CAD / CAE Software & EngineeringHybrid CAD for tooling: solids, surfaces and Global Shape Modeling
Why mold and die work needs solids, surfaces and meshes in one model, and where most of the time on changes is saved.
Softprint · Published October 28, 2026
Tooling lives between solids and surfaces
A mold or die is a solid body, but the shape that matters is a surface: the part surface, the parting surface and the binder. Customer data often arrives as surfaces from a styling system, as a solid without history from another CAD system, or as a scanned mesh. A tool designer needs to work with all three without converting back and forth.
Hybrid modeling
ThinkDesign's Full Hybrid Modeling lets solids, surfaces and meshes interoperate in one model. Surfaces can close into solids, solids can be trimmed with surfaces, and meshes can be repaired, edited and used as a base for new geometry. Reverse engineering tools re-create surfaces from scans.
Global Shape Modeling
Global Shape Modeling (GSM) deforms a whole object, or a zone of it, toward targets you define, while keeping continuity. Instead of rebuilding features, the designer reshapes what is already there. Typical uses:
- Design changes on styled surfaces late in the project.
- Zone draft: adding draft to an area without rebuilding the surfaces.
- Springback compensation of stamping dies (the Compensator function).
- Reshaping solids and scanned meshes directly.
At Toyoda Gosei, shape changes on aero parts that used to take hours or days now take minutes. See the Toyoda Gosei case study.
Direct editing without history
Interactive Solid Modeling (ISM) edits faces directly: move, offset, delete or add, with or without a feature history. That matters for imported models and for the many small changes a tool goes through. IWAKI DIECAST reports 60% less modification time on die-casting molds. See the IWAKI DIECAST case study.
Choosing an edition
ThinkDesign is sold in four editions: Classic, Advanced, Styling and Pro. GSM and zone draft modeling start from Advanced and Styling, mold design is in Advanced and Pro, and die design and springback compensation are in Pro. See the edition table, and ask us for the current comparison.
Sources
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