Introducing NovoMaker, a 3D printing market for 3D designs

[Judy]

Hey every maker/designer/hobbyist, a new 3D printing market for marvelous 3D designs, NovoMaker is coming to you this late March!

Check out this video about the details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmnkeY5tZ_w

NovoMaker gathers a lot excellent designers all around the world, they produce high quality designs continuously. Take a glance of some designs on the site:


Let's just expect more

And, feel free to ask questions and leave your comments!

[truly_bent]

Great idea from design creator's point of view. Intellectual property rights are well preserved. I see a potential problem from the printer's perspective though. What happens if the first attempt at printing the piece fails part way through, or turns out to be unsatisfactory? The first run of a new part may require some parameter tweaks for best results.

As a designer i'm all for the idea. As a printer i would have some hesitation.

[Judy]

Great idea from design creator's point of view. Intellectual property rights are well preserved. I see a potential problem from the printer's perspective though. What happens if the first attempt at printing the piece fails part way through, or turns out to be unsatisfactory? The first run of a new part may require some parameter tweaks for best results.

As a designer i'm all for the idea. As a printer i would have some hesitation.

Hi, thanks for your reply! Actually it's not a problem. Firstly, we have parameter settings for printing on the interface, such as size, angle, temperature ect. (but cannot modify the design of course). Secondly, even failure occurs or printer feels unsatisfactory, he/she can start over and print for another time, until it's satisfying. Once a design is purchased, the buyer owns the print right for lifetime, even the design is updated by the designer.

After all, we're trying to make balance between these two parties. On one hand, we resort to technological and legal protection for designer's IP right, on the other hand, we stride to provide a familiar, user-friendly operating interface for printers.

Would like to see your joining in March, and your feedback

[truly_bent]

...Once a design is purchased, the buyer owns the print right for lifetime, even the design is updated by the designer.

Colour me slow, but how then is this service different from just outright selling the buyer the STL file in the first place? Wait, i think i've got it. The difference is that the buyer never receives the STL file or any other standard format file that they can resell. Every printing of that model, no matter how many times they choose to print it, must come (encrypted) from your website.

- What percentage of the sale does NovoMaker take?
- What about a small royalty to the designer on subsequent printings?

[Judy]

Colour me slow, but how then is this service different from just outright selling the buyer the STL file in the first place? Wait, i think i've got it. The difference is that the buyer never receives the STL file or any other standard format file that they can resell. Every printing of that model, no matter how many times they choose to print it, must come (encrypted) from your website.

- What percentage of the sale does NovoMaker take?
- What about a small royalty to the designer on subsequent printings?

Well, the truth is, users only pay ONCE for a design, not like your assumption. We decided to take this sort of mechanism was not driven by commercial purpose, but, just like your first reply mentioned, we started with designer's perspective.

The ideal situation is, designer uploads a design, with the source file well protected; user pays for the printing right, if printing fails, just print for another time. But some bad things may happen, like, what if the user prints a design for thousands of times and sells the models widely? OK, NovoMaker will notice the unusual behaviors for sure, and takes further measures including legal measures to stop it.

If designers give STL files in the first place, your designs might not only be resold, but also be replicated, modified, misused for whatever purpose, and this would be much more difficult to solve. So, to prevent this thing happening becomes our starting point, as common legal method is inefficient here. We do want to form a health environment that designers are encouraged to continuously create great contents while every user enjoys the printing process.

Oh, designer sets the price, takes 70% and NovoMaker takes 30% of the sale respectively.

[Wolfie]

I see lots of holes in this concept (pun intended).

First, what about those who do not USB their printer? Gcode must be stored on an SD card. Once you have the Gcode, the object can be reverse engineered.

Also, full support of Windows, Linux, OSx? How about mobile browsers/platforms, they SOL? Are you going to guarantee compatibility with EVERY browser or just a few? Will it properly deal with plugins like AdBlock, Greasemonkey playing with the browser at the same time?

What about those with custom printers with custom print heads and multiple extruders? How are you going to allow for support and bed adhesion options?

What about backups, lets just say for instance, your site folds, where am I going to get those items I purchased now? Gone into the ether I suppose?

I don't own anything "cloud" and I don't put stuff there either. I bought retail versions of CS6 and Lightroom for example, just so I can run it when and where I choose and not have to ask "Please, sir, may I have another?". I download and archive all software I purchase on optical media as well as NAS boxes on my network. I do not rely on the web/internet for day to day use of software. In fact I go out of my way to firewall software phoning home by blocking it in my router as well as software firewalls. How do you plan to deal with customers like me? We just don't get to play in your sandbox I suppose? There are more of me out there than you think. Those who don't like depending on "services" and being tracked and data mined are unlikely to opt in on this.

The concept is nice, the hurdles are numerous. For me, the models would have to be pretty darn unique or really good for me to go in on this plan.

I don't mean to come down on you, I am just asking the hard questions that many may wonder and not actually voice.

[Printthis]

I wish you luck but I doubt it will be viable. Have you done any market research? The maker movement who is the predominant users of 3d printers does not pay for files or prints, they believe in DIY everything including making their own printers. Shoot the only reason you have companies like Shapeways in existence is because they convinced investors to give them 10s of million of $. If you are funded then good for you since that is probably the only way you will pull a salary from this idea.

[Judy]

I see lots of holes in this concept (pun intended).

First, what about those who do not USB their printer? Gcode must be stored on an SD card. Once you have the Gcode, the object can be reverse engineered.

Also, full support of Windows, Linux, OSx? How about mobile browsers/platforms, they SOL? Are you going to guarantee compatibility with EVERY browser or just a few? Will it properly deal with plugins like AdBlock, Greasemonkey playing with the browser at the same time?

What about those with custom printers with custom print heads and multiple extruders? How are you going to allow for support and bed adhesion options?

What about backups, lets just say for instance, your site folds, where am I going to get those items I purchased now? Gone into the ether I suppose?

I don't own anything "cloud" and I don't put stuff there either. I bought retail versions of CS6 and Lightroom for example, just so I can run it when and where I choose and not have to ask "Please, sir, may I have another?". I download and archive all software I purchase on optical media as well as NAS boxes on my network. I do not rely on the web/internet for day to day use of software. In fact I go out of my way to firewall software phoning home by blocking it in my router as well as software firewalls. How do you plan to deal with customers like me? We just don't get to play in your sandbox I suppose? There are more of me out there than you think. Those who don't like depending on "services" and being tracked and data mined are unlikely to opt in on this.

The concept is nice, the hurdles are numerous. For me, the models would have to be pretty darn unique or really good for me to go in on this plan.

I don't mean to come down on you, I am just asking the hard questions that many may wonder and not actually voice.

Hi, thanks a lot for your voice! This kind of discussion is meaningful.

I'd like to answer your doubts, not try to "force" you to agree, but just feel it's necessary to response.

First, we respect users' different habits, if you are not used to our way, we'll not force you in. And we do not directly give Gcode to users neither, as we know, Gcode can be reversed easily. What we do is to generate an authorization file (you can take it as BT file) of the design you purchased. You open this authorization file in the interface, set parameters, then click print to transmit the data to your 3D printer. Just because of the data transmission, users have to connect computer with 3D printer via USB. As long as transmission is over, you can pull out USB connection.

As to the compatibility, at least now we've been compatible with the most popular operating systems, browsers and 3D printers. We endeavor to surprise users with a really good experience, while we're making progress step by step. Yes, a long way to go but we like challenges. All your support, feedback and suggestions are great help to us!

And what if we stop service? Haha, this question is like "I bought a lot apps on itunes store, what if Apple is down?" To be honest, as a staff in NovoMaker, I don't even worry what if the company stops paying me salary ;P We do not use "cloud" for cloud's sake. Cloud is not our purpose, but it's an effective method to solve the serious copyright issues.

Anyway, I do hope you have a try, I'll keep you guys informed when we're ready

[Judy]

Thanks!!
Indeed it's hard to change every user's habit. Let's take a long term view, I believe excellent designs are greatly needed as 3D printers become more and more accessible. Not everyone would be an expert in designing, not everyone would be satisfied with just printing simple models, right?

[bigcatpants]

To be a NovoMaker advocate, I can see this as a casual user [in the future] using this to go "Oh! I need another napkin ring! I'll print another up for a buck!" and go to their favorite napkin ring designer's page on NovoMaker's site to get what they want.

I personally have feelings which are parallel to printthis, but I do see the market, here. Time to make some awesome napkin rings!