Full-cloud Onshape, the first and only professional 3D CAD system to run on iPhones and iPads, is ready for November's iPad Pro release

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 10, 2015 — (PRNewswire) —

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Traditionally, designers and engineers who use CAD have been chained to their desktop workstations. Any ideas or inspiration that occurred after hours could only be acted on by returning to the office. Those days are over.

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Apple's newly-announced iPad Pro's 12.9" screen and increased compute and graphics power make it perfect for CAD users. As the only professional 3D CAD system that runs on iPads and iPhones, Onshape will be compatible with the business-focused tablet when it is released in November.

"We're excited about the new iPad Pro and its giant screen that rivals a laptop. It gives you the best of both worlds," says Dave Corcoran, Onshape's VP of Research & Development. "It's perfect for CADding on the go – convenient and portable, yet spacious enough for detail-oriented work and multi-tasking."

"Onshape works on any mobile device," adds Corcoran. "Engineers should be able to work where, when and how they want to – and not let their CAD system dictate those terms."

Mechanical engineer Christian Stark, who is using Onshape to create a precise 3D CAD model of the historic Schooner Zodiac in Bellingham, Washington, says he finds Onshape for iPad to be invaluable for his restoration effort.

"The original plans were lost in a fire. Using Onshape for iPad, I can take measurements and edit the 3D model as I crawl around the boat," Stark says. "It's amazing what you can do. There isn't any other CAD system that lets you do this."

"Onshape also gives me the opportunity to quickly show and share the model with other team members" he adds.

Taking a fresh approach to CAD for mobile devices, the Onshape development team created a precise touch-screen interface that replaces traditional keyboard and mouse interactions. Every CAD command and action is controlled with a swipe or tap of your finger. The increased precision of the iPad Pro's touch screen makes it an ideal platform.

"Desktop-installed CAD systems are extremely limited on mobile right now," says Ravi Reddy, team lead for Onshape Mobile. "We rejected the idea of providing a view-only version of CAD or just offering a subset of features. We were determined to build a full CAD product that can be used anywhere and from any device."

"We made sketching easy with touch-based finger offset tools," he adds. "We also created intuitive lock and unlock modes to help with pan, zoom, and rotate operations for sketching and assemblies."

Onshape is platform agnostic, working on Macs, PCs and Chromebooks, on MacOS, Windows, and Linux on all major browsers as well as natively on Android and iOS phones and tablets. Onshape for iPhone and iPad apps can be downloaded free now at the Apple Store.

Reddy says he's looking forward to seeing many more engineers and designers use CAD on a tablet: "We believe Apple is going after enterprise and content creation apps with the iPad Pro and Onshape is well positioned to take full advantage of this development."

CAD users interested in learning more about how to design on their iPad or iPhone can visit Onshape.com/Learn. To create a free account, visit Onshape.com/signup.

About Onshape

Onshape is the only company in the world 100% focused on cloud and mobile CAD, offering the first and only professional 3D CAD system that lets everyone on a design team work together using any web browser, phone, or tablet. Breaking away from the traditional model of desktop-installed CAD, Onshape has data management and collaboration built in at its core.

For the first time, the CAD system and CAD data live in one place in the cloud, and are never copied anywhere. Everyone on a design team sees and works on the same master CAD data at all times, avoiding confusing checkouts, file copies, and overwriting each other's work.

Full-cloud Onshape also eliminates the hassles of installations, license codes and servers, service packs, and add-on PDM systems. Every Onshape user always works with the same version of Onshape – the latest version.

Companies worldwide rely on Onshape today to speed up the design of consumer electronics, mechanical machinery, medical devices, machine parts, industrial equipment, and many other products. Onshape's Free Plan also makes it the ideal CAD choice for students and educators to collaborate inside and outside the classroom.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Onshape includes key members of the original SolidWorks team plus elite engineers from the cloud, data security and mobile industries. For more information, visit Onshape.com/press-room

Media Contact: Darren Henry, Director of Marketing, Onshape: Email Contact

Onshape Press Kit: Download here.

Onshape for iPad Pro Images: Download here.

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SOURCE Onshape