Makerworld is undergoing some changes that I personally find quite unfavorable, especially for new users. One of the key issues is the Exclusive Program, which, in theory, should be amazing, offering plenty of benefits for those involved. However, for newcomers, or for people like me, who have only been on Makerworld for a few months, it’s become incredibly frustrating—so much so that it’s even making me consider leaving the platform entirely.
Currently, the default setting in the browser only shows models in the Exclusive Only category, which means that I, as a relatively new user with just 21 models on my profile, am not getting any visibility at all. The only models that get a little exposure are those entered into contests, but other than that, it’s like shouting into the void. With this setup, it’s nearly impossible to qualify for the Exclusive Only program—how can I reach the 100 downloads requirement if my models aren’t being seen? I have 21 models online and only 11 downloads so far.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m aware that my models might be a bit too niche or explicit, and that could be the reason why fewer people are downloading them. But I also have several friends who started at the same time as me, bought a printer, signed up for Makerworld, and are facing the same issue. Their models just aren’t getting any visibility either. We’re participating, but only in the distant background, seen by a very small group of users who make the extra effort to look for non-exclusive models. Beyond that, we might as well not exist.
Honestly, if this is how it’s going to be, there are other model-sharing websites that might be more welcoming to new users, which would be a real shame for this platform, don’t you think?
Models can get popular on their own on MakerWorld, but I don’t think it’s fair to expect MakerWorld to make your models popular for you when there are many other options. Many of the popular designers on MW share their designs on social media driving higher traffic to the model which in turn works with the MW algorithm to share your model more.
I see many designers sharing their new models on Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram and put quite a lot of work into both the design and the marketing. I, personally, avoid AI designed models like the plague for various reasons and I know that that anti-AI sentiment is prevalent for many users.
If you’re looking to upload models to get the rewards, then you’ll have to play with the system, we can’t want MakerWorld’s high rate of incentives while also comparing it to other sites because other sites simply don’t compare, not even a fraction as much. MW is it’s own league and has its own set of systems and rules.
Moving to another platform is your choice and is fine; I would be wary of having expectations of being “discovered” more on other sites as well. Every site has their own algorithm to push their successful designers and this never favors new designers. No matter where you post, you’ll have to either push your design on social media or create something that really stands out and is unique.
I previously haven’t spoken up about this but I keep seeing people blame the system and saying the algorithm favors someone like me over them and I feel it diminishes the work that I and other designers put into it. I put lots of effort into design and prototyping, but also in sharing it on social media.
Lastly, it’s also worth noting that within the Exclusive Model Program, there is a litany of models that have essentially no downloads/prints. Even with that Exclusive Model “badge” on your model, you still have to compete with all the other models with the badge.
I notice the new filter for ‘exclusive program’ but it is not enabled by default for me. Though the first dozen or so models on the trending list are all exclusive there an non exclusive in there too.
There is a small section showing exclusive models, followed by an equally small Featured section which for me, at this very moment is a literal 50/50 split between exclusive and non-exclusive. Then that is followed by a For You section, which is mixed… Even searching, the exclusive filter is not checked, resulting in mixed models again.
I took a quick look at your page, and just judging off your thumbnails it’s clear much of it is largely AI generated. The one that states it is AI is even from a youtube video by 3D Revolution where he goes over several different generators. I assume you just followed along and used the same source photos for it, so I’m not trying to accuse you of taking it to be clear.
Not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing either, but people generally don’t care for AI generated models. So I don’t think it’s as much of a niche problem as you might think, it’s more of a quality thing imo.
If you want more exposure, you have to create your own. Better models, photos, even your tags and descriptions to get more hits in searches. Post your creations in 3d print groups and see what people think. Work on the quality, try to learn the programs so you’re not so reliant on AI generation. There’s lots of youtube tutorials to help.
agreed. right now im getting to the bottom of why the question of picture resolution is a reason for removing people profiles. the resolution quality of the photo should have nothing to do with how the print turns out or how there is no rule for recommended or required dpi resolution for your photos. if there is one then i want to know where it is. if not then why am i and, im sure there are others, getting pointed for it and our profiles taken down.
I’ve come to realise that the more I expect to ‘earn enough’ on MW, the more I’ll find MW as a platform to be unfair to me (which I think from a broader perspective, is unfair to MW - they’re doing things that are moving the 3D printing space forward).
So I took a step back and take this as a side hustle + hobby, and not an income. Nowadays, I’m a lot happier.
Keep designing good stuff, grow the followers, participate only in contests that interest you, participate in the social media and forums once a while, interact with people who commented or rated the models. Have fun.
Exclusive status is not how models are found. If you saw an exclusive model on the front page of MW…it was generally already successful.
When a model is published, it needs to succeed on the 7 day trending page as that page will generate the most views. To succeed there, people need to first find it easily on the new upload section, so the model must stand out to people simply scrolling through the sea of models. Then it needs to be easily found and liked on the trending page for the category it was released. Once that happens, the model will be visible enough on the 7 day trending to pick up more collects and likes to continue boosting visibility. At this point, further success is really going to come down to popularity of the model. After the 7 days are up the model views will drop significantly. At that point it is going to depend on search and browsing to find so that is where you need to work on keywords, etc…
Contest entries also enjoy a lot of views. Successful entries to a contest usually end up very high on the 7 day trending page.
In fact now the handy app defaults to the exclusives on the models tab, not to the trending or featured, so it’s definitely a form of pressure to have people join the exclusive program
I don’t use the app for anything. I only downloaded it to check it out, but I did take a look through the settings and I found this under Settings/Model Preference
To reiterate. The exclusive models on that page are already successful on the 7 day trending. A new model is not successful by simply joining the exclusive program. It never has been. It needs to be a good model that is popular with the community and stands out with a good picture. The model statistics overwhelming show this behavior.
Exactly. I feel like Exclusive Model Program is simply providing incentives for creators to come up with more popular and better quality models, and its working imo
Are they really? Or are they moving forward their own objectives? I think it’s okay to boost a platform with incentives like filament/stuff/money but right now they are actively preventing people from posting their models on other websites. Which would be quite ok if you can still download them here and use them on your own printer (like most other model sharing websites), but more and more models are only available with bambu-specific 3mf-files which I have to convert to STL in studio before I can use it in another slicer before I can use one of my other printers. By establishing a monopoly on models and making them only (easily) available for Bambu printers they are moving the “3D printing space” backwards and only corporate interest forward.
Yes that is true. Only “good” models will gain traction, but of course MW can tweak the algorithm of how it shows new models to favor exclusive models slightly and therefore giving them a higher chance to succeed. If i go to ‘newest models’ only very few are exclusive and if I go to trending almost all of the models are exclusive. These odds just don’t add up.
@3d-PrintCreator Nice to see a familiar face! Welcome and good luck building your portfolio. It takes luck and time to get a model picked up. For me some did surprisingly well and others (IMO better models even) tanked. And I don’t think the exclusive program is something to strive for anyway. Succes!
AI isn’t particularly popular on MakerWorld, so if you have quite a bit of AI-generated content, it may not get views, downloads, or likes.
If you want visibility, it’s best to post only CAD-created models, as AI-generated models aren’t very well-received, even if you’ve invested hours in tools like Meshmixer to sculpt and refine them yourself.
To boost visibility, it’s recommended to focus on creating TikToks, Instagram posts, Facebook content, and other social media to share links back to your models on MakerWorld.
It seems that not everyone has the “Exclusive Only” setting automatically enabled. For me, my wife, and some friends, it was, but it doesn’t seem to be consistent across all accounts.
For thumbnails, it’s best to use a high-quality camera, and any edits should avoid AI tools or anything that might look AI-generated.
Adding thorough tags and descriptions to your models can make a difference in visibility.
Try to get your model featured on the 7-day trending list. (Though how to achieve that is still a bit of a mystery for me, as visibility remains a challenge.)
I think this is a fair summary of the advice given, and I’ll do my best to follow it. Thank you all for the thoughtful and detailed responses—I really appreciate it.
AI Generated content on MakerWorld can be popular, just needs to have decent cover image, fit in searched items and so on
I’ve seen people posting ai-gen stuff straight from generator with no post-processing getting success. The reason for success was that the model was something people finding it would like to print. Also - no need for “cad-only”, anything that can be used to generate 3d model is fine.
Social media boost visibility of items that are not so “findable” on MW, however you can boost the visibility of your profile by joining contests - that way you’ll get followers on MW which is integrated in Bambu Handy. That means that in bambu handy your followers see your freshly posted models and can decide to print them with just couple clicks.
It depends on settings I guess - if you don’t allow Bambu Handy to gather info, it has no basis for curating “For You” page, so the next thing it does is “exclusive only” which is sorta not so good. I’d prefer if the default page was “trending” in that case since that’s democratized more and less exclusive (and contrary to exclusive program, a “simple” model can be trending)
No need for “high quality camera”. A cover photo needs to be attractive. That’s all. There are people doing renders or screenshots from CAD + a bit of text and still manage to achieve attractive cover image.
Proper tags, good title… Typical SEO practices really.
The only way to get to trending list is to have attractive proposition that people like/download/print and it’s a snowball effect. Just look at current trending page and you’ll notice that all of trending designs are combination of pretty/cool/usable.
Tags are good, but not “too many” tags. Theoretically when uploading there’s limit for tags (dunno what’s the number, never paid attention to it) and the limit for title is 50 characters. I’ve never been good with titles…
