MakerWorld Search Engine v0.1.0 - Filter by Color and Filament

[MKPrints3D]

Hello Fellow Makers and Makerworld Staff!

I’ve been working on a search and filter page for Makerworld that I believe could really benefit the community, and I’d love to get your feedback before moving forward!

Preview

Key Features:

• Filter by Color: Easily search for 3D models based on the colors of the filament used, allowing you to match your prints with your material inventory .

• Filter by Filament Type: Narrow your search by filament types like PLA, PETG, TPU, and more, ensuring you’re seeing models that fit your specific material needs.

• Sorting Options: Sort models by criteria such as likes, downloads, makes, collections, and even print time or total filament weight used. You can also toggle between ascending and descending order .

• Dark/Light Mode Toggle: Choose between dark and light modes to match your personal preferences or viewing environment .

• Responsive Design: The site adapts to any device, ensuring a smooth experience whether you’re on desktop or mobile.

The idea for this page came to me one night when I was lying in bed, wanting to find models that matched the filaments I had loaded on my AMS, without having to go to the printer to swap them out. This tool makes it super easy to find models based on what’s already set up on your printer, saving you time and effort.

This page is completely free to use, but if you enjoy it and want to help with hosting costs, there’s an option to “buy me a coffee” to show your support.

Current Status:

Alpha State – This is still in development and not the final design. Currently, it lists one print profile per model, but more print profiles and features will be added in the future. The design and functionality may also change as the project evolves.

Request to Makerworld Staff:

Is this something you’d be willing to approve for broader use? I want to make sure it’s in line with Makerworld’s community standards and adds value without any conflicts.

To the Makerworld Community:

Would you find this search/filter tool helpful? I’d really appreciate any feedback or suggestions to make it even better before the official release!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas! Thanks for taking the time to check this out!

Cheers,
Michael (MKPrints3D)

[MKPrints3D]

Project Update: On Ice

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give you an update on the project I posted about yesterday. I was really hoping for more participation and feedback from the community, but unfortunately, due to the lack of responses, I’ve decided to put this project on hold for now.

For the time being, it won’t be continued, but if there’s renewed interest or feedback in the future, I may revisit it. I still believe it could be a valuable tool for the community, but for now, it’s on ice.

Cheers,
Michael (MKPrints3D)

[MalcTheOracle]

I did see your post at all.

You posted it first thing in the morning U.K. time, this is the middle of the night in the states and China just finished work.

The only reason I saw this is because 22 hours later you made an update that you gave up. I can’t sleep, it is almost 7am in Blighty.

The forum is last update at the top or search based, which requires knowing it was there. As you posted it in essentially a dead period, others who came later came wanting something so they focused on that and missed this.

Your proposition appears to be something you are building and I assume you had holes of cataloguing the entire model database for your research engine.

Makerworld would lock down that ability as you would be taking information they would wish to control.

I’m not sure how you would handle model and profile updates, there is t a mechanism available to get change data.

MakerWorld recently locked down their ALIs do provide far less records per request (less items returned per page), this would make your task of collating new information much harder. (Don’t ask how I know about the limitations.)

You would be Sherlocked out of the gate (if you don’t know what that means add Apple to it and search).

Unlike meal ingredients, choosing models based on what is in the metaphorical kitchen (AMS) has limited benefits as what is shown in red can easily be printed in yellow.

I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, just one with a limited set of benefits that if MW thought was worthwhile, would implement it themselves.

I suggest you consider this a feature request for MW to implement and adjust your posts category values to reflect that.

[Henlor]

I didn’t saw it either ^^`

I think it’s a good idea. It can be really helpful in some cases and improving the overall experience when searching for a model to print.

But like @MalcTheOracle mentioned it, MW might try to blacklist queries coming from your search engine (or else depending on how you built it). So for a long term solution, it might be better to post a feature request.

On a personal note, I don’t have the use for the colour matching filter because I print functional parts for the most part. But searching by filament types could be really interesting for finding models that requires more technical filaments

[Henlor]

@MalcTheOracle

Don’t ask how I know about the limitations

How do you know? I guess is less than 600 requests XD

I didn’t even know MW has an API ^^`

[Akelyte]

I’m actually surprised MakerWorld didn’t implement this in early development. I was hoping part of their RFID system would be tied to MakerWorld such that when you load in 4 (or 8, or 12 etc.) color filaments, makerworld would show you what you could print with those colors or materials.

I agree that this is an excellent feature request and would work better than simple tags. I see a lot of people tagging their models with red or blue or whatever, because those are the colors being used in their model.

With more filaments being released it would be nice to see a color/material category or sorts. Like @Henlor said, I think soring by filament types would be amazing for functional models

[MalcTheOracle]

It was 1,000 entries per page and then it was 50mper page for all URLs.

The change occurred literally over one night.

I had been playing wither API for a few days.

[MKPrints3D]

Thanks so much for your feedback, everyone.

Since there’s no API available, I’ve come up with a different approach to avoid being blacklisted. However, the real issue might be the changes to the models. I can gather up to 10,000 models per hour (successfully tested), but this involves “gathering once and storing in the database.” If I were to update each model in real time, it would cost me an arm and a leg to cover the expenses.

@MalcTheOracle - is there only the feature request option, or is there any chance to speak to MW directly?

Again, thank you all so much for your feedback. It’s much appreciated!

[Henlor]

@MKPrints3D

is there only the feature request option, or is there any chance to speak to MW directly?

You can add the tag “feature request” to this post.
And tag the user @MakerWorld in one of your comments

[MKPrints3D]

Thank you @Henlor .
Unfortunately, I cannot find a way to add a tag to this post. I also can’t edit my first post.
@MakerWorld - this is a feature request.

[Henlor]

@JonRaymond can you add the feature request tag to this topic please, thanks

[MalcTheOracle]

Did you start this project a few weeks ago, maybe 2-3 weeks?

[MKPrints3D]

Started it some days ago, approx. 3-4 days.

[MalcTheOracle]

That rules you out of the cause of the private API being limited in how many results are returned then.

[MKPrints3D]

Not really working with any API but with scraping.

[MKPrints3D]

Played around a bit and came up with a chrome extension that (for now) filters any model that uses PETG.
I can’t inject a search filter to just return PETG because the MW site doesn’t allow it.

[Ken-N-Texas]

I hate to be the wet dog in the room but the thought of searching models by color and/or filament type has never even crossed my mind. When I’m looking for a model, I search by various descriptive nouns. I could care less about the color and filament because it’s so easy to change if I don’t like it.

I sincerely appreciate the folks that put time in for the betterment of all and your efforts has not gone unnoticed. Don’t let me be a negative in your efforts. In fact, keep up the good work!

[MalcTheOracle]

@MalcTheOracle

Unlike meal ingredients, choosing models based on what is in the metaphorical kitchen (AMS) has limited benefits as what is shown in red can easily be printed in yellow.

You are not the only one.

[Ken-N-Texas]

Mine was easier to understand. I hate metaphorical anything.

[MalcTheOracle]

@Ken-N-Texas

I hate metaphorical anything

What’s a metaphor, it’s ‘for’ anything you need. I love a good metaphor.