On-Demand Models Feature

MakerWorld
1

Premice

As a creator, people sometimes ask me if I can make a model for them. I always find it interesting to have these demands, and I am often able to help. Now that the crowdfunding tab was unveiled, I think it could be nice to have a similar thing, but for on-demand models.

In more detail

  1. What I imagine is a button next to the creator’s description (or on his page) that allows the user to send a detailed request (and eventually an amount that he is willing to pay).
  2. The creator would then receive a notification on a button located next to or in his message section.
  3. The creator would then make a suggestion and/or accept/or refuse.
  4. …
  5. Finally, the creator sends a link to the user to finalize the transaction.

The idea would be similar to the Fiverr platform, except that the models wouldn’t necessarily belong to the user, instead, the creator would simply publish the model once finished on his account (with eventual credit in the description if not already imagined) with an agreed license. Both options could be left available as well but pusblishing it would have the advantage of earning the BL points like a regular model would.

Money could be involved, and Bambu Lab (BL) could eventually take a small percentage, for example. The creator could, for example, choose to receive the full amount of money in regular BL currency or a lower amount (after BL’s cut) in exchangeable BL currency, for example.

My own special usage of this

As 3D printing is my hobby, I wouldn’t ask for money, but this would be a great way to share some modeling ideas. I would want to have the option to do it fully for free (no BL money cut, use a percentage and not a flat fee, for example), and would try to keep the license as open as possible (ideally CC-BY). So please don’t force exclusivity models on this as well.

Impact on creators

Creators that have visible specialties could benefit from this, as users could simply want a similar model to what they already made in the past. Please leave the option to disable this button in the settings, however, as not every creator would want to be bothered by this. Seeing the on-demand button on the creator’s page would mean he encourages it, and thus users could feel less intimidated by this. This button could lead to an in-between page with the creator’s preferences, for example as well.

Relation to crowdfunding tab

A tab similar to the crowdfunding tab could regroup all the creators who accept these user suggestions. It could be a nice way to be discovered as well. The idea is to have a grid of creators, maybe some of their models (pinned or most downloaded if none) underneath, a price range, …, that users could scroll through to find a potential match for their needs.

Future

Finally, in the future, a similar idea could be implemented, but instead of Fiverr, it could be an Etsy-like feature where users could arrange to sell physical prints, furthermore transforming MakerWorld into a big hub for everything 3D printing.

4 Likes
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I agree a feature like this would be nice and I had also thought about it again (I posted about something similar before) now the crowdfunding thing has started. Clearly Bambu is looking for ways to help creators and I really think this would be an obvious next step. Key point is it would be an opt in feature and has a good mechanism for agreeing the work and compensation.

2 Likes
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Hello, thank you for mentioning the existence of your topic. While I searched, I didn’t use the right wording to find yours and thus just made a new one as I didn’t find a similar topic.
Through your account, I was able to find it: Idea to Support Designers: Commissioned Work on MakerWorld . By putting it here, it should link our topics, essentially giving the subject two points of entry.

I wouldn’t have mentioned it before the presence of the crowdfunding feature, but now that the devil is out of the box, the only thing that we can do is try and make the most out of it.
Who knows, it might lead to a model with a slightly less restrictive license on your model page ^^
In any case, people like you are typically what I envisioned when I mentioned users contacting creators for their specialized designs.
Not to reduce you to this, but I can clearly see users wanting different types of models using Kumiko patterns for example and while I might be able to make something similar (in a less refined way), you seem the obvious choice for this.

I didn’t think of it at the time, but you are totally right that it needs to be opt-in. Once enough people use the feature, creators will naturally see this option available to them without the need to disable it at launch anyway.

I am happy to see that despite our different approaches to the 3d printing world, we both could benefit from a similar feature.
Hopefully, should such a feature arise, both our wishes will be fulfilled.

The only downside of this would be that all of this is a step closer to a Bambu Lab monopoly, which would kill innovation and lock users inside a pay-to-use scheme.
Bambu Lab is also probably realizing that MakerWorld only subsides through their points system, which puts them in a giant with clay feet situation.
Diversification of features will surely help with this, but it will also have the effect of professionalizing the space if everything (new) relates to money.
Indeed, when there will be no more hobbyists in the space left, everything will probably collapse, the artist life will once again be unsustainable, and the cycle will repeat on another platform.
We can only hope that such a feature would also be seen as an alternative to exclusive models on the site, encouraging remixes and thus keeping hobbyists around but we can never know.

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I didn’t mean to say you should of found my post and not done your own one, I just mean to say I said it before in the hope that Bambu sees it as something that more than one person wants lol.

I think Bambu will not have a monopoly on the creative ecosystem but they might kick some of their competitors to follow suite if they want to stay competitive to incentive creators. All ships rise in a rising tide and all that.

I don’t think it would change the amount of free models on the site as the only real point in doing it is if someone comes to you for a specific model, its not like you can put a model behind a paywall and wait for someone to want it, that’s not what this feature would be for( but MW might do premium paid models later). It would not change MakerWorld for the majority of users, just allows people to offer that service and people to get that service. But it they don’t need it, business as usual.

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Don’t worry, I totally understand, especially since this whole public forum thing was really made to filter out the most popular topics for Bambu Lab to act upon.

Frankly, I think Bambu Lab has already somewhat of a monopoly as their competitors don’t seem to be able to keep up at all. In an ideal world, competitors would arise and force Bambu Lab to loosen their practices, but in practice, Bambu Lab is ahead and speeding up exponentially.
The exclusivity system really did what it was made for, just by looking at the ratio of fully closed licenses that I see, I can clearly tell that there was a before and after.

On-demand models wouldn’t indeed directly reduce the number of free models, but it will be a step closer to it (like previous features).
With the exclusivity system, Bambu Lab started to control more and more of the 3d printing space. Once achieved, they will be able to reduce the point system greatly, pushing hobby users away while keeping only consumers and sellers.
They will also be more free to slowly normalize some bad practices.
Paid models, on-demand models, selling prints, … are all logical next steps, but depending on how it is implemented, it could clearly go in one direction or another. But in any case, more features will expand their control.
Like youtubers being stuck on youtube if you will, as there are no real alternatives anymore. If youtube starts to charge money to post/view videos, audiences will diminish, and only bigger youtubers will be able to survive.
And while I have the competence to make my own version of these sites, the resources needed are astronomical, making a new country might be easier.
For now, we can really only hope that all of this doesn’t evolve too fast and that initiatives like the EU Digital Fairness Act (pushed by Stop Destroying Videogames) expand a bit to encompass some regulation linked to 3d printing.