Thangs is a platform that, as a gallery, offers its visitors more than 13 million free 3D models, most of which correspond to printable projects.

This collection of designs has as an accessory a powerful resource: Thangs Workspace, a tool that allows you to assemble combinations, mix more than one design and manage your changes in a collaborative way.

Online collaboration for 3D design

Thangs Workspace is a relatively new tool, integrated as an accessory to the Thangs design catalog since the end of 2021. launch of this initiativeits creators defined it as “a GitHub for 3D models”.

Obtaining specific parts to replace a broken component, or to design a new device, is not an easy task. In this field, 3D printing has become a practical and affordable solution, but very time-consuming in the search and possible modification of the models to be used.

Thangs Workspace stands out as a tool that meets these needs, through a platform that offers a colorful and clear representation of the models to be used. Without depending on specific software, it is possible to intervene from the browser on the internal and external geometry of a model, either in individual designs or in assemblies, which can be assembled from the same platform. form, by combining interlocking designs. yes, as shown in the screenshot attached to this note.

This utility can show us even the smallest detail of the project we are working on; it has a version history and a variety of view modes for reviewing work done.

If an assembly becomes complex (it is possible to combine up to 10 parts at the moment), you can keep control over its components thanks to its “X-ray” function, which takes care of visually highlighting the combined parts , to modify or withdraw them.

Comparison of two different versions of the same assembly project in Thangs Workspace

The interesting thing about this is that the possibility of working from the browser is also extended to mobile phones, eliminating the need to work locally with large files from the computer.

A recent addition to Workspace is the tool Workflowwhich gives collaborators the ability to delegate tasks, request changes, and review feedback on new templates, before releasing them as the latest version.

Thangs currently supports single part models and assemblies in 29 3D file formats. Among these, it is worth highlighting the compatibility with FBX and GLB files, which will soon also be extended to files in glTF format and to FBX and GLB models composed of several parts.

Thangs Workspace is in open beta for teams working on designs with up to 500,000 polygons. It is accessible free of charge to all users registered on the platform.