Just talk to your CAD
The future of engineering tools is conversational.
You can describe the part you want to create. But getting it into CAD takes work. There's a whole sequence of tools and geometry operations that separate an idea from a CAD model.
Today we’re introducing Backflip Copilot, and a new way to interact with your CAD software—conversation. Tell it what you’re building and it works with you to design it inside your CAD software. Start with a description, a sketch, a photo, or a part you already have. Ask questions. Change your mind. Keep designing.
Copilot launches today in Autodesk Fusion, with more CAD integrations coming soon.
Expanding the conversation
Copilot is a conversational AI agent for CAD that pairs frontier intelligence with our expertise in training AI models that can spatially reason through 3D geometry construction. Copilot can think through engineering, mechanical, and design challenges, and then drive your CAD to build parts using the same native CAD operations you do.
Talk to it like another engineer: describe the part you want to build and Copilot can help you design it in CAD. Ask it to help you create new parts, design around existing ones, update CAD models, take on boring, repetitive CAD tasks, and more.
You can give Copilot as much or as little context as you’d like to illustrate what you want to build:
a prompt
documents
images
marked up screenshots
sketches
selected faces or edges of an existing part
and many other directions
Pause the agent’s work at any point and give it new instructions, and it will start working from there, or edit the CAD it built for you yourself. If you want to just let it run, the agent will keep working without requiring supervision until the task is complete or it needs additional decisions from you.
If you already use AI tools from any of the leading AI frontier labs, you’re already familiar with working conversationally with your tools. AI has become really good at writing and code. We think everyone should have that same kind of experience in their CAD.
Welcoming the next million users into CAD
Backflip's mission has always been to bring more people into CAD and 3D design. With Copilot, we're taking a huge leap towards that goal.
CAD is an extremely powerful tool, but its steep learning curve can be intimidating for new users who never got to learn to design in 3D before. Copilot helps remove that roadblock.
With Copilot, you don’t need to know which CAD operations you need to design a workholding fixture, or a custom tool. You just need to be able to describe what you’re trying to design and Copilot will help you get there.
More of a visual thinker? Sketch an idea, or attach a photo of something similar to what you want to design and ask Copilot to help you start building it.
If you’re new to CAD, start with what you want to make. Copilot can help you turn that idea into a model.
For experienced CAD users, give it the repetitive work that slows you down: updating geometry, changing patterns, and modifying existing parts.
Useful workflows
Here are a few things to try with Copilot. But don’t limit yourself: if you’ve got a project or a CAD task you want Copilot to help with, just ask it.
Brainstorm and design a part together
Give Copilot some design inspiration and then ask it to give you a starting point. It will ask you to clarify where it needs more insight.
“I'm designing a new mountain bike pedal with a zigzag design. I'd like you to help me design the body of it. It's going to use the standard 9/16-inch by 20 TPI pedal threads, and we're going to design the drive side version. Here's a sketch of the zigzag pattern I want to have under the rider's foot, can you help me design just the pedal? I'm going to use two 686 LLU cartridge bearings, size 6mm x 13mm x 5mm
Update a CAD model
“Update all the holes in this model to be tapped holes at the nearest standard metric thread size. Report back what thread sizes you used”
“Can you add an ISO 50 mounting pattern to this end-of-arm tool for an industrial cobot?”
“Add a 0.75 mm aesthetic fillet on all un-filleted edges in this part”
Design a part around another part
“I'd like to add the closest off-the-shelf O-ring to this cylindrical surface I have selected. O-ring will be operating in a piston configuration at room temperature, holding back ~6 bar max of pressured air, while allowing slow (~0.1-0.25 Hz) reciprocating motion (maybe 5mm throw). I can adjust the gap between this cylinder and the exterior wall the o-ring will contact with to match compression. What do you suggest?
Pair it with our standalone reconstruction tools
You don't need to use Copilot by itself.
Our pre-existing portfolio of AI tools for CAD are purpose-built and effortless: Engineering drawing to CAD, 3D scan to CAD, and Photos to CAD all reconstruct specific types of legacy engineering data in one click. These tools are great at what they do, but they provide a defined one-way workflow. You can’t ask them to reconstruct a part in a different way, ask questions about it, or task them with modifying or upgrading the part after reconstruction. That’s where Copilot comes in.
You can pair these tools with Copilot by first reconstructing the legacy data and building the new part in your native CAD software, then switching over to Copilot to direct the agent to make changes or additional improvements beyond just the original reconstruction.
Get started today
Copilot is live and available today, along with a new free subscription tier that gives you limited free usage to try it out, refreshed weekly. Create a free Backflip account to get started, and download our add-in for Autodesk Fusion to try Copilot yourself.
We can’t wait to see what you’ll design with it.
-Greg and the Backflip Team