XR Nation Citizen's Spotlight: Grib

Citizen's Spotlight is a weekly series sharing an XR Nation citizen's story.

HELSINKI, FINLAND (November 20, 2020) – Grib is an award-winning 3D graphics software company based in Helsinki, Finland.

Prototyping and designing objects and environments - be it physical or virtual - is not easy. It’d be a stretch to describe the traditional 3D modeling tools as accessible, inviting, or intuitive. Grib seeks to change that by enabling you to create and design anywhere within minutes with your mobile device.

Introducing Grib

Grib was founded by Pouria Kay and Markus Levlin in 2016. Prior to founding the company, Pouria had worked in design for well over a decade. During this time, he noted a persistent problem with people learning and using 3D modeling software. Learning 3D modeling takes a long time and a great majority of those who try, give up. Moreover, people who end up working in the field often use strong, negative words when describing the tools they have.

The solution Pouria envisioned was to develop a software that would put the focus on the creation while simplifying the learning process. While a conventional 3D modeling software might have hundreds of buttons with various functionalities, Grib3D has reduced them down to two buttons and an intuitive user interface as the main focus of the app. With this approach, Grib3D can easily be used by educators, kids, hobbyists, and designers to create and showcase their 3D models in a quick and easy way. And since the app uses Augmented Reality, the creations can be designed and viewed in scale, directly in the desired environment. Grib3D can even turn paper sketches into 3D shapes. Once ready, the objects or environments can be 3D printed or exported to other software for further use.

With the global 3D modeling software market size reaching a staggering 32 billion USD in 2020 and projected growth up to 53 billion USD by the end of 2026, there is a growing need for a new generation of 3D modeling software. Grib3D aims to fill in this need and be instrumental in providing better support for creating more maker spaces around the world.

Grib3D is not only simple and quick to use, but it’s also easily accessible. The app can be installed for free on both android and iOS smart devices. The app is suitable from complete novices onwards. It’s for people who want to bring their ideas to life quickly and with ease.

Create a Lighthouse with Grib3D (Tutorial)

Grib has garnered a lot of attention for its efforts lately winning several accolades and awards. In 2019 alone, Grib has won the Founder Institute’s “Alumni of the Year”, Telia’s XR challenge, two Nordic Startup Awards for the categories “Nordic’s Best Creative Industry Startup” and “People’s Choice of Finland”, and, last but not least, they were the highest-scoring XR startup by the European association XR4ALL. In 2020, the recognition continued. Grib won the Technology Innovator Awards’ “Most Pioneering 3D Modeling Software” and the Auggie Award for “Best Creator and Authoring Tool”.

After more than a year in the trenches developing the product, the team is excited to see the business opportunities opening up and to work fully on collaboration projects providing traditional businesses modern solutions to enhance their communication between stakeholders. Grib3D will soon be at use in interior furniture design modeling, for businesses wanting to easily visualize their future premises in real space.

Grib is also putting its best efforts into providing some alleviation to the challenges the world is tackling in face of the pandemic. The company is working together with sports coaches to figure out how they could deliver practical strategy lessons remotely in a clear visual way. Soon sports coaches can create visual simulations of practices in their own living rooms and cast them live or as recordings to their team-mates.

Learn more about Grib3D here and feel free to follow them on their social media channels.