What Tech Soft 3D does

Tech Soft 3D, Inc. is a privately held developer of CAD/CAE software development kits (SDKs) and enterprise visualization applications, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Bend, Oregon, with additional engineering offices in the United Kingdom, France, Japan, and the United States. The company's core technology stack, branded HOOPS, consists of modular toolkits — Exchange (CAD data translation across 30+ formats), Visualize (high-performance graphics), Access (JT/IFC viewers), Envision (web visualization), AI (CAD-aware machine-learning framework), Mesh, and Solve — that engineering software vendors embed directly into their own products. The HOOPS AI module, generally available in March 2026, introduces proprietary CAD embeddings that automatically capture semantic relationships inside CAD assemblies and expose them through a Python API for downstream machine-learning workflows.

The company monetizes through SDK licensing and per-seat royalties from more than 750 independent software vendor partners, supplemented by enterprise subscriptions to its SpinFire product family (Convert, Insight, XR, Manage) acquired from Actify in May 2024, an exclusive OEM distribution relationship with Autodesk, and professional services. Named customers and partners span simulation (Ansys, Hexagon), PLM and CAD (Siemens, Bentley), GPU and graphics ecosystems (NVIDIA, Unreal Engine, Unity), and industrial manufacturers (Renault, Vestas, Flex-N-Gate, nTop, Synera, TENADO), with Theorem Solutions, redway3D, and Ceetron acquisitions extending capabilities in translation, mesh processing, and CAE post-processing. Founder Ron Fritz now serves as Executive Chairman following the November 2025 appointment of Robbie Payne as CEO, with Gavin Bridgeman as CTO and Marc Freebrey as CMO leading product and go-to-market functions.

Name

Tech Soft 3D

Legal name

Tech Soft 3D, Inc.

Website

https://techsoft3d.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Tech Soft 3D develops HOOPS CAD/CAE SDK toolkits and SpinFire enterprise visualization applications, embedding its technology inside 750+ engineering software vendors and serving manufacturers and simulation ISVs globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering Software Development Toolkits (CAD/CAE SDKs)

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Developer Portals, SDKs & Documentation Platforms (BPAMADAG), 3D Design & CAD for Additive Manufacturing (IMAAACAA)

Keywords

• CAD data translation
• CAE visualization toolkits
• Engineering software development
• OEM software licensing
• 3D visualization SDKs

Headquarters

HQ city

Bend

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SDK / Toolkit Licensing and Royalties: Tech Soft 3D licenses its HOOPS software development toolkits to independent software vendors (ISVs) and developers under Technology Partnership Agreements. Revenue includes recurring partnership fees, license fees, and revenue sharing arrangements with integrators embedding TS3D technology in their products. Partners include companies building applications in PLM, CAM, visualization, AR/VR, simulation, generative design, and other engineering domains.
2. Enterprise Application Sales (SpinFire): Sale and subscription of SpinFire enterprise applications including SpinFire Convert, SpinFire Insight, SpinFire XR, and SpinFire Manage for CAD translation, visualization, extended reality, and PLM data management. Sold to manufacturers, AEC firms, and engineering organizations directly and through resellers.
3. Autodesk OEM Distribution: Exclusive distribution of Autodesk OEM products (AutoCAD OEM, Inventor OEM, RealDWG) to developers building applications that embed Autodesk technologies. Revenue generated through licensing fees and royalties from OEM partners.
4. Professional Services and Custom Development: Custom Developed Services including implementation, configuration, and custom software development as specified in Statement of Work agreements. Training services available at professional service rates. Support and maintenance services provided under addendum agreements.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tech Soft 3D develops and licenses the HOOPS family of engineering software development toolkits (SDKs) that enable third-party engineering applications to read, write, translate, visualize, mesh, simulate, and apply machine learning to CAD and CAE data across 30+ file formats. The company also sells the SpinFire suite of enterprise applications for CAD conversion, viewing, markup, extended reality, and PLM data exchange to manufacturers and AEC firms, and exclusively distributes Autodesk OEM products (AutoCAD OEM, Inventor OEM, RealDWG) plus Siemens Parasolid and Polygonica to ISVs embedding these technologies.

Product overview

Tech Soft 3D provides a dual offering: (1) A comprehensive SDK/toolkit portfolio for developers building engineering software applications, centered on the HOOPS brand products (HOOPS Exchange, HOOPS AI, HOOPS Visualize, HOOPS Access, HOOPS Envision, HOOPS Mesh, HOOPS Solve) plus partner technologies (Siemens Parasolid, Polygonica, Autodesk OEM products); and (2) SpinFire enterprise applications (SpinFire Convert, SpinFire Insight, SpinFire XR, SpinFire Manage) for non-developer end-users needing CAD conversion, visualization, markup, and XR capabilities. The HOOPS SDKs form the foundational layer enabling CAD/CAE data access, visualization, meshing, and simulation, while SpinFire applications provide ready-made solutions for enterprise CAD data workflows. The company also offers VizStreamer for web-based CAE visualization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HOOPS: Product family of engineering software development toolkits including HOOPS Exchange, HOOPS AI, HOOPS Visualize, HOOPS Access, HOOPS Envision, HOOPS Mesh, and HOOPS Solve
• SpinFire
• Polygonica
• Siemens Parasolid
• Autodesk OEM Products

Products and services

• HOOPS Exchange CAD and AEC data translation SDK providing direct, high-fidelity import and export access to 30+ file formats including geometry, topology, assemblies, PMI, and metadata, for independent software vendors building engineering applications.
• HOOPS AI First framework purpose-built to unlock AI and machine learning for CAD data, providing CAD data access, dataset preparation, optimized encoding, experiment tracking, and CAD embeddings that capture semantic relationships within CAD models for ML pipelines.
• HOOPS Visualize High-performance 3D graphics SDK enabling desktop and web engineering applications to render and visualize complex CAD and CAE data.
• HOOPS Access CAE data translation toolkit providing fast and accurate import/export of 30+ simulation file formats for CAE interoperability in engineering simulation applications.
• HOOPS Envision High-performance 3D visualization toolkit for desktop and web CAE simulation results visualization and analysis.
• HOOPS Mesh Fail-free 2D and 3D mesh generation toolkit for high-quality meshing in CAE simulation workflows.
• HOOPS Solve High-performance SDK for building and solving finite element method (FEM) models in engineering simulation applications.
• Siemens Parasolid Siemens solid modeling kernel integrated with HOOPS SDKs and distributed via Tech Soft 3D for advanced 3D modeling and geometry functionality in CAD applications.
• Polygonica Advanced mesh processing and healing solution that automatically repairs and optimizes mesh data for simulation and additive manufacturing workflows.
• Autodesk AutoCAD OEM OEM licensing of Autodesk AutoCAD technology for developers building applications that leverage AutoCAD features, distributed exclusively by Tech Soft 3D.
• Autodesk Inventor OEM OEM licensing of Autodesk Inventor technology for developers building applications with Inventor integration, distributed exclusively by Tech Soft 3D.
• Autodesk RealDWG Native DWG interoperability toolkit for reading and writing DWG files with full fidelity, distributed exclusively by Tech Soft 3D.
• SpinFire Convert Enterprise CAD translation application for converting CAD data to lightweight visualizations, 3D PDFs, and CAD-to-CAD formats, simplifying CAD-to-PLM data exchange for manufacturers and AEC firms.
• SpinFire Insight Enterprise CAD visualization and markup application enabling engineering teams to view, analyze, and annotate 3D CAD models, including draft angle analysis for injection molding workflows, without native CAD licenses.
• SpinFire XR Enterprise extended reality (AR/MR/VR) application for CAD data preparation and visualization pipeline enabling immersive XR experiences from engineering CAD data for design review and collaboration.
• SpinFire Manage Enterprise CAD data management application for organizing engineering design data and enabling CAD-to-PLM data exchange across product lifecycle management workflows.
• VizStreamer Web-based CAE visualization solution enabling legacy desktop simulation software to run in the browser without comprehensive rewrites, reducing development time and operational costs.
• Simerics-CAD Integrated CFD preprocessing and simulation solution co-developed with Simerics, combining the Simerics-MP/MP+ solver with Tech Soft 3D components for high-end computational fluid dynamics workflows.

Quantifiable outcome

• 750+ ISV partners globally embedding HOOPS technology in their products
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature15 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NVIDIAcoreTechnology or IntegrationTech Soft 3D and NVIDIA announced a collaboration centered around Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) and the NVIDIA Omniverse platform. Tech Soft 3D joined the AOUSD (Alliance for Open USD) to accelerate 3D interoperability with CAD in OpenUSD and NVIDIA Omniverse workflows. Tech Soft 3D's HOOPS technology provides CAD data access for the NVIDIA Omniverse platform.
• AOUSD (Alliance for Open USD)coreTechnology or IntegrationTech Soft 3D joined the Alliance for Open USD (AOUSD) in June 2025 to contribute to and accelerate 3D interoperability standards with CAD data in OpenUSD workflows, complementing the NVIDIA Omniverse collaboration.
• SiemenscoreTechnology or IntegrationSiemens Parasolid solid modeling kernel is distributed through Tech Soft 3D as an integrated component of the HOOPS toolkit ecosystem. Siemens is also a major customer using Tech Soft 3D's data translators for CAD data access.
• AnsyscoreTechnology or IntegrationAnsys uses Tech Soft 3D's data translators for CAD data access in its simulation and analysis software products.
• HexagoncoreTechnology or IntegrationHexagon uses Tech Soft 3D's data translators for metrology and CAE data workflows in their engineering measurement and analysis solutions.
• Epic Games (Unreal Engine)coreTechnology or IntegrationEpic Games uses Tech Soft 3D's HOOPS technology for CAD data access in the Unreal Engine environment, enabling real-time 3D visualization and digital twin applications from CAD data.
• Unity Technologies (Unity 3D)coreTechnology or IntegrationUnity Technologies uses Tech Soft 3D's data translators for CAD data integration in Unity-based 3D applications.
• SimericscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSimerics, Inc. and Tech Soft 3D announced Simerics-CAD software, an integrated CFD preprocessing and simulation solution. The product combines Simerics-MP/MP+ solver technology with Tech Soft 3D components for an integrated CAD experience for computational fluid dynamics workflows, announced March 2025.
• Service Providers NetworkminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTech Soft 3D maintains a network of service providers listed at developer.techsoft3d.com/service-providers who offer implementation, integration, and consulting services for customers using HOOPS toolkits and SpinFire applications.
• Resellers (SpinFire)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorReseller network for SpinFire enterprise applications including SpinFire Convert, Insight, XR, and Manage. Listed on the enterprise contact page and reseller directory.
• Bentley SystemscoreTechnology or IntegrationBentley Systems leverages HOOPS Exchange and HOOPS Visualize for construction modeling in Synchro 4D Pro, enabling digital construction and 4D production planning. Documented as a case study relationship.
• SyneracoreTechnology or IntegrationSynera uses Tech Soft 3D's HOOPS toolkits (Exchange, Access, AI, Visualize, Mesh, Solve) to power its AI-native engineering automation platform with CAD interoperability, visualization, meshing, simulation, and workflow orchestration. Documented as a case study relationship.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Bricsys (Hexagon): Bricsys develops BricsCAD, a DWG-based MCAD platform, and serves the same ISV and OEM developer audience that Tech Soft 3D targets with HOOPS and Autodesk OEM products. Indirect overlap in the embedable CAD technology market.
• MachineWorks (Polygonica origin): MachineWorks originated the Polygonica mesh processing toolkit now distributed by Tech Soft 3D. Operates in adjacent 3D simulation and CAM tooling, with overlapping mesh and geometry processing capabilities relevant to TS3D's ISV customers.

Broad incumbents

• Dassault Systèmes (3DEXPERIENCE / Spatial): Dassault is both a partner (CATIA data translation) and an incumbent platform competitor offering end-to-end CAD/CAM/CAE solutions. While not a direct SDK competitor to TS3D, it represents the broader platform alternative for engineering software buyers.
• Autodesk (AutoCAD / Inventor): Autodesk grants Tech Soft 3D exclusive OEM distribution rights for AutoCAD/Inventor/RealDWG, while also operating direct end-customer products. Both a critical partner and a broad incumbent in the same MCAD/visualization space.
• Siemens (Parasolid / Solid Edge): Siemens distributes Parasolid through TS3D while also offering Solid Edge and other MCAD/PLM products. Acts as both a core channel partner and a broad incumbent platform alternative competing for end-customer engineering software spend.

Direct peers

• Datakit (Cadence Design Systems): Datakit offers CrossManager/3D_Evolution CAD data exchange SDKs across 40+ formats, directly overlapping with HOOPS Exchange's translator portfolio for engineering software developers.
• Open Design Alliance (ODA): Open Design Alliance develops DWG/CAD file format SDKs and visualization components, directly competing with HOOPS Exchange/Visualize and Autodesk RealDWG distribution. Targets the same ISV developer audience building engineering applications.
• Spatial Technology (Hexagon): Spatial's 3D ACIS modeling kernel and visualization components serve the same ISV developer audience as HOOPS Visualize and HOOPS Solve for building 3D engineering applications.
• C3D Labs (ASCON Group): C3D Labs provides a geometry kernel, mesh, and visualization toolkit (C3D Modeler, C3D Vision) for engineering software developers, competing with HOOPS Mesh, HOOPS Solve, and HOOPS Visualize in the same CAD/CAE SDK space.
• Elysium (CAD Interoperability): Elysium provides CAD/CAM/PLM/CAE data translation tools (Direct Conversion, CADfeature) that compete head-on with HOOPS Exchange and HOOPS Access for the ISV and enterprise interoperability market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/techsoft3d
• Xx.com/techsoft3d
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/829500

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A6 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tech Soft 3D