Threeding Announces Several Improvements to Their 3D Printing Marketplace

When it comes to 3D models, many of us use Thingiverse and its diverse selection of models which are completely free to download. What you may find, however, is that on Thingiverse, many of the models are not completely optimized for printing, or are just not the quality you are looking for. After all, the models are free, so it’s tough to really complain about it.

With that said, one company called Threeding, is looking to take the basic Thingiverse model, but cater towards the professional designers, who wish to earn a bit of money from their design work. Believe it or not, there are plenty of individuals who are willing to spend the extra money in order to ensure a high quality design, if it’s a design they really need.

In order to stay a step ahead of other marketplaces, and make those who are spending their hard earned money on models feel like they are getting something above and beyond what is offered at competing free marketplaces, Threeding has to constantly improve upon their offerings.

Today, Threeding, who does in fact offer a large assortment of free, as well as paid 3D models, has announced several of these improvements aimed at making the buying and selling process within the marketplace, a safer, more care-free experience. The two main additions include:

3D Printability Check:
This is an integrated software which will analyze each new 3D model which is uploaded to the marketplace. It will check to see if the object is water tight, and if not it will fix the missing polygon meshes. It will also round any edges which are not printable, and fix any other issues which may make the object unprintable. Once a model has been run through the software, it will be certified as being ‘3D Printability Checked’, giving buyers a sense of security when making a purchase.

3D Preview:
This is a simple, yet very nice addition. The 3D preview will be available for most objects and give users browsing an object the ability to get a 360 degree view of the model, by simply clicking and dragging it with their mouse. The 3D preview feature will be available on the web, as well as through certain mobile devices like the Apple iPad. None of the models will show colors, allowing for a better visualization of the textures within. Very large models, and models featuring more than just one object, will not be able to utilize this feature.

“3D preview of 3D printing models and 3D printability check are functionalities that make Threeding.com a world class e-commerce platform. They will give users better experience and additional security while shopping or selling via Threeding.com”, said Stan Partalev, Co-founder of Threeding.com.

These are certainly two important additions for Threeding, who has made substantial progress since their re-launch back in May. Threeding is also getting ready to launch their much anticipated iOS application very shortly.

Have you used Threeding? What has been your experience with the marketplace? Discuss in the Threeding forum thread on 3DPB.com.