Hey all! Since GrabCad Workbench is shutting down soon, we want to introduce our new tools: Sync & Workspace! 3D design tools, with GIT real-time collaboration!
Our thought - What if 3D designers could collaborate in real-time, together? What if 3D designers had the same tools (like GIT) as software engineers? Those are the questions we aimed to solve for our designers.
In addition to the GIT real-time collaboration, Thangs offers secure, 3D-native revision control in the cloud with Thangs Sync + Workspace. Creators can sync 3D files to the cloud, capture every new version without leaving the design client, and securely collaborate with others in real time.
The Thangs Cloud was built, bottom-up, for 3D objects and works for more than 30 3D file formats. We currently grandfather every Sync user into free and unlimited 3D-native storage.
If you have feedback for us, we’d love the opportunity to make a better tool - for you.
Feedback is a gift and we truly try to listen. We ship updates weekly based on user feedback and we hope to introduce your great ideas to these tools!
This is individual user (on the native storage part at least)? or will there be a team type of storage option?
Fusion 360 already has the team structure which gives some of the capability here but we’re definitely be interested in the other file types revision control - especially for gcode (file type is .nc).
On the Desktop Sync. I did a simple test. It sync up the models but I only see the files in the myshare but the folder structure that they were in didn’t make it…that’s when I find out that you guys put a readme.txt file back down in the folder (and lucky i didn’t have a readme.txt file in that folder already?) and tell me that I’ll have to put all my models inside this ‘Multipart Models’…well, that ain’t going to happen because if I moved all my models, then all my existing links from the app will all the be broken.
Hi tkchan,
First, thank you so much for taking the time to try out Sync and allocate the time to share your experience with us. Every team member will have their own Workspace, but if there is a shared folder, all can access that folder or shared model(s). We currently support 30+ file formats with more coming (if you use something that we don’t currently support occasionally).
For your question concerning a non-editable sync folder:
Would you be willing to spend 20 minutes or less with a couple of our team members so we can discuss this further? We’d love to see how you’re interacting with Sync through a screen share to truly understand the issue and how we can resolve it. If you’re willing to, we’ll send a $50 Amazon gift card for the 20 minutes of your time. We want to make certain we understand this 100% so we can continue to improve the product and features for you and the rest of the community. We can DM you here if that works?
I’ll DM you some screenshots nad try to explain. If needed, we can try to setup a time for quick screenshare, I probably won’t be able to do that until next week anyway.
If you guys are serious about supporting the FIRST community, please considering redirecting any financial/mentor support to a local team(s).
Ok I messed around a bit with this, a replacement for GrabCAD workbench this ain’t.
It seems decent at the whole viewing models in the browser, sharing them so others can download or comment on them.
But it really struggles at the key strength of GrabCAD, which was the comparison to file versions so that other users would be prompted to download (“get latest”) of the new version.
GrabCAD’s strength was that it was effectively a giant cloud folder, like a google-drive-folder, that had a desktop app with a big button to choose to “sync now”, uploading newer versions from your computer or downloading newer versions from the cloud.
GrabCAD also had extra bits like locking files, and a web-viewer, but honestly those are less important for most FRC teams I think.
This Thangs Sync app at the moment seems be decent for a Maker Club that has a couple collaborators uploading their 3D printer and laser cutter files, not sure if its the right tool to replace GrabCAD Workbench for FRC Teams.
If my post is too confusing, about the workflow difference between GrabCAD and ThangsSync, I’d be willing to hop on a screenshare sometime this weekend or next week, DM me here.
Thanks for posting this, I was going to do exactly what you just described to see if this handled the fundamental reason GC is so critical to workflow. Hopefully this can give feedback to improve on it, we still have 6 months!
Torrence,
Thank you so much for this feedback! You’re right, Sync itself is not a direct replacement. We do think that accompanied with Thangs Workspace/ Workflow (under MyModels), the sharing, revision control, and “promote to main” are potentially good replacements. There are tasks, notifications, and model comparison features all built in as well. My assumption here (and I could be wrong), is that the missing element is bi-directional sync. Currently Sync will push all models and new versions to the Thangs 3D-native cloud (where your team and those you share with can view, comment, share, build, and collaborate.) When a new model is published the team is alerted, but the newest version is not pushed to primary until the team lead promotes it. The newest version is also not automatically downloaded for each team member (bi-directional), but the models (and all versions) are available to download by all team members.
This all being said, we’ve love to talk more about your experience and use case. Do you mind if we DM you and set up a time? (We’ll of course compensate you for your time.)
Thank you!