Morphi Rings in the New Year With New Materials Tool

Morphi, the 3D design app for education, has become increasingly versatile. Over the past year, the Morphi team has integrated AR and VR into the program and integrated it into Apple’s ARKit. They redesigned the user interface, enhanced the 2D to 3D tools, added obj file export, and expanded import and export to include Google Drive, AirDrop, DropBox, as well as a host of other features.

Just before Christmas, Morphi released their new materials tool to compliment their ever evolving 3D toolset. Now designers can see their creations rendered in gold, stone, iron, brick, wood and other materials. Material colors can also be changed for greater variation in tone and texture. More material options and features are scheduled to come in 2018.

“Our goal is to help anyone, anywhere create,” says Sophia Georgiou, Morphi’s CEO and chief designer. “Materials are an important part of the design process and we are excited to be able to empower our users to visualize their designs in multiple materials. We know this will spark new ideas among our community and provide them with new avenues of creative expression.”

Rendering in the new materials has many different applications for makers. For one, material rendering of 3D designs in Morphi can be used as a visual guide for fabrication. It allows users to first visualize designs in Morphi in a particular material, and then be inspired to 3D print them on SLS machines using 3D printing services, like Shapeways or Sculpteo, where multiple material printing options are available.

Alternatively, users can 3D print their designs made in Morphi on FDM machines using different plastic filaments, including those blended with wood, iron, copper or other metals (like colorFabb or Protopasta) and refine their prints with post processing. Designers can also create molds for their designs and cast them in a variety of materials, or they can even use their Morphi designs as 3D blueprints and bring their models to life using art supplies, household materials and found objects.

With Morphi you don’t need a 3D printer to create. You can create designs and sample different materials in Morphi, and then place 3D models directly in a real environment using Morphi’s powerful Augmented Reality tools. Morphi’s other big end-of-year release is sure to be welcomed by users; it’s Morphi v2 for Mac and Windows, which provides a similar design experience as Morphi’s iPad version.

“We love tablets and designed Morphi specifically for iPads,” says Georgiou. “Mac and Windows versions were requested early on by our community members who wanted the same tools for desktops and laptops. We’re happy to be able help more people design and share ideas, regardless of what platform they are using.”

Morphi has more surprises planned for the new year. They will release a long anticipated pre-K-12th grade curriculum for school districts. They also are releasing online courses to compliment their online tutorials and the onsite professional development services in 3D Printing, AR and MakerEd that they currently provide. Also on the way are more 3D design tools and additional AR and VR features. Android and iPhone versions of Morphi App and a few other surprises are coming down the pike. For more information about Morphi please visit https://www.morphiapp.com, https://www.instagram.com/morphiapp/, or email the team at hello@morphiapp.com.

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