Backflip AI
Backflip AI has announced a new 3D AI foundation model that can automatically turn 3D scan data into 3D models for manufacturing with 3D printing or conventional machining.
The start-up, from Markforged founders Greg Mark and David Benhaim, has unveiled two new tools including a plug-in for SOLIDWORKS that translates 3D scan data into fully-featured parts in SOLIDWORKS’ native file format, and a web app that converts 3D scans into parametric CAD files.
These releases are aimed at tackling what Backflip describes as a ‘$50 billion in losses per year’ problem faced by manufacturers due to unexpected downtime when sourcing spare parts for unexpected breaks in production lines. The company says these latest tools can help to cut downtime by as much as half by giving manufacturers the ability to scan broken parts and convert them into manufacturable CAD files in about a minute. It’s thought to be particularly beneficial for components that are either no longer in production or for manufacturing lines that have been made by third-party system integrators who don’t provide CAD models to their customers.
Greg Mark, Backflip CEO and Cofounder explained, “3D scanners map the surface of an object with incredible precision, quickly generating millions of data points, but they produce micro surface textures that can’t be manufactured with traditional tools. Our technology automatically converts these intricate surfaces into clean geometries designed for existing 3D CAD and manufacturing software.”
Backflip says its new AI model has been trained on its synthetic 3D data set of over 100 million unique 3D geometries, thought to be the world’s largest. Backflip Head of AI Logan Ford commented, “Our additional focus on resource-efficiency enables us to advance rapidly, and yields 60x more efficient training, 10x faster inference and 100x the spatial resolution of existing leading methods.”
According to a press release, Backflip’s SOLIDWORKS plug-in shows each step in the process used to build a part’s geometry and generates a native feature history that users can modify. This enables CAD designers to fine tune the generated 3D model. It's also thought to help ease the learning curve for new users by walking them through the design process and helping them to understand how the part was created.
Backflip’s says interested users can join its 3D scan-to-CAD waitlist today and the tools are expected to be generally available to interested users soon.
Backflip AI emerged from stealth in January with 30 million USD in funding for its AI-powered design platform that allows users to input simple text descriptions or photos to create high resolution, 3D-printable models. Mark describes what Backflip is building as “a giant leap forward in bringing design and manufacturing back to the U.S.”
