With 3dprinting predicted to explode in growth over the next decade, do you think that sites like thingiverse, myminifactory and 3dfilemarket will be as popular as the app stores we all use on our smart phones. Surely most new people who start 3dprinting will not want the sometimes painful learning curve of 3dCAD modelling?
I do think that CAd modeling will get much more intuitive as the market matures. The market is stilling waiting for the killer modelling software which can really take things into the mainstream. that being said I do feel that 3D model repositories will be see major growth as the market matures. Ultimately the majority of people will be printing other's designs, not their own.
Thanks for the feedback. We have seen big growth and only been live a few months. Do you think thingiverse will survive remaining free as makerbot have introduced their own verified store charging for all downloads?
Thingiverse IS a Makerbot creation anyway. My opinion is they understand most people don't have CAD skills and they intend to alleviate that.
But people will soon see that there is a huge difference between a 3d model and a 3d printable model.
Also, there is so much it is getting a bit unwieldy. More work to organize ans check the stuff ? But in that case can it remain free ? We'll see.
I hope the majority of designs remain free. My opinion is really good designs should be able to be purchased for a small download fee so the designer gets rewarded, like the app store model. However, it has to be cheap enough for people not to hesitate about paying for the download. When designers are charging $25 per download like on cubify before they took down their marketplace it was just plain greed. I would pay $1 for a download if the design was good.
I think it should be free... A free market will bring about the best of ideas.