Copilot transforms parts into editable CAD models in minutes for $10
7 August 2026 
A Californian company has come up with a technology that can digitise a physical part in a matter of minutes, cutting the cost per item from around $1,500 to $10. San-Francisco-based Backflip AI says that its CAD copilot can convert 3D scans, STLs (stereolithographic files) and other mesh files of parts into editable, parametric CAD models in a fraction of the time needed using existing techniques, making it feasible for manufacturers to digitise every part on their factory floor, rather than a tiny fraction of them – as happens at present.
If you don’t have an off-the-shelf replacement for a part, CAD is traditionally the first step in rebuilding the part. It could be a failed component that stops a production line, a legacy part with no CAD file, or a fixture that needs improvements. All of these challenges are handled by one of the few people in the factory who can find or recreate a 3D model. These engineers are often working at full capacity, and any new problem means that production slows or comes to a complete halt.
Until now, turning a physical part into a usable CAD model has meant hours of skilled reverse-engineering work, at a typical cost of $1,500 or more per part. This involved measuring a part that already exists, and then rebuilding it feature by feature.
Although capturing a part with a 3D scanner can be taught in days, turning that scan into a usable model can require years of CAD experience. Backflip claims that its technology can multiply what a single CAD engineer can do, and lets anyone with a 3D scan or an STL file produce a real, editable CAD model.
The copilot is available either as an add-on for Autodesk Fusion, or as a standalone Web application. The Fusion add-on brings the copilot directly into an existing CAD environment, including AI photo searches of a user’s CAD library. The Web app allows users to log in from any browser with no installation needed. It exports portable .Step files that can be used in any mechanical CAD software.
Plug-ins for other CAD packages are due later this year.
The technology is already being used by early customers, including an automotive manufacturer that is using a “black box” that can digitise half the parts that it puts inside automatically. By the end of the year, it will be able to handle almost all of its parts. This means that when a part breaks and takes the assembly line down in future, the manufacturer will already have a digital file to create the replacement rapidly.
Backflip’s second-generation 3D model has been trained to construct complex geometries by chaining together CAD operations (extruding, revolving patterns, and others) as a human engineer would do. This results is parametric models with full feature trees whose order of operations follows real engineering CAD conventions. The output isn’t just accurate: it’s editable, in native CAD.
Agent loops running on top of the model take this further. The 3D scan to CAD tool can reconstruct a mesh, check its own work, then iterate to improve fidelity and dimensional accuracy.
There are two operating modes:
- 3D scan to CAD This reconstructs STL files and 3D scans into CAD models with real modelling features, not surfaces – it is especially useful for moderate-complexity three-axis CNC milled and turned parts.
- Multimodal AI search This searches a parts library by text or photo to find the geometry you need. An iPhone photo of a napkin sketch can reveal a custom mounting bracket buried in a CAD library.
“Most frontier models have limited 3D comprehension that emerges more or less as a by-product of their training on large-scale Internet data,” explains Backflip founding engineer, Kairo Morton. “We built ours with 3D CAD operations as a first-class primitive and trained it to design the way engineers actually do – breaking down a bulk geometry, then rebuilding it feature by feature, operation by operation. The result is the first foundation model whose output you can open in your CAD package and just keep working. Today, that unlocks scan to CAD – and it’s the base on which everything we build next stands.”
Backflip AI CEO Greg Mark has published a blog outlining the story behind the development and pointing out that most manufacturers don’t have digital models of their own parts. “Production lines are built by third-party integrators who don’t hand over models,” he says. “Components go out of production. Some machinery predates digital design entirely. A typical factory has digital models for a fraction of 1% of its parts. Even Airbus had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars recreating the CAD for the A320 — a plane they make.
“Why? Because until now, digitising a part meant putting it in front of one of the few people in the building who can drive CAD – and those engineers are buried. Most of their reverse-engineering queue isn’t new design work. It’s measuring a part that already exists, rebuilding it feature by feature, and arriving back exactly where the physical world already was. At $1,500 a part and a million parts in the building, nobody digitises their factory. It’s not that they don’t want to. The math has never worked.”
“We changed the math,” Mark declares.
Backflip AI is offering a choice of user plans starting at $20/month. It is offering users four free conversions.
Backflip AI: LinkedIn
