How do CAD Points work?

What are CAD points?

CAD points are virtual points that can be purchased individually and used as a payment method for the order design:

• Allowing you to order and design an indication that is not covered by the user’s Dental System license.
• An alternative to buying add-ons: if you need to design an indication that requires an add-on, it is possible to use CAD points instead of purchasing the design license, following the pay-per-design principle.
• Trying out a design module or indication before buying an add-on.

You can order your CAD points through your reseller. 

How do CAD points work?

1. Before using CAD points, you need to do the following:
   • Contact your reseller to get an overview of all design indications that support CAD points and for the cost of the CAD points
   • Your reseller will also be able to tell you how many CAD points will be deducted for each specific indication 
   • The “3Shape CAD points” license must be enabled on the dongle by 3Shape. Please contact your reseller to ask for the enabling of the license 
2. The reseller orders the correct amount of CAD points
3. Once the CAD points have been added to the dongle you must update the dongle in the Dental System Control Panel. The number of available CAD points will be displayed there.
4. When creating an order you will be notified of the number of CAD points required to complete the order and about the number of CAD points left on the dongle. The same notification will appear when opening an order to design:
   

When will CAD points be deducted?

1. After order completion, at the Save step in the Dental Designer or Model Builder, the appropriate amount of CAD points is subtracted from the dongle. CAD points for each restoration type will be deducted when completing design in the respective application - i.e. for an order with an abutment and digital model, CAD points for the abutment will be deducted in DentalDesigner, and CAD points for the digital model will be deducted in ModelBuilder. 
2. When you click on the  Save button during the design, CAD points will be deducted but you will be informed prior to this with the below message. The same message will show up if the user decided to close the software in the middle of the design which hasn't been saved yet. CAD points are only deducted once per design
   
3. When the Auto-save option is enabled, the software will notify you that CAD points will be deducted during the first auto-save. It's possible to disable the auto-save function for the specific design by pressing "NO" when the message below pops up. Again, CAD points are only deducted once per design.

Will or won't CAD points be deducted for the second time if…

• I change the indications in the Order form after the order is designed?

Yes. An indication change will reset the design; CAD points will be recalculated and deducted for the second time. 

• I change the material, manufacturing process, or implant system for an indication in the Order form after the order is designed, and go to auto-redesign?

No. If auto-redesign was selected after changing the indication settings in the Order form, CAD points will not be deducted for the second time. 

• I change the material, manufacturing process, or implant system for the Order form after the order is designed, and choose to redesign manually? 

CAD points behavior in this case will depend on whether you choose to keep the original design or not. When opening an order in Redesign, the user will get the following message:

If you want to keep design, CAD points will not be deducted for the second time and DentalDesigner will just rebuild the order with new parameters.

If you want to redo the design, CAD points will be recalculated and deducted for the second time.

• I create a standard copy of a designed order and re-design it?

No. CAD points will not be deducted for the second time when re-designing a standard copy of an already designed order, as the information that CAD points were deducted in the original design is stored in the order files which are copied as well.

• I use other copy options - 'Copy and reuse CAD design' and 'Copy and Append CAD Design to Preparation scan' - and design this order?

Yes. In this case, CAD points will be deducted for the second time.

• I remodel an order in ModelBuilder?

Yes. CAD points will be deducted for the second time in case of remodeling in ModelBuilder even if no changes were made to the order or design.

• I generate CAM output?

No. CAD points are only deducted for design, never for CAM output generation.

• I send a scanned order with implants to a manufacturer?

Yes. The appropriate number of CAD points per implant is deducted from the sender’s side, even if the design was not performed.

Learn more about CAD points here:

3Shape CAD Points

Contact 3Shape Support if you have further questions.

For full information on correct usage please consult the official Safety and Setup Guide and the most current Manual.