A plea to designers - You're not making things.

I received an announcement that a 3D-models-for-printing service I had high hopes in is changing their paradigm to a streaming model. This got me feeling soapboxy so I'm going to get it out of my system here.

There is a prevailing opinion that paid 3D-models-for-printing (got to be a better word for that) needs to be protected. The idea is there needs to be something done so that people can't take that model and give it to their friends or print 100 copies and sell them on eBay. The designer made that model with their time and efforts, if someone gives that thing away for free then they lose out on that sale and can't feed their starving children. So DRM steps in and promises to solve the problem by preventing customers from using your models in a way you don't agree with.

And this is very, very wrong.

I realize I'm in the minority here, but let me try to persuade you.

The first thing is wrong is that you're not selling a thing, you're selling a template that can then be used to make a thing. If I sell a cookie cutter is it right that I limit how many cookies you can make? Okay, I'll admit that's a bit of a weak example, but the point is that even after a customer has your model they still have to go through the process of printing it and if you own a 3D printer you know the model itself is only a part of the process, in some cases not even the biggest part. There's also complications depending on your printer, the amount of material used, and post printing cleanup. The designer's contribution to the final thing, while paramount, is hardly exclusive even with the magic of a 3D printer at your disposal.

The second problem is 30 years of draconian copy protection practices have shown that copy protection doesn't work. At best it is an inconvenience to paying customers and at worst it creates its own competition. I've written about this elsewhere so I'll just link that article here and only add this: The irony of people complaining about their customers choosing pirated materials over the paid ones is that they want their customers to choose the high road and support them as content creators when they themselves haven't chosen the high road by choosing the DRM route.

http://www.3dhacker.com/3dprinting/e...-and-Real-Life

Let me reiterate, the right choice here is to trust your customers. Let them buy the original source file, that they will always be able to print from, put a licensing agreement that says "you can use this, but don't copy it for your friends" if you want, and don't stress if they're going to ignore that or not. If you're serious about this 3D-models-for-printing as a business thing (and I am) then put your brand on your models so if someone does copy it becomes free advertising for you. At the same time go after and support the efforts to shut down copyright violators whenever possible but do not demote your paying customers to serfs. They paid for a 3D model, give them a 3D model and don't support a service that doesn't. Take the high road, don't be complainant on this point. Taking the high road isn't always easy, but it will be worth it for you. In fact make a big deal about the trust you have of for your customers. Use it to drum up some good PR.

Then get back to making cool stuff.

You bring up some very good and interesting points. The whole 3D printing arena will need to do something to prevent people from making multiple copies of designs and just selling them on eBay. Something needs to be done, but it is a sticky situation and I'm glad I am not the one responsible for deciding what must be done.

Matt

I tend to agree with you Joe, however the issue is how do we regulate any of this. The politicians are so far behind that it's crazy, so I don't see much change coming for a while. I think trusting your customers to not abuse their rights is important, but also like the music industry there will be abuse that needs to be dealt with. Ultimately models will shift and more than likely subscriptions may win out. The problem is that, unlike the music industry subscriptions would eventually have to have hefty fees, or else designers will be making pennies on the dollar. Ultimately that may be the way the cookie crumbles....

Meh. http://sendshapes.com/ - but even with that, you could just convert the G-Code signals back into a 3D model, if technical enough, and so inclined.

Look, you sell me a hard good, and I'll just convert it back to a digital model by scanning it. DRM has not worked, and it will continue to not work. I would love to sell digital models of stuff I make, but it's also kind of lazy. Just make the hard good yourself, and add a secondary operation to it that home-printers and hobbyists are incapable of recreating right now, such as decorative painting (even colored sandstone can't compete with a nice paint job).

Also, as internet access becomes faster and frameworks more complex, I'm sure we will begin to see more online dsign programs, such as Leopoly (http://leopoly.com/). Since you wouldn't have direct access to the files you're working on, the site's owner would then be in control of allocating rights management. Just something to think about.

There is LayerByLayer.com but it only works on makerbot's. Then I find it problematic that, as a designer, you don't see how many times it has been downloaded same as on shapeways by the way. LayerByLayer.com works problematic for the customers, I think and they don't trust them. I bought the URL: iSellMyStl.com but am not a developer and everybody is on the same quest so I'm first trying to find out where the problems are. Interested developer wanted!

This is a list of 37 marketplaces for 3D models:
http://makingsociety.com/2013/07/37-...ll-3d-designs/

^ Nice list. Much appreciated.

Also, hasn't TPB's 3D printing category been stagnant for quite some time? I really only see torrenting a model useful if it has a LARGE filesize.... many of which don't... so... what's the point, I guess.

I couldn't agree more Joel.
People think that the prevailing model will be similar to a retail model. For example, LayerByLayer wants you to pay for each and every print that you make.

At https://3Dagogo.com, we feel that the prevailing distribution model will be more similar to the music file distribution model. You pay for the license to play the music file, then you can keep playing it over and over without repurchasing. However, if you use it for business or commercial ventures, you have to buy a different license.

At the same time, DRM will be moot (just like in the music industry) if the designs are priced low enough. $2-10 design files will likely not be pirated, however if you ask for $10 per print, it probably will be pirated.

~Drew
Cofounder, CEO
3Dagogo.com