Backflip’s new AI-based plug-in turns mesh data into fully parametric CAD models.
Welcome to Engineering Paper. Today’s top story is a fascinating new release from Backflip, the generative AI startup that emerged from stealth late last year with a design platform that turns text prompts into 3D models.
Forget text-to-3D. Today Backflip announced something even more interesting: an AI model that can create parametric CAD models from mesh data. It’s available through a web app and a Solidworks plug-in, and I got to see the latter in action.
I met with Backflip founders Greg Mark and David Benhaim at 3DExperience World 2025 in Houston last week, where they showed me a demo of the new AI tool. At a conference abuzz with AI, this was the most impressive feature I saw—and it’s not just a spec on the horizon. It’s ready and working today.*
“We’ve trained a model that takes mesh data, like a point cloud, and automatically gives you a parametric part,” Mark told me.
Anyone with a 3D scanner can readily get mesh data. But meshes are mere geometry. Parametric CAD models are much richer—they’re precise, editable and manufacturable—but making them requires time and expertise.
Now, you can just use AI.
“You send the scan mesh out to our AI, which then looks at the geometry and figures out the feature tree steps that a person would do,” Benhaim said. “And then we’ll go and create that in Solidworks. Takes about 30 seconds to a minute.”
You heard it here first: AI can now use Solidworks. Backflip’s tool directly drives the CAD software, sketching, extruding, revolving, and otherwise building a parametric model to match the mesh input. Backflip generates four options for users to pick from. They’re native Solidworks models, so users can edit them as they would any other part.
I watched as the Backflip AI speedily modeled brackets and flanges (the kind of simple mechanical parts on which this version of the AI was trained) but I didn’t have a chance to examine those models myself. Would they have passed muster with the many Solidworks pros surrounding us in Houston? I asked Mark and Benhaim about the quality of the AI’s work.
“We’ve taught the model how to CAD, and we’re spending the next couple of months working on how to CAD well,” Benhaim told me. Mark added that in the future, companies will be able to tune the AI by training it with data from their own CAD users.
Backflip sees this AI tool as a potential gamechanger for manufacturers, allowing for much easier repair and replacement of parts.
“Many people in manufacturing are incredibly skilled. They can build things out of wood, they can create metal, they rebuild engines, but they don’t know how to CAD. And so we’re allowing them now to scan the part and then get a 3D design out of it that you can manufacture,” Mark said.
I’ll have lots more to say about Backflip as this AI tool evolves. As always, I’m keen to hear your thoughts (yes, you!), so send them my way at [email protected].
*The day after I saw Backflip’s demo, Solidworks CEO Manish Kumar announced a similar mesh-to-parametric-model feature coming to Solidworks. He emphasized that it’s still in development and did not offer any details on a timeline.
3DExperience on the Apple Vision Pro
A late announcement from last week’s 3DExperience World 2025 conference was that Dassault Systèmes has developed an app for Apple’s spatial computing headset, the Apple Vision Pro. The app, called 3DLive, will bring data from the 3DExperience platform into a virtual environment for user-defined applications.
“Using the components which are on the 3DExperience platform, you can aggregate different pieces of the virtual twin which are relevant in the context of a particular use case,” Tom Acland, CEO of 3DExcite, told me at the conference.
3DExcite is a Dassault brand focused on marketing and sales, but 3DLive is meant for more than marketers. Acland noted 3DLive experiences will also help engineers communicate ideas internally and better convey product information to end users.
Here’s a quick Dassault video teasing 3DLive:
3DLive will be released this summer. I’ll report more from my conversation with Acland soon.
Another scan-to-CAD solution
I didn’t see a demo of this one, but there’s another mesh-to-CAD solution to report: last week Creaform announced Scan-to-CAD Pro, a reverse engineering module for the 3D scanning company’s Metrology Suite. It improves on the previously available Scan-to-CAD tool by adding 2D sketching and 3D modeling features.
According to Creaform, “the new Scan-to-CAD Pro acts like a seamless gateway between 3D scanning and CAD software, such as SolidWorks.”
I can’t avoid drawing a comparison to Backflip. While Scan-to-CAD Pro may offer some nifty features to speed up the mesh-to-CAD modeling process, it’s not doing the modeling for you. Who can fault it for that? But the world is spinning fast these days, and it seems that any engineering software is one AI update away from being obsolete.
Quick hits
- More news from 3DExperience World 2025: Dassault Systèmes announced Solidworks CPQ, the company’s first configure, price and quote solution (the announcement from Solidworks CEO Manish Kumar drew applause from the conference crowd). Solidworks CPQ will be available on the 3DExperience platform this summer.
- Also from the conference: Dassault Systèmes launched a new initiative called Solidworks SkillForce that will provide Solidworks licenses to students participating in internships or co-op programs, provided they’ve earned a Certified Solidworks Associate (CSWA).
- Trimble released SketchUp 2025. The developer says it offers enhanced visualization features and better interoperability with industry tools including Autodesk Revit.
One last link
Last week I wrote about my experience at 3DExperience World. Erin Winick Anthony, Engineering.com contributor and pinball aficionado, shared her own experience in On the floor at 3DExperience World 2025. If you like ice cream, basketball, or R2D2, check it out.
Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: [email protected].
