imports well. The benefit? This file is still fully editable, exactly the same way it was. For example, I can select a surface, remove it, and then use fillet with a 2-millimeter smooth edge. I might choose a G2 curvature so it’s not just a plain round element, but a G2 finish. And I can do the exact same on the other side.

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Say you’re halfway through a project and want to bring in other elements, like screw fittings or fixtures that you don't want to model, but already have in an external library. All you have to do is click three buttons here, press import, and add one into your scene. For example, I can reload this chair again and it places exactly over the previous one.

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And I can just move that to see.

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Here is our altered version with the fillet. And in exactly the same way, here’s our fresh import we just added to the same file. So everything remains as editable as before. Now, the reason to bring this back into Shapr3D? It’s because of the visualization workflow built into the app. For example, I can go to visualization mode, switch from modeling mode, and make the chair out of plastic.

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We select a material, like matte PVC, change its color to maybe a slightly off-white or cream, adjust the environment, and see where it looks best. Maybe...

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something more dramatic to highlight the nice, clean surfaces and the perfect radii. We can change the rotation for a nice shadow on the leg.

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Now that the model is fully filleted, adjusted, and with materials, we can export for someone in our team who doesn’t have visualization software. They just want to see the file and leave comments in a web browser. It’s so easy to do. All you need to do is go to the share button, press create link.

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That creates a web-based viewer for this model, viewable on a browser and in AR. Perfect for sharing with people in your team who don’t have CAD software. You can limit access with a specific password and share that code with them. So I can copy it, go to one I made earlier as a test. The file loads up, and now we have the finished piece with all fillets and materials, viewable without CAD software.

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Now that we’ve exported a couple of times, there’s another format too. If you want to export specifically for 3D printing, STEP isn’t ideal. You’ll want to triangulate the surfaces and export as STL for slicing software like Cura. Just go to export project, select STL, and set the triangle resolution. Smaller triangles offer higher resolution; fewer triangles make a lighter file.

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Make sure the units match what you want to print in, and you have options like including hidden items or creating separate files for each part. Then export and save to your preferred location. Here's an example of that. I think it’s really important to continuously check CAD data against real-world samples. The AR viewer in Shapr3D is amazing for proportions, but having it in hand is best.

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There’s one more export type, specifically for product visualization software. I know Shapr3D’s visualization tool is amazing, but sometimes you need to take it further, beyond real-time. This lets us spin and zoom live on the iPad, which is awesome. But for high-quality marketing renders, I use Keyshot. Shapr3D and Keyshot work well together.

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For Keyshot, you can use STEP, OBJ, or USDZ. USDZ is great for AR, offering lightweight models with texture. OBJ, STEP, or IGES are best for universal Keyshot export. Just go to Keyshot, import, and everything will look as you left it. And while exporting as OBJ, I know Blender also works well with OBJ for simulations like cushions and soft bodies.

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I think there’s no program you can’t export to from Shapr3D. So there it is, my live project workflow using Shapr3D alongside other tools, importing and exporting. I hope this helps you see how Shapr3D can work with your other tools. Let me know in the comments if you learned anything from this video. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and hit the bell. See you next time! Bye!