Steve Royd-Marker on trying to get interest in further development of the 3D design package
TopModel is a simple to use, but powerful 3D modelling package that offers real-time previews. Developed by Italian company Sincronia and originally published by Spacetech, exclusive publishing rights were acquired by Cerilica Ltd in late 2000. As with a lot of popular software from that era, development of the software ground to a halt as its developers moved on to other things, and the application was never updated to cross the 26/32-bit divide.
For me TopModel is the only RISC OS program that allows me to design functional parts for 3D printing. A long time ago, I reopened the TopModel initiative by getting back in touch with one of the original authors, Paola Castagno… and, with permission, put the application on my website as well.
There was a discussion going on about 3D RISC OS Programs on the RISC OS Open forum and, unknown to me, TopModel was mentioned, as was my contact with Paola, and the (original) page on my website.
I recently posted answers and solutions on the forum in another discussion specifically about TopModel, but the discussion has stalled. The contact between the author and myself was also lost for about a year or more, but this has been restored. It’s at her request that I’m again trying to form a group around TopModel, so we can guide (push) Paola in the direction of further development. How far we can take this will depend on the number of people whom respond – so if you have any interest in the application, please do contribute to the discussion.
You can find TopModel and a number of related downloads, as well as details on any progress being made, on my Marker Design website by scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the Top Model logo, and you can also email me directly about it.