Tinkercad

Love tinkercad and use te web browser all the time now. I recently attempted to log on as normal (so keep in mind I had not been on the app for easily more than a year) but when I try to get on now, it gets stuck in this strange loading page where it’s not quite done with the first loading screen but another screen behind it saying “Connection Lost” is also trying to load at the same time. The then create a weird pulsing screen affect from the blue first loading screen and the second white loading screen that is an infinite cycle and does not appear to ever resolve itself (it was running for more than an hour doing this). Even after uninstalling and reinstalling the app it still does this. Would be a 5 if not for the recent problems above, but overall a really great app and I’ll most likely continue to use the web browser whenever possible.

The 3D modeling capabilities of Tinkercad are phenomenol. In particular, the boolean functions are able to handle subtractions and merges of extremely complex objects. Very few apps have this level of mathematical computational power that can run on an iPad without bombing out. There are people who claim Tinkercad is a toy app, meant for kids, and not adult draftspersons or engineers. Don’t listen to them. Those naysayers don’t know what they are talking about. Tinkercad is not CAD, but is a much faster tool for visualizing and drafting in the 3D space. The dimensional accuracy is high and the precision is to the hundredths of a millimeter, so I’ve used Tinkercad for rapid development of tools and parts to outsource for DMLS production in aluminum, steel and titanium — and where I’ve managed the entire design to production chain on an iPad while waiting a few hours for connecting flights. To the new users: once you learn how to merge and subtract objects, there are no limits to what you can do with Tinkercad for 3D modeling. I am amazed that such a powerful app as Tinkercad is free. I hear that Autodesk is no longer developing Tinkercad and is developing something even more powerful with tiers of paid subscription. Whenever that comes out, I’m “in”! Kudos to the developers and engineers at Autodesk for Tinkercad. Great app. 👍

First off, I really appreciate that Tinkercad is free. I used to use the web version to design all my simpler stuff because I was too lazy to learn Fusion 360 or Onshape well. It’s pretty amazing what you can do with a simple little CAD. However, the iPad app is not nearly as good as the web interface. I honestly could live with the clunky interface if it weren’t for the major bug I’m seeing when you tap a dimension and enter it with the keyboard. After hitting “OK”, the keyboard takes a long time to disappear and most of the time that same dimension box will come up again and require you to enter the number yet again and hope it works. It was just frustrating and significantly took away from my experience. If I notice that the bug gets fixed I’ll update my review to 5 stars. Now after getting an iPad Pro, I decided to try out Shapr3D and absolutely loved the user interface. The integration with Apple Pencil is very seamless and intuitive. It’s a powerful CAD tool with a lot of potential but of course it’s not free (subscription service too...)