The article was published in March 2007 on the Novedge blog during a defining milestone for the 3D modeling and CAD industry: the long-awaited, historical release of Rhino 4.0. Today, Rhinoceros has grown into an industry titan, with Robert McNeel & Associates actively selling and supporting version 8.0, a platform that has been heavily expanded through cloud integration, advanced algorithmic modeling with Grasshopper, and modern multi-platform support.
We started developing Rhino around 1992 as an AutoCAD plug-in to help a few of our marine design clients. We soon found that the AutoCAD user interface was inadequate for 3‑D freeform design, so we moved development to a standalone Windows application. The rest is history.
Bob McNeel
Robert McNeel is the CEO of Robert McNeel & Associates, the company that makes the famous CAD modeling software Rhinoceros, simply known as Rhino or Rhino3D. Novedge has been a McNeel reseller since our online store opened. The recent release of Rhino 4.0 was a great opportunity to learn more about Robert and Rhino’s success. I invited Bob to participate in the following interview.
The interview with Bob McNeel
Franco Folini: Hi, Bob! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and McNeel & Associates, the company?
Bob McNeel: Founded in 1980, McNeel & Associates is a privately held, employee-owned, self-funded corporation. My background is public accounting. Originally, we were developing accounting software for consulting firms (accounting, architecture, engineering, etc.). Around 1985, many of our clients were asking for help with AutoCAD. We signed up as an Autodesk reseller in 1985, and over the next few years, we shifted our focus to providing AutoCAD and AutoCAD-related hardware, software, training, and support. We also started doing development on AutoCAD. Our most popular AutoCAD-based product is AccuRender (Also the renderer in Revit).
We started developing Rhino around 1992 as an AutoCAD plug-in to help a few of our marine design clients. We soon found that the AutoCAD user interface was inadequate for 3‑D freeform design, so we moved development to a standalone Windows application. The rest is history.
Today, we are no longer an Autodesk reseller. The worldwide Rhino user base is well over 150,000. We are still based in Seattle with regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Rome, Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, and Shanghai. There are nearly 700 resellers worldwide. Rhino is available in 11 languages. There are thousands of third-party developers using the Rhino SDK to develop both in-house custom applications and a wide range of commercial 3-D applications.
The worldwide Rhino user base, in 2007, is well over 150,000.
Robert McNeel
Franco Folini: Robert McNeel & Associates created one of the most loyal online communities in the CAD field. Can you share with us the secret of your success in building the Rhino community?
Bob McNeel: We don’t really have any secrets, so if I had a good idea of why the online Rhino community is so successful, I’d be happy to share. My guess is that we were just lucky. When we started the Rhino development, the Internet was new, and we just happened to catch the wave. I’m not sure it would be easy or even possible to do today.
Franco Folini: In the last few months, there has been a lot of talk in the CAD community about proprietary file formats and how companies protect them. I would like to know how a CAD system like Rhino succeeded with an open, documented, and free file format (OpenNURBS).
Bob McNeel: The CAD users need and want open, high-fidelity data exchange. Unfortunately, open file formats are not in investors’ best interests. Investors would rather bet on companies that have a protected proprietary market.
Unlike most CAD companies, we are not a public company, nor are we venture-capital-funded with plans to go public. That means that our only customer (and source of income) is our users.
Unlike most CAD companies, we are not a public company, nor are we venture-capital-funded with plans to go public. That means that our only customer, and source of income, is our users.
Robert McNeel
Franco Folini: Rhino users had to wait a few years between Rhino 3.0 and the new Rhino 4.0. In the meantime, they enjoyed a continuous stream of improvements and bug fixes delivered to their PCs by the Rhino automatic updating system. Based on how well this system has worked, are you considering moving from a release-based system to a subscription-based one?
Bob McNeel: No. Again, those systems are usually in the best interest of the investors. Our users have the luxury of not having to buy upgrades until we provide something that is actually useful to them. In addition, all current users are involved in the development process at every stage, not just for a couple of months at the end. Since we don’t pay attention to what other CAD companies are doing, we rely on user feedback to guide each new release.
We started shipping Rhino 4.0 this month, and we began development of Rhino 5.0 last month. That development has been available to users on RhinoLabs for a few months now.
At McNeel, we don’t pay any attention to what other CAD companies are doing.
Robert McNeel
Franco Folini: According to your website, Rhino 4.0 includes more than 800 improvements over Rhino 3.0. Explaining 800 improvements to an existing Rhino 3.0 user can be challenging. Can you give our users the two or three most important reasons to upgrade?
Bob McNeel: Not in general, but in many market segments, there are three to five “must-have” new tools. For example, if you own a laser cutter, the new 2D layout tools alone are worth the price of an update. Other tools, such as those based on UDT (Universal Deformation Technology), are more general and of interest to most users.
We tried to summarize the highlights in video clips. We will continue to refine the videos as more users tell us what they think the highlights are.
Franco Folini: We know that your engineers are running several experiments for new tools. Can you give us some insight into what we can expect to see in new products or new features for existing products?
Bob McNeel: We are tracking about 3,000 feature requests from users. We prioritize the requests based on how quickly we can bring the most benefit to the most users. Typically, if there are good solutions available in other products, they don’t get the highest priority.
We expect to begin involving Rhino 4.0 users in the 5.0 development process within the next month or two. Once the first 5.0 Work-in-Progress (WIP) version is in users’ hands for a few weeks, we will have a much better idea of what to focus on for 5.0. My guess is that 5.0 will be primarily enhancements to the major new features in 4.0. Of course, we never know for sure until the users tell us what is most important.
We are tracking about 3,000 feature requests from users. We prioritize the requests based on how quickly we can bring the most benefit to the most users. Typically, if there are good solutions available in other products, they don’t get the highest priority.
Robert McNeel
I would like to thank Robert McNeel for taking the time to speak with me today.
2026: Where Are They Now?
A lot has changed since this interview was recorded in March 2007. The trajectory of both the company and its founder highlights how staying independent can lead to massive long-term success in a world of corporate consolidation.
For the Company: Robert McNeel & Associates
- Algorithmic Domination: Shortly after this interview, in 2008, a plug-in named Explicit History was introduced. Renamed Grasshopper, it fundamentally revolutionized the CAD industry. Now natively integrated into Rhino, it has transformed the software from a pure freeform modeler into the world’s leading platform for computational and parametric design, heavily adopted by top-tier architecture and engineering firms.
- Platform Expansion: While Rhino 4.0 was strictly a Windows application, the company expanded its ecosystem to fully support macOS. Furthermore, initiatives like Rhino.Inside have allowed the Rhino geometry engine to run right inside other major software applications like Autodesk Revit, fundamentally shifting how the tool collaborates across platform boundaries.
- Global Presence: The global network of users has scaled massively beyond the 150,000 cited in 2007. The company’s unique web ecosystem, Food4Rhino, has become the ultimate global hub for thousands of third-party plug-ins, apps, and add-ons.
- Corporate Structure: True to Bob’s 2007 remarks, the company resisted the venture-capital and public-market trends that consumed many of its peers. Today, Robert McNeel & Associates remains a strictly privately held, employee-owned, and self-funded corporation, allowing it to prioritize user feedback over Wall Street expectations.
For Bob McNeel, in Person
- The Accountant Who Shaped an Industry: Bob McNeel continues to lead the company with the same low-profile, user-first philosophy he championed back in 2007. He remains actively involved as CEO, often found directly engaging with users, answering emails, or replying on the official McNeel developer forums.
- An Enduring Philosophy: His early stance against investor-driven proprietary data lock-ins has proved visionary. Under his guidance, McNeel has championed open-source data access by continuing to develop and share openNURBS, a free library that allows any other software to read and write Rhino’s
.3dmfiles seamlessly, ensuring his legacy as one of the most widely respected open-data advocates in CAD history.
