Top 10 (Mobile) 3D Modeling Apps to Design and 3D Print on the Go
3D printing is getting mobile. The options available to create, view or convert your 3D designs from your smartphone or tablet are growing every day with new apps and features. Today we present you with some suggestions for mobile apps that will make your life easier. For students, professionals or enthusiasts, there is a mobile 3D design app for everyone.
3DC.io
This small Estonian start-up has created an easy and extremely intuitive app for 3D design. 3DC has a very simple interface that makes it a good option for beginners or children and young people who want to start designing. This app for 3D design has a focus on education. 3DC.io offers discounts for schools and helps teachers to integrate 3D design in their curriculums.
Features in 3DC are uncomplicated and include a gallery where users can upload their designs or where newbies can get some inspiration, as well as templates to work on. This 3D Mobile app is free but you can upgrade with a monthly or yearly fee. With 3DC.io you can also export your designs to .OBJ to edit them or to .STL to print them. Once you have converted your model to this format, you can easily upload it to i.materialise to print it.
- Ideal for: Beginners, kids and young students
- Available for: Android, iOS, Web and Desktop
- Price: Free
Pro version for $2.99 per month or $14.99 per year - Languages: English, Estonian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Finnish, Japanese, Russia
3DC.io
Morphi
A mobile app for 3D design with a focus on visualization. You can design your models for 3D printing and place them in the real world thanks to its virtual reality feature. Morphi is designed to be used on iPads. It uses templates and ready-made shapes that can be manipulated with the tools in the app. The idea behind this 3D app, released by a New York start-up called The Inventery, is to democratize 3D design. There are many tutorials and videos available to learn more.
Also focused on education, Morphi App offers licensing discounts for schools, as well as online and offline workshops about 3D printing and virtual and augmented reality.
- Ideal for: Beginners and Schools
- Available for: iPad and Mac, Windows (in beta)
- Price: Free
For a $9.99 single purchase you can access extra features (view designs in AR, export to .STL and .OBJ or import .STL). When buying more than 20 licenses there is a 50% discount. Free 15-day trial - Languages: English
Microsoft 3D Builder
3D Builder is a Microsoft app for 3D modeling and printing. The app has been a standard feature on Windows PC since 2013, and is now also available for Windows 10 Mobile and Xbox. With this app, Windows phone users can view, capture, personalize and print their models from their smartphone.
The mobile 3D Builder app is optimized for a touchscreen interface, making it easier to tweak and repair models on the go. From 3D Builder, users can send their models directly to i.materialise and get professional 3D prints in a variety of finishes and colors. 3D Builder supports many 3D file formats such as 3MF, STL, OBJ, PLY, and WRL.
- Ideal for: Basic modeling and changes
- Available for: Windows 10 Phone
- Price: Free
3DBuilder
Umake
Pen and paper meet 3D design with this app for iOS. Umake allows you to turn your sketches and doodles into professional 3D models. This award-winning 3D design tool focuses its efforts on tutorials and weekly video tips. To 3D print the designs, it is possible to export them in OBJ, STEP and IGES format. The pro option offers unlimited exports and imports up to 25MB. Umake is also the most colorful app for 3D modeling! The app has an extensive community where users can share their designs, get inspired and give feedback to each other.
- Ideal for: Designers starting on 3D and anybody looking for some fun
- Available for: iOS
- Price: Free
Pro option for $9.99 per month or $99 per year - Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese
Umake
Onshape
Onshape is a complete cloud 3D CAD system that lets members of a team work simultaneously from their browser, phone or tablet. You can 3D print your models on Onshape directly from the web, downloading the i.materialise 3D printing plugin, available on the Onshape browser.
Learn how to install the i.materialise plugin and 3D print with Onshape.
- Ideal for: Professional designers and engineers who work in teams
- Available for: Android, iOS and web
- Price: Free for educative purposes. $125 per month for professional use. Free trial available
- Languages: English, German, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Onshape
Shapr3D
This is a professional 3D CAD app for iPad, especially created for iPad Pro, which works with an Apple Pencil. On other iIPads Shapr3D works as a CAD file viewer but it’s not possible to edit the files.
This mobile app is useful for the first ideation stages of 3D designs. The professional option offers unlimited workspaces, image export and import, export to CAP apps and colors.
- Ideal for: Industrial designers, engineers and creatives.
- Available for: iOS. For iPad Pro
- Pricing: Free
Pro version $8.25 per month when billed yearly
- Language: English
Shapr3D
SketchUp Viewer for Mobile
The mobile app for SketchUp is not here yet, but with this viewer app you can view your 3D models on your phone and tablet.
This app is focused on accessibility, so you can connect the app to storage services like 3D Warehouse, Dropbox, Google Drive, Trimble Connect or email inboxes. With SketchUp Viewer, users can access many different views with section planes, perspective cameras, layer visibility and even an x-ray mode. Beginners who have never worked with this software, can read these tips and tricks for 3D printing with SketchUp.
If you feel generous, it might be good to know that SketchUp goes a step further in its visualization, with a feature for HoloLens. For $1499 you can use the mixed reality feature on your device.
- Ideal for: Professionals who work with SketchUp
- Available for: Android, iOS and Desktop
- Languages: English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
- Price: $9.99
eDrawings
Another option for viewing and sharing 3D files is eDrawings from Solid Works. eDrawings is a professional 2D and 3D CAD collaboration for smartphones and tablets. It’s possible to view models in a real context with AR, as well as opening files from cloud storage services. Users can zoom, pan and rotate files with the multi-touch feature.
- Ideal for: Professionals who work with Solid Works
- Available for: Android, iOS, Windows and Mac
- Languages: English
- Price: $9.99
Edrawings
Thingiverse
This is not a 3D design mobile app, but one that can help you turn your ideas into 3D models. Thingiverse is a database for 3D models and designs, perfect for those who don’t have the time or skills to create their own 3D designs. Thingiverse has a very active community that offers free .STL files that you can just download and easily print on our platform. With this 3D app for Android you can browse and choose your favorite design from your sofa.
- Ideal for: People who want to 3D print but don’t want to design from scratch
- Platform: Android
- Price: Free
- Languages: English
Qlone
We recently explained all you need to know about this 3D scanning mobile app. With Qlone you can easily scan small objects and turn them into 3D models to edit and print. With the integration of i.materialise on the app, you can print your models from your phone. Learn more on how Qlone works and start 3D scanning today.
- Ideal for: Getting inspiration from the real world and turning objects into 3D models to print
- Platform: iOS
- Language: English
- Price: Free
Some payment features on a credit-based system
As you can see, the future of mobile apps for 3D design and 3D printing looks bright, as many apps are still improving and evolving their features.
Creating and editing your models on the go is a great option for curious and creative minds or busy professionals. Once you have tweaked your models, you can export them in .STL or any other compatible file format with i.materialise and upload them to our platform to 3D print.
