Formana is a 3D design exploration and modelling app for designers, architects, and craftspeople — built on just a few clear, powerful concepts.
A professional-calibre design tool that remains minimal. Formana focuses on easily modifiable models, supporting rapid exploration of form, massing, spatial organisation, and detail — without the overhead of traditional CAD.
Formana uses a hierarchical editing model rather than a history-based timeline, offering an alternative workflow for designers who prefer this form of iteration.
Rather than expanding the feature set, Formana focuses on refining familiar features into ergonomic, efficient workflows — so you can focus on form, intent, and exploration instead of repetitive modelling mechanics.
Just three fundamental concepts, essential to most 3D modelling, and which you might already be familiar with:
Start with a basic shape — a block of wood, an overall building mass — then perform the same cutting, shaping, and gluing operations you would when building in the real world. Go back at any time and adjust any step without starting from scratch.
Start with profiles and extrude shapes along a path. Pipes, revolves, and lofts remain fully editable: change the shape or the path at any time.
At any point, convert any parametric solid into a freeform solid. Freely push and pull faces, draw and adjust edges, or mould and sculpt organic shapes.
Structure your model to save time, then easily adjust to try out different ideas.
Evenly space objects, align to edges, tangents, and midpoints using guidelines and guide planes that stay active when you adjust and reposition objects later.
Create a component you'll reuse a few or many times. Edit once and apply to all instances. Control how instances adjust when resized, how they snap into place, or allow them to cut holes in their host — think windows and doors.
Create symmetrical shapes where you edit one half and the other is automatically mirrored. Create patterns and arrays that remain fully editable throughout.
| Formana | Composition-based live editing. No subscription. |
|---|---|
| Shapr3D | History-based live editing. |
| SketchUp | Rich ecosystem of extensions. |
| Pencil & paper | No batteries required. |
Download Formana — free, no subscriptions.
Formana is developed as an independent, design-led project.