I’ve just finished designing and printing a fully functional part that I’ve designed to fit a fairly esoteric need for myself, and am quite happy with the results (Thank you to everyone here on the forum willing to provide their time and advice on my questions!).
Given my overall happiness with this part, I’d like to upload it to Makerworld for others that might find it useful. The last (and only) time I went through uploading a model, it was a remix based on someone else’s work under the CC BY-CD-SA license. This would be my first wholly designed-by-me part.
What are the best practices for uploading models to Makerworld so that it is 1) As
“compatible” as possible (I have confirmed that I can fit my part onto a single A1mini bed), 2) as simple as possible.
Ideally, I suggest people use PETG over PLA for it’s better flexibility, but PLA should work for the part (I’m printing one in PLA now to try and confirm.). Do I make two different print plates in one print profile (one for PETG and one for PLA)? Do I upload two separate print profiles? Do I forego offering anything related to PLA and disavow anyone attempting to print in PLA?
The last option seems like the worst possible approach, given so many people that will not print anything except PLA…
Do I include an image or PDF that includes the relevant dimensions? I’ve designed the part in FreeCAD, so in theory, that isn’t difficult to do…
Finally… given I’m not a lawyer, and didn’t even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night… what’s the usual go-to for licenses on models? I tend to lean towards the Standard Digital File license being overly restrictive… but I admit to not having a great understanding here.
For licensing, if i was me i would use CC0 or public domain (most of my hobby project code was MIT license) but everyone here seems to hate that as they want to monetize, or stop monetization of their models. Then again I don’t upload to makerworld as they restrict downloads from non-logged in accounts.
Gotcha. Thanks for the input, Carbon and Eponymous.
I uploaded the model, and included two separate profiles as suggested. Took as reasonably decent pictures as possible, and included plenty of tags.
Also went with the SDF license for now. My thinking is it is always easier to relax permissions then it is to tighten them later as I am able to learn more about the specifics of each license.
I would have to contradict CarbonForge regarding the print profiles because his recommendation might have missed some updates on the guidelines. Uploading different profiles simply because the filament is different is generally not allowed. See guideline 6.3
Fair. I had made some other changes for the PLA model to try to allow a bit more flexibility. If those aren’t sufficient, guess I will figure that out.
On the tag front, I just checked, and I did serendipitously end up using 8 tags when I submitted, so I guess I did OK there.
Three things that made a difference on my first upload.
Add a print profile — Add Print Profile, upload your .3mf with supports and filament already set. It gets you the Print button, and it counts double toward the reward threshold, which most people find out after their first model.
The first gallery photo has to be a real print on a plain background, front lit. Renders read as lazy and people scroll past.
And upload as soon as it’s ready rather than polishing for a week. New models get a boosted point multiplier that decays fast.