Markforged founder Greg Mark’s new startup, Backflip AI, solely simply got here out of stealth and is already making waves within the design and manufacturing trade with its AI-powered CAD instruments. The corporate’s newest innovation is a SOLIDWORKS plugin and standalone app that transforms the method of changing 3D scan knowledge into absolutely parametric CAD fashions.
In an unique interview, Mark mentioned the corporate’s imaginative and prescient, the brand new plugin’s capabilities, and the broader implications for CAD customers throughout industries. Mark’s demo showcased how engineers and producers can seamlessly convert scanned elements into absolutely editable CAD information, eliminating the standard bottlenecks in reverse engineering.
Turbocharging CAD with AI
Backflip’s core philosophy is CAD agnosticism—empowering customers to retain their current CAD workflows whereas considerably enhancing effectivity. “We love CAD. Preserve your CAD,” stated Greg Mark. “We don’t wish to pressure anybody to vary what they’re already good at. In case you’ve spent hundreds of hours mastering SOLIDWORKS, NX, or every other CAD system, we would like you to remain there. Our purpose is to not make you turn—it’s to turbocharge your current workflow. The plugin means that you can work inside your CAD surroundings and seamlessly convert scanned knowledge into one thing absolutely editable with out leaping between instruments.”
The AI-driven plugin permits customers to transform STL information and scanned meshes into editable parametric fashions with out switching software program. The corporate goals to increase help to a number of CAD platforms, making certain seamless integration throughout the trade. The demo highlighted this flexibility, displaying how customers might work inside their most well-liked CAD environments.
How It Works
The SOLIDWORKS plugin operates as a facet panel the place customers can add STL information. Backflip’s cloud-based GPU processing then generates 4 completely different parametric variations of the half, permitting customers to pick out essentially the most correct mannequin. The plugin then robotically rebuilds the mannequin inside SOLIDWORKS, making a full characteristic tree as if it had been manually designed.
“This isn’t some black-box magic,” defined Mark. “SOLIDWORKS sees it as a completely native mannequin, full with sketches, extrusions, and patterns. What meaning is, so far as your CAD software program is anxious, you constructed this half your self. It was extremely troublesome to get this proper, however we knew it needed to be finished correctly. We would like AI-assisted design to be absolutely interoperable with skilled CAD workflows. This isn’t only a midway resolution—it’s a real extension of the designer’s capabilities.”
In contrast to current AI instruments, like ChatGPT and DALL-E, through which superior software program that has by no means truly encountered the bodily world fabricates textual content, photos, and flicks, the fashions created by Backflip really feel as if they had been made by a human. That’s, the AI can deal with normal CAD operations resembling extrudes, revolves, chamfers, and fillets, constructing an entire characteristic tree.
Addressing Manufacturing Challenges
One of many key purposes of Backflip’s expertise is in manufacturing upkeep and restore. When a machine half breaks, it usually halts manufacturing traces, costing corporations tens of millions in downtime. Historically, engineers should manually reverse-engineer a component, a time-consuming course of. With Backflip, a easy 3D scan might be immediately transformed right into a manufacturable CAD mannequin, considerably lowering downtime.
Mark highlighted the significance of this method for industries like automotive and aerospace, the place getting old gear usually lacks digital design information. “3D printing as an trade has a counterintuitive workflow,” he stated. “In case you’re machining a component and the outlet comes out too small, you don’t redraw your entire half—you simply regulate the software offset. However in 3D printing, folks even have to return into CAD and modify the geometry itself. With Backflip, you herald an STL, and it immediately turns into parametric. You’ll be able to tweak it, make changes, and ship it again to the printer or the manufacturing facility ground with out having to redraw all the things from scratch. That’s enormous for corporations coping with fixed iteration and manufacturing changes.”
Increasing Past SOLIDWORKS
Whereas SOLIDWORKS was chosen because the preliminary platform as a consequence of its widespread adoption, Backflip has plans to broaden. Future plugins will help CAD software program like Siemens NX, PTC Creo, and Autodesk Fusion 360, amongst different cloud-based CAD platforms. For customers exterior these ecosystems, a standalone internet app will supply step file conversions for broader compatibility.
“The explanation we began with SOLIDWORKS is straightforward—it has a large person base, and it’s a software we all know properly,” Mark stated. “However our imaginative and prescient extends past any single CAD system. We would like Backflip to be accessible to each engineer, whatever the software program they use. That’s why our subsequent steps contain rolling out integrations for different main CAD applications. On the similar time, we’ll additionally supply a standalone app for customers who simply have to shortly convert STL information to parametric CAD with no plugin.”
A novel facet of Backflip’s software is its instructional part. The plugin doesn’t simply create a component—it reveals customers the way it was constructed, step-by-step. “It’s like having a turbocharged CAD assistant,” stated Mark. “For knowledgeable engineers, it quickens workflows. For brand new customers, it offers an on-ramp into skilled CAD software program. One of many greatest limitations to CAD adoption is the sheer complexity of ranging from scratch. However should you can scan a component and instantly see the way it was reconstructed—extrudes, cuts, patterns—it turns into a lot simpler to switch and be taught from. We’re not simply automating design; we’re educating folks learn how to assume like CAD engineers.”
The demo strengthened this by visually strolling by every design step, highlighting how the AI intelligently detects design intent and reconstructs elements in a method that aligns with finest CAD practices. This performance not solely streamlines engineering work but additionally serves as a studying software for these new to CAD modeling.
The Way forward for AI in CAD
The corporate remains to be finalizing pricing however plans to supply a freemium mannequin just like Onshape. A free tier will permit public mannequin sharing, whereas professional and enterprise variations will supply personal designs and extra options. With AI inference working on cloud GPUs, pricing will think about usage-based prices.
“We’ll have a free model the place fashions are public, after which fairly priced professional and enterprise choices for companies that want privateness and extra options,” Mark defined. “We’re not within the enterprise of constructing CAD much less accessible. Our purpose is to provide folks extra energy to design and iterate sooner, with out placing up pointless price limitations.”
Mark in contrast Backflip’s present stage to early iterations of generative AI, stating, “We’re at GPT-2 stage now. By the tip of the 12 months, we count on to hit GPT-4-level accuracy. Proper now, it handles about 10% of elements very well. Inside months, that’ll be 95%. That’s why we’re protecting beta testing tight—we wish to refine it earlier than opening the floodgates.”
For now, Backflip is concentrated on rolling out its beta program, gathering person suggestions, and refining the expertise earlier than a broader launch. customers can join early entry on Backflip’s web site.
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