From student dorms to factory floors – the history of Geomagic software

The history of a product is more than a chronology of feature development. It’s a story about innovation. It sheds light on what spurs it on and what sustains it. It tells us what sets apart a shiny new gadget from a tool that makes a tangible difference. 

Geomagic software is a prime example of technology that has withstood the test of time, earning a reputation as a reliable efficiency driver. The software solutions are used to make a broad range of products, from toys and medical devices to cars and aircraft.  

Their beginnings can be traced back to the 1990s, a period of burgeoning innovation. But they were created by different companies, in response to distinct market needs. Over the years, feature enhancements, tighter focus and alignment with the market have shaped it into a market-leading product range. In this blog, we look at the key stages of its development. 

More than one way from scan to CAD 

Geomagic software encompasses technology created by three companies – SensAble, Raindrop Geomagic and INUS Technology. These ventures operated in a similar market, some collaborating, others competing. Through acquisitions and mergers, their products would come to form a unified suite. 

Raindrop Geomagic, the company which lends the product line its name, was founded in 1996 in Illinois, US by computer scientist spouses Ping Fu and Herbert Edelsbrunner. Their ambition was to develop 3D imaging software that would enable 3D design of custom parts. They focused initially on converting point cloud data into a clean mesh file, laying the foundations of what is today Geomagic Wrap. 

When it became apparent that mesh models were of limited use to manufacturers, the company started focusing on converting scan data into CAD models. The result was scan-to-CAD software Geomagic Studio, launched in 1999. 

Initial funding came from private investors, but the startup was sustained thanks to interest from a large toy manufacturer. The company would create clay toy prototypes of their toys, scan them and try to convert the data into manufacturable CAD models. They relied on Geomagic for processing that scan data. 

The second big customer pull came from the dental industry. With the emergence of clear aligners came a need for software that would facilitate the digital design of aligners on top of 3D scans of patient’s teeth – an application where Geomagic excelled. The dental application was so successful, it developed contracts with numerous digital dentistry companies during the 2000s. 

The final frontier was inspection. Geomagic started exploring how software can allow manufacturers to scan data of fabricated parts to compare against the original 3D designs. This effort brought to the market Geomagic Qualify in 2001. 

A challenger emerges 

In parallel to Raindrop Geomagic, a group of innovators was working on scan processing solutions in Seoul, South Korea. In 1998, alumni from a university CAD lab founded INUS Technology. They launched Rapidform, software for converting raw scan data into mesh data for reverse engineering and inspection in 2001. 

Initially, the company’s strategy was to rapidly expand and incorporate new features into a single software. It gradually became apparent that Rapidform’s expanding functionality was an Achilles heel. It led to fragmented workflows and architectural limitations.  

To address this, INUS Technology introduced a new code architecture and reorganised the software. The new product line came to the market in 2007. It consisted of XOR, XOV, and XOS, software for scan-based reverse engineering, inspection, and scan data preparation respectively. During this period, the company also developed the parametric history-based approach, a capability which would allow closer alignment to market needs. 

Scan software consolidation 

The next decade brought major change. A quick succession of acquisitions transformed the scan software landscape. The first of these took place in 2012, when Geomagic bought the 3D design solution from SensAble technologies. A few months later, 3D Systems, a titan of additive manufacturing, would acquire Rapidform. Soon after it would buy the entire Geomagic portfolio as well. 

Next, 3D Systems decided to pursue a strategy of product consolidation. Rapidform and Geomagic software merged into new products. Two new solutions appeared on the market in 2016: Geomagic Control X for scan-based inspection and Geomagic Design X for reverse engineering. 

Bringing competitive tech together proved a winning formula. By merging the power of parametric history-based modelling of Rapidform with advanced meshing and surfacing capabilities of Geomagic, Geomagic Design X was born. This combination plays a central role in the success of Geomagic Design X, setting it apart from the competition even today.

3D design beyond CAD 

While consolidation changed the scan software lineup, Geomagic Freeform developed on a separate track, one that began with the haptic device for digital sculpting. 

Thomas Massie created the touch-based tool in 1993 while studying at MIT. With Kenneth Salisbury, he founded SensAble, the company that created the device and the SDK GHOST. Demonstrations of the haptic technology and sculpting would later result in the first version of Freeform.

In the next decade SensAble advanced their devices and software while searching for the perfect product-market fit. Initially, the main users of the 3D design tool were toy manufacturers. Similarly to Geomagic Wrap, it found fertile ground in the dental industry, and launched a separate solution for designing removable partial dentures called SensAble Dental. 

On the left, Thomas Massie, inventor of the haptic device; on the right, an early user of the haptic device.

The dental solution was spun off into independent property, and eventually sold to another company. The 3D design portion of the business was acquired by Geomagic, and moved with other Geomagic products to 3D Systems. 

During this period, the software’s core strengths in voxel modelling were combined with Geomagic’s strength in mesh processing. It began as a concept for digital sculpting and 3D modelling projects where traditional CAD tools fall short, such as complex organic forms, typically with textures and intricate patterns. As the most advanced organic 3D design software, it significantly expanded the range of manufacturing processes that Geomagic catered to. 

Software front and centre 

Development picked up in 2022, when 3D Systems moved Geomagic under a separate division led by a newly-acquired company called Oqton. The new structure provided strategic guidance and marketing efforts focused solely on software. 

In a step that would further drive growth, Geomagic software was acquired by Hexagon. Today, the software suite is part of a more extensive global engineering and commercial network than ever. Hexagon’s expertise in metrology has proven vital to advancing Geomagic Control X capabilities. Hexagon’s technical capabilities enabled Geomagic Design X, Wrap and Geomagic for SOLIDWORKS to cement its leading position in the 3D reverse engineering. 

The products have already hit new milestones. Integrations with scanning and haptic devices are expanding at pace. As a result, a wider range of manufacturers can use solutions for scan-based inspection and reverse engineering, and digital sculpting. With Geomagic software in its range, Hexagon offers complete, seamless solutions for modern manufacturing.