According to Onshape, Force Zoom will allow designers to explore their components and assemblies with more accuracy and newly-added support with the pixel-precise control of the Apple Pencil.
By applying pressure to the screen with the Apple Pencil, iPad Pro users will be able to zoom into a specified location. The harder a user presses the pencil, the tighter the zoom will become. Once the pencil is depressed, a user’s previous view will snap back into place.
“Apple Pencil lends itself beautifully to a two-handed workflow,” said Onshape’s founder Jon Hirschtick. “You can rotate or pan a model with one hand and use Pencil to sketch, select and interact with your 3D models.”
Since its release, Onshape has billed itself as the first truly purpose-built mobile-centric CAD platform, and it’s been difficult to argue against that claim. Even at its early stages, Onshape has quickly established itself as a viable cloud and browser-based CAD platform with mobile apps for both Android and iOS.
While it’s taken Onshape a while to incorporate all of the features of a full-blown CAD platform, the design startup has slowly built a very capable tool. With this new revelation, however, it looks like the company may have decided that its software is functionally mature from a CAD standpoint and Onshape stands to gain further potential adoption by developing greater functionality in the interaction space. If that’s the case, Onshape isn’t the first company to realize that interaction is going to be a big part of CAD’s mobile future.
For the past year, Siemens’ Solid Edge users have been leveraging the computing power and multi-touch potential of the Microsoft Surface 3 and s. Similar to Onshape, Siemens’ multi-touch mobile CAD capabilities allow users to use a pen, their fingers and even a keyboard to design. Where the two differ boils down to the maturity of the interaction. Put simply, Solid Edge on a Surface Pro just has better interactive functionality with its pen and multi-touch input than Onshape, but will that lead last?
In little over a year, Onshape has grown quickly. New features are added on a regular basis and the company seems to be very invested in carving out a market in the mobile CAD space. Is their strategy right? Will more users disconnect from their workstations and take their designs to tablets? Can more in-depth multi-functional interactions help turn that tide?
The jury still seems to be out, but big players like Siemens and Autodesk act like they’re investing in a future that’s ripe with mobile CAD users.