Exoform

Guides

Tools vs peers

Shell, Min wall, Clearance, multi-load, density scrub — what we match.

Naming alone does not make a tool. Below is what people actually praise in Fusion, Inspire, nTop, and SimScale — and whether Exoform behaves the same way today.

Loved peer tools → Exoform

  • Fusion Pre-check (highly liked) — status before cloud generate. Exoform: Study Pre-check checklist in the setup rail (pass / warn / block) + credit estimate before Queue.
  • nTop “validate static first” — FEA before TopOpt. Exoform: Check with FEA first switches to Stress check; Validation FEA option re-checks the optimized shape.
  • SimScale / Onshape cloud setup tree — browser queue, history, no workstation GPU. Exoform: cloud Queue + Dashboard history (same love: no local HPC).
  • Inspire Shape Explorer density slider — scrub topology threshold after solve. Exoform: Results Density scrub + Density Explorer guide.
  • Fusion Preserve / Obstacle face picks — Exoform: Preserve / Obstacle / Support / Load on STEP faces (STL paint is weaker — same complaint makers have with mesh FEA elsewhere).
  • Preserve / BC shell thickness — Exoform: Study chrome Shell (mm) freezes Support / Load / Preserve to a chosen depth; viewer preview. See Supports & loads.
  • Obstacle clearance — Exoform: Clearance (mm) for keep-out face depth.
  • Min member / feature size — Exoform: Study Min wall (mm).
  • Inspire mass target % — Exoform: Keep % of the design space.
  • Multi-load cases — Exoform: load case id + weight per Load; weighted sum of stiffness (not one summed load).
  • Symmetry plane — Exoform: Off / X / Y / Z with plane position; kept material mirrored each refinement pass.
  • Load vs part-size sanity — Pre-check warns when Newtons look absurd for the bounding box (classic units foot-gun).

Tools by Study type

  • Stress check — Support, Load, material, quality, voxel, Grid / Fine tet. No Shell / Clearance / Min wall / Symmetry (no topology).
  • Lighten this part — all stress-check tags + Preserve, Obstacle, Keep %, Shell, Clearance, Min wall, multi-load cases, Symmetry, smooth, Validation FEA (warm-start applies automatically on reopen).
  • Design in a box — same tools as Lighten this part, plus a design box (or free space from solids).
  • Additive (/additive/) — lattice recipes after a Study mesh; overhang is still the user’s job.

What customers like (and we lean into)

  • Block bad setups before spending compute.
  • Plain labels for fixtures and loads — not a 50-item solver tree.
  • Draft first, then refine (SolidWorks habit).
  • Cloud run + reopen history.
  • Honest disclaimer: results are aids, not certificates.

What we do not claim yet

  • Manufacturing constraint solvers (draw direction / overhang as hard constraints).
  • Full multiphysics (SimScale CFD/thermal breadth).
  • nTop-style block graphs and custom field math UI.
  • Half-mesh solve speedup from symmetry (mirror is full-grid today).

Use Get good results, Pre-check, Supports & loads, and Density Explorer so the tools we do ship behave like the ones people trust.

← All guides