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

[joealarson]

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.