I worked at Tinkercad for about 6 months last year (mostly on the WebGL-based editor, but the engineering team was only 5 people so there was lots of other stuff to do as well). It's an awesome product; I'm surprised and sad to see it closing down, but at the same time I can understand why they decided to pivot the core tech into a new company.
Basically Tinkercad had two unique advantages: a world-class massively parallel solid geometry kernel, and a 3D design UI that made ease of use first priority. Tinkercad emphasized the latter in their product image, but it became somewhat pigeonholed as a "children's CAD", which made it difficult to switch the same product into a pro gear. They've now made the decision to pursue the revenue potential of the pro market, and that requires a new product image.
If someone wants to jump onto the opportunity of building a Tinkercad replacement, I know a few things about this space and am available for hire... ;)
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I worked at Tinkercad for about 6 months last year (mostly on the WebGL-based editor, but the engineering team was only 5 people so there was lots of other stuff to do as well). It's an awesome product; I'm surprised and sad to see it closing down, but at the same time I can understand why they decided to pivot the core tech into a new company.
Basically Tinkercad had two unique advantages: a world-class massively parallel solid geometry kernel, and a 3D design UI that made ease of use first priority. Tinkercad emphasized the latter in their product image, but it became somewhat pigeonholed as a "children's CAD", which made it difficult to switch the same product into a pro gear. They've now made the decision to pursue the revenue potential of the pro market, and that requires a new product image.
If someone wants to jump onto the opportunity of building a Tinkercad replacement, I know a few things about this space and am available for hire... ;)