Quality Digest interviewed Kevin Atkins, the product manager for Geomagic Freeform at Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence Division. Atkins has more than 25 years of experience in 3D modeling and sculpting, and his understanding of organic design not only helps in development and management of Geomagic’s products and services but also provides guidance to its practical applications. He took time to explain more about what Geomagic does and how users can use it to improve their workflows and productivity. 

Quality Digest: What does Geomagic do, and how does it improve upon current tools? What types of features do you think set Geomagic apart?

Kevin Atkins: Freeform is where artistic intention and engineering practicality meet. It’s built for complex, organic models—the kinds of shapes that traditional CAD systems struggle with or simply can’t handle. Think toys and collectibles, or patient-specific medical devices like implants and surgical cutting guides.

What truly sets Freeform apart from other organic modeling tools is that the designs it produces can actually be manufactured. Many digital content creation tools used in animation or gaming produce models that look great onscreen but fall apart in the real world—missing draft angles, incorrect wall thicknesses, or underlying geometry that needs extensive repair before it can be used downstream. Freeform handles all of that as part of the modeling process, so what you design is what you can build.

QD: How does Geomagic Freeform increase efficiency and decrease costs for users?

Atkins: The biggest shift is keeping the entire design process digital. Before tools like Freeform, designers working on complex organic forms would often revert to physical sculpting (e.g., clay models, hand-carved prototypes). That approach creates two expensive problems: Physical models have to be scanned and converted back into CAD before they can go anywhere in a modern workflow, and they can’t take advantage of digital capabilities like automatic volume scaling, wall thickness offsets, or interference-checking across moving parts. Freeform eliminates that detour entirely.

Beyond that, the way Freeform represents models (using voxels rather than traditional CAD geometry) means complex organic shapes can be built in a fraction of the time. We regularly hear from users who say work that took a week in their previous CAD system takes a single day in Freeform.

Automation takes it further. Freeform’s built-in Dynabot scripting engine, combined with Python integration introduced in early 2026, allows repetitive tasks and entire workflows to be automated, reducing manual effort and keeping quality consistent.

QD: How easy is it to set up, and what does that setup look like?

Atkins: Setup is straightforward on both the software and hardware sides. The software installs like any other CAD application: Run the installer, connect to your license server or dongle, and you’re ready. The haptic device requires connecting two cables and running a driver installer; once that’s done, Freeform recognizes it automatically.

One question we hear often: Do you need the haptic device to use Freeform?

No, it works fine with a standard mouse. But most users strongly prefer the haptic. It’s more intuitive, and it meaningfully shortens the learning curve. This is especially true for users who come from hands-on craft backgrounds like sculptors, model makers, or skilled tradespeople. Those users have spent years developing tactile instincts that a mouse simply can’t engage. The haptic device lets them bring those skills into the digital environment. So instead of starting from scratch, they’re building on what they already know.

QD: How compatible is it for various platforms, systems, and media? 

Atkins: Freeform is designed to sit comfortably inside complex, multitool workflows. It supports all the formats you’d expect across scanning, CAD, CAM, and visualization, including STL, OBJ, STEP, IGES, Parasolid, DICOM, 3MF, and standard image formats. If it’s part of a modern digital manufacturing workflow, Freeform can likely speak its language.

QD: What type of training do employees need to use this to optimize their workflows?

Atkins: Less than you might expect. Because Freeform is designed to minimize the abstractions that make traditional CAD hard to learn, most users find the fundamentals come quickly, and even basic proficiency is often enough to see meaningful speed improvements right away.

For users who want to go further, Freeform includes Dynabot, a built-in scripting engine for automating tasks and workflows. There’s a self-teaching manual included with the software, or users can take a one- or two-day class. The two-day course goes deeper, looking specifically at how to automate the user’s actual workflows rather than just teaching general functionality. New Python scripting support, released in early 2026, builds on Dynabot and opens up even more possibilities for teams with development resources.

For organizations rolling Freeform out more broadly, user-defined guided workflows allow even novice users to become productive with as little as one day of training.

QD: What’s your “elevator pitch” for this when speaking to manufacturers, whether they’re the people on the shop floor or supervisors working to improve overall functionality and reduce downtime?

Atkins: If you’re designing or manufacturing complex, organic forms—the kinds of shapes traditional CAD struggles with or simply can’t handle—you may still be relying on physical sculpting during the design phase. That shift breaks the digital workflow and limits the efficiency, speed, and precision modern tools can provide.

Freeform changes that. By bringing organic design fully into the digital environment, it helps you streamline development, reduce time to market, and improve both the functionality and quality of your final products—benefits already realized by many of the world’s leading manufacturers.