So there is a lot of strangeness on makerworld. At first I thought it was me as I am “new”, but I have been online in forums since the 1980s. Well the 80’s it was bulletin boards and “online” was limited, but you get the idea…
Isn’t makerworld supposed to develop a community? I see now that Bambu is starting to try and have services like the litho, the photo to 3d, etc, which are cool in concept, be “paid” by the use of tokens or some other type of fake currency they have made up.
Take an example - litho. Pretty neat. Pretty easy, but there are so many holes that make it “apple friendly”. I’ve gotten some nice prints, but I also have learned that there are WAY better prints available as Litho (just search on Reddit for this topic). When I went down this rabbit hole I had this thought that perhaps maybe the way/method chosen to make colored lithos creates a lot of waste - and now I am convinced that waste is of low concern as then more filament is needed. Am I saying that MakerLab is promoting filiament use - Yup.
The latest try was the photo to 3d model. Pretty funny results. Recognizeable in 3d form but it was as though the subjects hung out in a radioactive area for some time then were printed out post morphing… And boy were many filaments needed … recommended 15 filaments. Isn’t there a 4 color process (CMYK) that has been used for additive printing for about a century? Seems like version 1 has forgotten this so only those that are willing to attempt a 5+ day print and purchase all types of filaments to get a model of altered radioactive humans will see the beauty!
I get wanting to make money in a “environment” but …
You describe problems with things you clearly do not understand. Printing processes are far more process-led than you appear to think in the simplistic way you described it.
Of course not, it might be a side-effect, but, Bambu Lab is a business, and MakerWorld is part of that business model.
You appear new here, yet have so many conclusions based on false beliefs.
The tokens as you call them are not false, nor made up, they are not even tokens. They are points earned when the designs you provide have found an audience. The reason for the charge (it is a service) is that the MakerWorld community voted how they would like to pay and cash wasn’t at the top of the list, redeeming earned points was.
Next, you will be telling us water companies recommend you drink water.
If you are going to try and put down the things you say you have enjoyed and benefitted from, at least aim your ire at things they do badly.
Printers are a one-time purchase. The filament (a “consumable”) is not. Plenty of companies have designed their products so that their customers have to repeatedly come back for more consumables. HPe and their proprietary Ink Jet cartridges being a classic example.
Of course BBL wants you to buy BBL filament, it’s an on-going revenue stream customers continue to spend money on after they’ve bought a printer.
Of course, there’s nothing particularly special about BBL filament, there are many, many other choices. You don’t have to buy BBL filament, in fact most of the ~4 dozen or so spools I have at the moment are not BBL filament spools.
And there are plenty of options for tools that will generate color lithos. You’re not locked in to Bambu’s implementation here, either.
I mainly buy Bambu not for the filament but for the RFID tags and the reusable spools. 13 a KG is actually quite a good deal. It can get quite confusing without RFID especially since I have multiple AMS’s.
Yes, I agree, and I really don’t mind buying filament as the end products are pretty fun to design and print. I do recall when MIT first came out with 3d printing about 30 years ago and I thought - that will be interesting when it is available for the masses.
Yes I am new to the 3D printing world. I find the bambu add on things like the convert image, text to a sign, lithophane etc a good example of potential. When I was trying to figure out why the CMYK is actually CMYW, I came across some folks who were printers and had some really good suggestions to improve the quality of print. This is when I realized that the Bambu lab products are good examples but certainly far from the best way to do things.
I wrote the original post as the photo to 3d model worked 80% of the way. Pretty cool for 10 minutes or so of work. The downsides are that it required 15 filament types and really isn’t feasible to use or print.
You can try HueForge. They have some smart software that can calculate colour blends for “2d images” using only 4-5 filaments, but you need calibrate it by measuring the transparency of your filament, unless someone else can share the values for that brand. However the software is not free and I have not purchased it myself as I am still boycotting US product due to their policy in the middle east, however, HueForge is a good program and I’ve seen good results from it, from others.
When you say you spoke to printers, I hope you are not meaning paper printers. Inks and filaments work differently.
Painting 3d prints can also give you good results depending on your skill.
Haha, you know. I hate stuff like brims and having to use supports. I try to do my best to make things easily printable. Although, I can’t avoid those things all together. I do try and put a certain level of focus into every design though to make sure it’s as easily printable as I can get it; while still keeping within my design goals for a given model.
