VECTARY Announces Its Noun Project Plugin: Thousands of Icons to Turn Into 3D Printable Models

Free online 3D modeling tool and community platform VECTARY, which was founded in 2014, launched its first public beta in December of 2016, about a year after its services were first introduced. VECTARY already makes modeling easy: it was designed so that anyone, regardless of skill level, can create complex designs in their browsers, and then use standard tools to perfect the model, which is automatically stored in the cloud. VECTARY just announced that starting with 3D modeling is about to get even easier, as it’s launched its very first app integration with online icon library the Noun Project.

The Noun Project website, founded by Sofya Polyakov and based in Los Angeles, is actually one of the biggest online icon libraries anywhere in the world. It catalogs a huge collection of 2D symbols and icons, including diamonds, shopping carts, the “Female” symbol, and almost anything else you can imagine, which are updated every day by designers all over the globe. When I say a huge collection, I really mean it: the Noun Project has over 10 million downloads, and more than 700,000 symbols. The Noun Project is a necessary resource for designers, or for anyone else interested in using symbols for projects at home or at work.

This has nothing to do with its vast library of 2D icons, but I also appreciate that the Noun Project, in addition to listing its core team of thirteen, also lists its K-9 crew, which includes every company’s most valued employee: the Director of Snoozing (Bandero, in this case).

VECTARY’s integration with the Noun Project was built as a plugin, and allows users to import thousands of 2D icons from the Noun Project into VECTARY at no cost, and turn them into printable 3D models immediately. Just log in to VECTARY, go to the Plugins section, and pick the option for the Noun Project. Then search for whichever icon you want, be it a book, a map, or a test tube, and once you’ve found what you’re looking for, click the icon, and it will automatically appear as a 3D model. Then you can 3D print it as is, or continue to modify it in VECTARY.

VECTARY co-founders

“This is going to remove even more the common barriers that usually come with learning to 3D model and will help many of our new users get on board VECTARY way more easily,” said Michal Koor, co-founder and CEO of VECTARY. “The integration will also allow a younger audience to play around in our 3D editor and see great, immediate results.”

VECTARY, located in New York and Bratislava, was specifically built to be a flexible platform and tool, so that other features from different apps can be easily integrated, just like the Noun Project. The company’s goal is to support its community of designers and makers, and democratize 3D modeling, so that its members are able to attain their full 3D modeling potential.

“We plan to add many useful plugins like this one in the near future to help make your 3D modeling even easier,” VECTARY stated in a recent blog post. “We will also launch plans for business for those who want to use their models commercially.”

Discuss in the VECTARY forum at 3DPB.com.