AMAXiMAL has released TopMod 3D v3, a free tool for building high-genus geometry (shapes with multiple holes, handles and twists) that stays a single, closed, printable surface through every edit. It is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, free in any web browser, and available as a plugin inside Rhino 8, though AMAXiMAL hasn’t said whether the plugin is free or paid. Source code is open on GitHub.
The software traces back to TopMod 2.0, released in 2008 out of Ergun Akleman’s topological mesh research at Texas A&M, and free to students and researchers ever since. Founder John Briscella, who worked with Akleman on the original, rebuilt it for browsers and phones while keeping Akleman’s kernel, the part that guarantees every operation produces a mesh that doesn’t need repair before slicing.
That mesh guarantee, not the AI layer, is the part worth paying attention to. Anyone who has sent a boolean-heavy mesh to a slicer and watched it fail non-manifold checks knows why a kernel that never produces a broken surface is worth more than another generative feature.
The headline addition is a built-in Claude AI assistant: give it an equation or a rule, and it walks through the math and builds the result as editable topology, with every step saved as a live modifier so changing one parameter recalculates the whole form. AMAXiMAL hasn’t published any polygon counts, processing times, or sample outputs for this feature, so there’s no way yet to judge how it performs past the demo.
Alongside that sits a set of generators driven by reaction-diffusion, cellular automata, branching growth, mycelium, slime mold, terrain formation, origami folds and wave-function-collapse tubing, plus load-based topology optimization.
A plywood module slices any model into layers, waffle grids, or finger-jointed panels sized for 4×8-foot sheets and numbered for CNC export. The Rhino 8 plugin syncs both ways in real time, turning TopMod edits into Rhino polysurfaces and vice versa, letting Rhino users add the topological kernel without leaving their existing workflow. AMAXiMAL has not published the plugin’s price or license terms.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad (App Store, free), browser, Rhino 8 plugin |
| Kernel origin | Akleman topological mesh research, Texas A&M, TopMod 2.0 (2008) |
| AI assistant | Claude, equation-to-editable-topology with live modifiers |
| Fabrication export | Plywood slicing to waffle grids/finger joints, 4×8 ft sheet layout |