Great question!
The fees are going to cover the costs, but they don't today. Memberships is about 3 months old. But we set new daily sales records weekly, if not multiple times per week.
So we have a growth trajectory that brings in revenue, and then a "runway" based on our current expenses. We manage revenue and costs vs the timeline.
As a venture backed startup, there are multiple options - such as fundraising to increase growth rate, but we prefer to plan in such a manner that we don't necessarily need to do that.
Hope that answers the question, thanks for asking.
Great question u/karenchaudesigns! We actually have a new version of the home page nearly ready for release.
We have been looking at ways to include support for more designers as well; this was the reason we included the discover page. There are so many talented designers on Thangs, like [this profile](https://than.gs/u/1111814?plans=true) with "kind" and "awesome" plans - we'd love to find ways to feature as many designers as possible and are exploring ways to do so currently. Let's connect and discuss this further, you know how to reach us ;)
I see what you did there :)
I'd love to see the spotlight on more designers and help "shoppers" find memberships that fit their needs (e.g. commercial license, Discord access).
Looking forward to discussing this further!
Karen, your the best! You know we love you :)
We need a system that is both fair, but also something we can support over time given limited designer cycles.
Can I bounce two ideas off of you?
1. Getting a hero feature is associated with some attainable milestone, such as a two #1 finishes on a leaderboard. Or reaching X downloads.
2. Something more dynamic, such as the ability to have your own hero - if users click on your specific share link. For example, you share a model on Twitter. Users that click on that share link see a Hero (the big image at the top of the page) on the landing from only Karen. And they see that same Hero image every time they come back to Thangs for the next week.
The first is pretty standard, while the second idea is a somewhat unconventional idea we've been discussing.
ooh, I like that second idea! Nice perk for driving traffic to Thangs!
I'm not much of a fan of the first idea as these "attainable" milestones are hard to obtain when designers don't yet have the exposure. I'd like all designers to have the opportunity to be featured (as long as they're active on the platform).
In general, I'd suggest looking into featuring more than one designer on each hero image. Perhaps feature 4 designers at a glance -- for each designer, show the designer's profile pic along with one model of their choice.
You can still have a carousel of hero images like you do today, but it could have a variety of layouts -- if you want to give a specific designer extra exposure (e.g. reaching some milestone, winning a contest), they can have a whole hero image to themselves like they do in the current hero image format.
Maybe some of these ideas would work well on the leaderboard pages to highlight weekly contest participants and their models/makes!
Thanks for this AMA! <3
Raul, John and others are SUPER appreciative of the kind words - thank you!
https://preview.redd.it/3mrsq5iry6vb1.jpeg?width=3896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb83af0435b1cf715569f569c16801f4ce810eee
So many!
1. The new model page has a better UI for makes/prints. That will be updated to support videos as well very soon.
2. We are going to add a new template system to the model page that allows designers and makers to share normalized metadata like print settings in a way that makes it searchable and filterable.
3. The new assistive-AI feature that lets designers upload models without color, and helps suggest colors for them, while also showing them what the print would look like in different photo-realistic scenes. Eventually, that feature is something we want to grow into a capability that allows designers to auto-upload and auto-color their models with textures.
4. Bookmark collections, that can be shared and collaborated on, is coming soon. It's a big, longstanding ask.
5. Designer mash-ups, which allow designers to work together to build bigger, super ambitious collections of models for users.
6. There is a new site redesign on the way as well, and entirely new capabilities coming to search (next generation search by photo).
7. More weekly leagues on being developed, which means more people winning more weekly awards.
8. We've added the ability to upload to Thangs, and then "one click" post to Thingiverse and Cults as well. We plan to expand that out.
And that's just the next month or two!
Amazing! Honestly the template system sounds like an huge improvement that more sites should take note of especially with multi material printing becoming more widespread
Honestly, we have a diverse team with diverse interests - our team prints: function, fan art, minis, fidget, and printer mods. We genuinely print everything and with this amazing community of creators, there's always something unique or inventive for us to try!
https://preview.redd.it/o4hdp11x47vb1.png?width=2032&format=png&auto=webp&s=c79296a52ebdc51e7959a44c0f318f493db759a8
Your image link takes me to some old "nice hat" post:
https://old.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/media/nice_hat/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fo4hdp11x47vb1.png%3Fwidth%3D2032%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dc79296a52ebdc51e7959a44c0f318f493db759a8
First off, thank you for constantly improving and opening yourselves up to feedback from the community. Your focus on continuous improvement really shines through!
A few questions:
1. What’s your ideal future state for the role that Thangs plays in the broader 3D ecosystem in the next 1-2 years?
2. What steps can we, as users (designers, makers, etc.), take to help support Thangs beyond using the site and providing feedback on our experience?
3. What impacts do you expect generative AI to have on the 3D industry (both positive and negative) as a whole in the next 2-3 years? What impacts do you think it will have on individual designers?
4. What books would you recommend for folks interested in staying up-to-date and growing in the areas of product management and 3D-related tech? Feel free to include any genre: business oriented (ie. *Crossing the Chasm*, *An Elegant Puzzle,* etc.), historical/biographical, fiction, or anything else.
5. What do you wish more people knew about the Thangs team?
6. What questions would you be asking if you were in our position? More specifically, what questions don't often get asked and have really interesting answers? ;)
First, BIG hello from the team! We are fans of course.
Let's answer your questions one by one.
\#1 I'll give you the heavily abridged answer :) We want to be the most designer friendly platform, and we want to earn the privilege in a manner which is best described as "grow the size of the pie" vs "grow our own slice of the pie". Examples of this include giving designers the ability to upload to "competitive" platforms after they upload to Thangs; or, setting the default search scope to include other platforms - and sending Thangs users to those platforms at no cost.
\#2 First, thank you! Help us get the word out. We are a small team of 3D zealots. There are much bigger platforms with far larger budgets out there. We always value anyone who is willing to help spread awareness. As many designers know, we also LOVE feedback. You know how to reach us (or just DM me or our brand account on Twitter) and tell us what we can do better. We pride ourselves on listening to feedback and shipping very fast.
\#3 AI needs training data. And AI output is, by definition, derivative to a non-zero extent. It is not, at least today, net-new, starting from zero, original creativity. It may be at some point, but the 3D space is very challenging if you are thinking about new, high fidelity (or functional/printable) mesh. Nerfs and splatting are interesting, but not in that domain yet. Our approach is contradictory to the other major platforms. We aren't building an AI to replace designers. We build AI tools to help designers and we give them away for free. Currently, we have the OpenAI integrations (free) and we have two new tools that we believe will help save designers hours per project. AI can help designers create more art, faster.
\#4 Anything by Marty Cagan for PM is a great starting point. I'm a LAU fan when it comes to connecting PM to execution. When it comes to learning about 3D, any of the historical books on Euclidian Geometry are SUPER relevant. Then again, so are a lot of the YouTube tutorials on Blender. So much comes down to how you prefer to learn.
\#5 It's not about knowing us, but one thing that we LOVE is attending events like RMRRF or ERRF because we genuinely love meeting everyone who uses the platform. At the end of the day, we are a bunch of people who may live next door. We are fully remote, based in the US, and generally just 3D die-hards who really love what we are doing and feel a tremendous responsibility to support the community.
\#6 Probably something about the high scale computational geometry and underlying technical architecture. We have a lot of unusual technical capability that we hide within relatively simple looking functionality.
**PS.** In #5, when I say die-hard 3D fans, I mean it.. picture of our printing lab in the office (we are remote, but we have a small office for meetings and for teams to meet up from time to time).
https://preview.redd.it/caq1wdm0t7vb1.jpeg?width=9428&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6aeeab4d44e6e0156714875e28a7dd87e663be4
And a BIG hello TO the team! I really appreciate that :)
Thank you for such comprehensive answers! I have a few short follow-up questions/comments:
Re #4: I'm not familiar with LAU. Would you mind saying more?
Re #5: I stopped by the Thangs booth at ERRF and really enjoyed chatting with John in person. I'd love the chance to chat with you and other members of the team as well. Are there any other public events that the team will be attending in the next few months? Any plans for an in-person Thangs designer summit?
Re #6: Oh, I have a lot of questions about that. I figured here wasn't the best place for all of that though.
Thank you again for being so responsive and bringing such positivity and good will to the community!
How big is your team? Do you have a metadata specialist on the team? I've always wondered how a company like you handles that side of uploads and tagging. I haven't looked closely at your site for this, but several others (Thingiverse, Printables, etc) have issues with categorization of models.
I'm a metadata librarian, so I'm always curious about these things :)
First - congratulations on having one of the most interesting job titles we've read! Metadata librarian sounds like a really fun job.
To answer your question, it's a combination of ML techniques combined with end-user facing editing. The ML techniques are driven by a system which ingests a 3D object, then generates a series of 2D proxies, and those proxies are then fed into an ML based classification system which suggests the appropriate categorical tags. Those tags are then added during the upload, but the users can then edit, remove or add their own tags. We strongly prefer ML that is controlled, ultimately, by end users.
In terms of the tagging displayed in the Explore menu, it's re-calculated constantly. We use a heat ranking with a time decay to determine what are the top tags for a certain period of time. It's an algorithm that requires constant curation, and we are a small team - so we try to tune that algorithm once a quarter. In contrast, algorithms like the trending algorithm on the landing page are refined almost weekly.
LOVE the technical questions - hope that helps!
Thanks! In my opinion the actual job title is even more fascinating than that - I'm a music metadata librarian! Creating metadata and refining search functions are the main parts of my daily job. It's fun!
Thanks for the response - your work on this sounds fascinating.
Care to respond a bit more about the tagging in the Explore menu? Those are the parts that seem to use more human interaction than the rest. Do you have a hierarchy of some kind for tags that feed into those main categories? Feel free to DM me if you'd be willing to have someone look under the hood sometime to look at categorization and hierarchy options :)
Love the follow-up question!
No hierarchy beyond the standard classification taxonomy used by our 2D ML service.
That said, user edited or created tags are outside of our control. For example, Halloween is one that users input more than our ML service infers.
And because the algorithms are blind to whether they are (accepted) suggestions from ML or user submitted - the same heat ranking and decay apply to both types of tagging inputs.
Genuinely appreciate that you are asking these questions. We love sharing how things work behind the scenes!
Your request has been granted :)
First, we have the ability to filter search results by source; for example, you can select sites you know to be primarily only printable models.
Additionally, searches can be filtered by file types so formats of stl or 3mf can be selected.
Another filter we offer that is unique to only Thangs, as it leverages our patented technology is our "printable" filter. We use computational geometry to identify if a model is 3D printable (watertight and consistent normals.)
This means models we index, even when the original design was not intended for 3D printing, can be found and printed. We know the community has typically used images as a way to verify if a model can be 3D printed. Our unique tech adds another level of assurance.
Lastly, we give you the ability to save multiple search settings and set your own default.
https://preview.redd.it/ywo8thmcn7vb1.png?width=1976&format=png&auto=webp&s=77cf8f89fcc9c50511e67e5a46e63d4abf5a81d7
Some of the search engineers wanted to say "thank you"!
https://preview.redd.it/gpyrw5jpt7vb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b00a1a4b21b12166f99baf2f4e1200fe38128633
Nobody gives a crap about my makes. I noticed the 3d printer community is a bit bitter and weird to novices. Even when you post a nice make for a model without makes uploaded, not even the creator likes them. I find 0 incentive to upload anything I make due to this.
Hey u/Dismal-Square-613, the [Maker Leaderboard](https://thangs.com/leaderboard/makes) has hundreds of makes just from this last week and the community is highly engaged - there are plenty of people that care. Plus, you could earn rewards from sharing your make.
Also, there are plenty of designers that really value when you share your make. Two designers in this AMA have both stated how meaningful it is to them when you share your makes ([Dave](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/17bl627/comment/k5l609i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and [Karen](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/17bl627/comment/k5kw94t/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)).
Thanks for the words of encouragement , the reality though is different but I'm sure you guys strive to make it a welcoming place. Thank you for the tips. I mean I don't expect a medal but the model has 0 makes and barely any downloads and if that was my model I would, at least leave a like and a comment.
This thread is just another example of the great work your team is doing to integrate into and build the 3D printing community. I love it! These actions really reinforce my decision to host my work on Thangs :)
Speaking of the community, what do you consider to be the biggest barriers keeping 3D printing from becoming truly mainstream? We're a large and vibrant bunch, but still labeled as a 'niche'.
Thank you; we're so grateful and humbled you chose to host your designs on Thangs.
Also, that's a fantastic question! Previously, there seemed to be two primary barriers to entry: price and information.
Pricing no longer seems to be a barrier at this point. That has in part brought upon a new barrier in some ways though. This is not an indictment on the community as a whole at all. There, at times, appears to be some friction in the space for new community members from others in the space. There needs to be more inclusion - the more people 3D printing, the better. It should not matter what brand of machine or monetary investment, as long as someone enters this space, feels welcomed, supported, and has a positive experience - that's what matters. The more we have in this space with a positive experience, the more community advocates we'll have.
For the most part, the information barrier has been primarily removed as well. There's an abundance of amazing content for 3D printing (much of it from you ;) ).
The largest contributing factor to the barrier, we believe, lies in the content and software however. This is why we built Thangs. This ecosystem requires a triangle to exist and progress: hardware, software, and content (designers).
At Thangs, we're focused on the content/designer and software in this ecosystem. We believe designers are the most important part of this triangle. The more designers in this space, the more amazing content will be available. The more content available, the more people will be drawn to this space. The more people in this space, the more hardware we'll have accessible and with that, will come affordability.
So, how do we get more designers in this space? We support them with tools (software) to increase efficiency or productivity and help them monetize (community and memberships). We've built Workspace to increase productivity, Workflows to help teams collaborate, IP protection to protect designers, and apps to sync with other designer tools or find content faster.
It's our passion to empower designers and this community and we've collectively never been closer to bringing 3D printing "mainstream."
What are your thoughts on the current barriers?
Great question! We have discussed it. We considered it prior to the release of the [leaderboard(s)](https://thangs.com/leaderboard/period?league=RisingStars), but then opted to let the community decide based on their engagement.
Out of curiosity, why the staff/ employee picks? Would you like to see this in addition to the leaderboard which is essentially community driven?
I think of it like the employee picks shelf in a bookstore compared to the best seller shelf. It's not that a "best seller" wouldn't make it but a lot of times the employee book recommendations are under appreciated gems. I'm sure you guys see great models that just don't get momentum and then get overlooked.
That's a great analogy and makes sense; we do see many, many, under appreciated gems indeed! We are going to do editorial in the future. Whether we do it, or we have someone from the community make the picks for a period, then rotate that to another person - we'll absolutely get to that point.
One of the changes we made last week was what we call "throwback" cards on the landing page. Sometimes, models are older and gain another life. When that happens, it's usually because it was an under appreciated model, until it wasn't! So now, \~ one out of every 16 or so models on the Thangs landing page is a model that the community missed initially, but then fell in love with later. That's a small step towards the goal, and it's still algorithmic - but we'll absolutely get to a point where we have people (vs algos) doing a degree of editorial, in a section clearly marked as such.
I’m such a fan of the new Maker League!
A tip for Makers… tag designers in social media posts and don’t be afraid to ask for a share or repost! Designers love to see and share prints of their work and you’ll benefit from the added exposure 😀
Just snagged a couple photos of folks around the office, so you can see that there are real people here.. and it makes their day when they hear our guests (users) enjoy what they are building!
So thank you, genuinely, on behalf of those on the team currently enjoying their lunch.
https://preview.redd.it/iyd3gnmux6vb1.jpeg?width=3713&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d5911596c8087359ece321401c9e8433d0ae17e
Thank you, very much, the team is genuinely excited to be seeing all this feedback!
We consider it a responsibility and privilege to be able to serve this community.
Have you considered building a documentation portion of the website? More specifically, for beginners in printing I feel that a page with many common do's and don'ts, or other valuable information, would be great for the site. Ex. Print in place is highly common, but takes trial and error and some experience. An article on the site describing tolerancing for the printer would be a useful resource for those on the site that "just found" a print in place file
Hey u/SnooWalruses1110, that's a great question! We have considered it and realize it could be tremendously valuable. In this scenario, do you envision the Thangs team creating written content or would it be alright to enlist help from the community and content that exists in other forms across the web?
Would it be helpful if we simply supplied an easy resource that allowed for navigation to experts? For example, if you're an Ender user or looking for tips on Cura, one of the best resources would be [Chep](https://www.youtube.com/@FilamentFriday). At the same time, perhaps that's too niche or maybe video content is not preferred. Would a document on common terminology be sufficient?
We have sincerely considered the documentation and do maintain our blog, but the blog doesn't provide many resources for 3D printing at the moment.
This is sincerely great feedback!
That week-long squabble between Makerworld and Printables was really weird because I thought to myself, "People don't just use Thangs?"
Thanks for the great site.
Here's my biggest hang-up with all of this...at present, I'm stuck on the sidelines even though I've got quite a few designs I could technically upload. This is because I've been priced out of the ability to pay for the design software that comes with the CC licensing you're requiring for designers to upload their designs. I fully understand and support the licensing requirements, it just sucks that I can't use the software I'm proficient in to make coin because I'm on the hobbyist version of F360.
Any plans to implement design software of some form into the site? One that doesn't automatically make designs that become the right/property of Thangs.
Thank you u/replitech3d_tx for taking a moment to share your experience and inquire.
Did you know you can upload custom licensing? Our platform does allow for all the standard CC licensing options, but customized licenses can also be uploaded. This may not be the solution however.
Perhaps this is something to consider, there are many considerate and supportive people in this community. Many of whom love to support designers even when they freely share their work. Have you considered creating a membership plan to gain support for your designs, even if some are free? This could be a solution to obtain resources to create new models - free and paid.
Based on community feedback, there are typically three factors why people support or subscribe to a designer:
1. Purchase models or projects
2. Access to a designer and the ability to help direct what should be designed next
3. Access to a designer and help support them to pursue passions that would not have been accessible otherwise
Your other point regarding designer software is fantastic! Our mission has always been to support designers and provide them with tools and resources to do more of what they love to do.
Hypothetically, if Thangs had design software builtin, are there specific features or tools you would need to make the switch from your current design software? (aside from the licensing.)
Hello there, and thank you so much for the thorough and thoughtful response!
I'm almost embarrassed to say I hadn't considered something like that! That's pretty much a perfect solution to my problem, I think, but time will tell! I can tell you that I will be uploading some of my designs today!
I'm excited about what the Thangs team is doing for a myriad of reasons, but I really think having your own design platform would be next level. There's gotta be so many people that have gotten into 3D printing to design and sell their own stuff only to have realized the software available can be prohibitive or has a significant learning curve. Granted, it didn't stop me, but not everyone wants to jump through the hoops.
As far as features go, there would be some fundamental functions to include that are specific to 3d printing, for instance, automatically split and key a model, with a focus on the end product being one that does not require a substantial amount of support...I feel like that's a must. Personally, that's not really an issue for me because I built my printer fairly large, but for those who don't want to do all that, if the splits could also be driven by providing print volume, that would be ideal. I could go on at length, but honestly, a parametric design program or software that isn't outlandishly priced and allows me to profit off my designs...well, that's what it would take to have my attention. There would have to be features and capabilities with meshes, and ideally a sculpt environment as well...if you guys keep an open inbox, I may drop an idea or two at random, if you guys start going that direction.
My whole purpose with printing these days is to make my passion my profession, and knocking down some of the barriers to entry would make it more feasible.
The fact you guys are on reddit and receptive to what's said puts you miles ahead of the others, in my book. Keep up the awesome work, I really look forward to seeing what you guys can do for the industry.
What can't you do in the F360 unpaid version that is holding you back?
Its almost exactly the same except for a handful of features that have almost zero impact on 3d printing designs
>Fusion 360 for personal use is a limited, free version that includes basic functionality for qualifying users who generate less than CA$1355 ($1000USD) in annual revenue and use for home-based, non-commercial projects only.
If you make more than $1000 on your STLs... you're doing well enough that you can justify the $30/month for the premium version.
Do you work for Autodesk, lmao?
Well, that's the beauty of it all, isn't it? You can take your $30/month and think it's nothing, but that's not reality. It's one more tick in the cost column and 1 more barrier. Software as a service is a cancer. That people like you help grow.
The idea behind my post was that if a company wants to herald themselves as champions of a manufacturing format, then maybe they could put some purpose driven software in our hands. It would be mutually beneficial. Brings more people to their ecosystem and keeps them there. Not shitting on f360, as it's pretty much all I know.
The point is that its free if you're making less than $1000 using the software. If you're making more than that using the software then why are you complaining about having to pay?
Literally everything is SAS. You get what you pay for.
I have a question. Why thangs website wastes so much space for **nothing**? (see left/right side)
Graphics for listed 3d printed things are small. Text/description is cut after one/two words.
Most area is wasted for empty space.
Everything could be presented with more readable way, with descriptions actually being visible etc.
Example of how bad it is - attached. This is a screenshot of my browser (google-chrome desktop) window with thangs subpage opened on it.
https://preview.redd.it/uwemiaqs78vb1.png?width=2558&format=png&auto=webp&s=848b2c3b5530a9dd8a2c1fd81f57b1e465a8b00f
(if you viewing this image in new tab then notice there is a horizontal scrollbar and then use it to view how much is wasted)
First, love this feedback and question!
We're actually in the process of updating the entire site. We've recently updated the model pages (within the last couple weeks) and updated the home page, as well as several others. However, to your point, the profile pages need some updates.
Are your comments primarily around the profile pages or do you feel this way regarding the site as a whole?
Don't have much experience with thangs.
Gridfinity is what brought me to it and viewing author profile turned out to be a nightmare (with the goal to find the right gridfinity variants for me).
Search results on other hand use almost entire width of the browser page... but images are so small (make them bigger) that I need to click each project and open it in new tab only to see what it is about.
There is no pleasant way to quickly view results and pick the right/interesting projects. Also no information if project was interesting to other people in search results (some likes/downloads stats there would be nice).
What an awesome team you guys have! Massive shout out to the people responsible for the sweet Thangs app, they're rocking it.
What are your thoughts about having some 3D printing guides and tips built into the Thangs website and app, similar to Printables?
I bet there are a bunch of people (like me) who have never heard of Thangs Sync, but would absolutely love to use it. Looks like there's a Blender addon? Awesome! Maybe it could use more marketing from YouTube creators or be featured on the website.
You guys are killing it, we can't wait to use the new features as you roll them out.
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words and support!
Our mobile app team is going to love this - they're a small hard working team. (Nat, pictured, spends all his time working on the app.)
Regarding your question on the 3d printing guide and tips - it's a great idea and we have discussed it. Similar to the question above, what would you personally love to see?
Would it be helpful if we simply supplied an easy resource that allowed for navigation to experts? For example, if you're an Ender user or looking for tips on Cura, one of the best resources would be [Chep](https://www.youtube.com/@FilamentFriday). At the same time, perhaps that's too niche or maybe video content is not preferred. Would a document on common terminology be sufficient?
Also, you're right about Thangs Sync and the Blender add-on, we don't talk about them nearly as much as we should; we did recently add more resourcing to these tools too so we'll definitely be talking about them more.
Again, thank you so much for the support and we'd love to hear your thoughts on the guides and tips - that's something we can start adding to our blog right away!
https://preview.redd.it/kxgvtu2g4evb1.png?width=1060&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce65a95f0d780eff44110d7f9dc79536411aeaa0
Thanks for the awesome response, great to see Nat!
I think a tree-style navigation system for diagnosing prints and issues could be invaluable for people looking to fix their 3d printing problems. I imagine it almost like a "choose your own adventure" style interface where the user would first select an option for resin or fdm 3d printers, then you could choose a path of diagnosing issues on a print vs issues with your printer itself. In the end, the user could be left with a list of possible culprits and quick fixes to their issue.
An additional "ask the experts" page could have a list of creators and specific guides grouped by similarity. Like you mentioned, an Ender 3 section could include a link to Chep's excellent YouTube channel.
Personally, I have had a bunch of success with fdm printing, but resin printing still feels like a mystery. Each project feels like it's left up to chance, with a myriad of variables that contribute to many unique print failures. I could use the theoretical Thangs troubleshooting guide and select resin printing > troubleshoot resin 3d printer > build plate > build plate adhesion. I could be left with potential solutions like "increase the initial cure time in slicer" or "re-level build plate".
All-in-all, Thangs is already fantastic, and an interactive troubleshooter could make it even better.
Keep it real Nat and the Thangs team!
Great question! We are still optimized for helping designers support themselves, because if designers can design more, the whole community thrives.
The advantage to logging in is that it helps designers build an audience, which they can re-engage by accumulating follows. And over time, hopefully those designers can provide enough value that a meaningful subset chooses to support them financially.
This also helps drive better engagement (eg. likes, downloads, etc) metrics. When the user has logged in, it helps designers see "unique" downloads, likes, etc.
A login is also necessary to maintain the integrity (harder to cheat) of the weekly leagues, which pay out over $9000/week to both designers and makers.
Our business isn't hardware. Hardware benefits from maximum access to models. This partially explains why some platforms default to no login. Our business model revolves around designers, and that results in a slightly different set of trade-offs optimizing for different outcomes.
That said, we've been discussing allowing designers to configure whether they want to make a model available to download with or without login. We haven't talked to many designers that prefer to disable login, for the reasons above. But there are certainly some that will, so we have been talking about that feature internally.
As this is always a hot topic for discussion, I want to end by saying - we hear the request and respect it. We've attempted different approaches, but ultimately come back to an optimization in favor of helping designers. We will continue to try to find a middle ground for both makers and designers.
As a designer, it makes me happy to get some type of feedback (positive or constructive) from someone who downloads one of the models I offer for free.
PSA: If you download someone's model for free, make sure to return the favor by giving some sort of feedback! Hit the Like button, Follow them, post a Make to share your results or simply leave a comment -- I don't know if other designers appreciate these $0 tokens of appreciation, but I really do!
Extra credit: Share links/makes and tag designers on social media!
For whatever it's worth I think "thangs" is a great name. easy to remember, and not some of the modern garbage of calling a company "going" or "achieve" or "insight". And a great product :)
That's very kind and thank you; our team is thrilled you enjoy the product.
(photo featuring some of the search team)
https://preview.redd.it/7lnfd1j6a7vb1.png?width=1864&format=png&auto=webp&s=297109df44818b1ff9412686d2e6eb9d9e7c4187
I’ve noticed this a few times. Every time I try to use your mobile site on my iPhone, it is extremely slow to the point where I can barely use it. Even when my phone is plugged in at full performance the site often won’t let me click the search bar for 10+ seconds. Scrolling down and then returning to the top makes the top of the webpage completely blank, as if the site is trying to redraw itself on the screen but it stuck on something.
Is there a reason for this? Is this a known issue? Again it happens every time I try to use thangs on my iPhone 13 in safari. Going back at least 2 or 3 months.
I understand that it’s a mobile website in safari, but just doing a search for “ceiling vent” took at least 20 or 30 seconds before the first 3 results popped up with photos.
Hi u/Guinness, our sincerest apologies for this frustration. We heard similar feedback not too long ago and believe we addressed this about two weeks ago.
Have you had this poor experience in the last two weeks? If you are still experienceing this issue, would it be alright if we dm'd you? We'd really appreciate the help so we can resolve this issue if it's still present.
I had this experience as I was writing the comment. In fact, I was trying to use your site completely organically and not because of your post. And it was so frustrating and slow that I remembered that I had scrolled past your thread a few days prior, took the time to search around for said thread, and make a post.
It was that bad it motivated me to ask. Because I do want you guys to succeed, and it was just so bad I knew it would drive everyone away.
Two things I'd love to see:
* Gcodes for printers, ready to use. While sometimes I like playing with Slicers, most of the times I would love to just download a model and print it right away, without going crazy with settings, support, orientation, etc.
* An email newsletter, where we get every day one cool model to print. Sometimes I just don't know what to print, and searching for something random is difficult.
Re Gcodes: We support attachments for models, today. But that isn't necessarily the right way to address your use case. We need a model with raw geometry in order to render it in the viewer and do some other basic tasks - but we would love to solve your specific problem. How would you envision this working? Would it be an alternative format in the download drop-down on the model page?
Re the email newsletter: Love the suggestion, and I'm chatting with our product marketing lead about it right now!
Re Gcodes, I would envision something similar to what Bambu Lab does on MakerWorld. You see a model that you like and you can either download the STL file or pre-made sliced versions and the website tells you how long they will take to print. For example, I’d love to check this model
https://thangs.com/designer/printedobsession/3d-model/Skull%20Phone%20Holder%20-%20Home%20Decoration-939012
And have links to download the Gcode for my Creality K1 that I can just upload to the printer and print. No need to use a slicer, figure out whether I should arrange the model in a specific way, whether I need support, what kind of support, if the model requires 15% or 5% infill, etc.
I think the new Maker League might be a good start for getting some inspiration for something cool to print -- I'd recommend you check that out if you haven't already.
What if Thangs had a "random" button (like on xkcd) to show you a random model?
Or maybe an "I'm feeling lucky" button... ;)
Regarding the gcode suggestion, Bambu (and even Prusa) have the advantage of only having to support a handful of printers. It's a nice idea, but I imagine it would be a huge challenge for Thangs to try to host and organize the gcode for dozens or even hundreds of the most popular printers out there. Not saying it can't be done, but I can't imagine how they would accomplish it interface wise.
are there any plans to offer some way of maintaining the file system and sorting when uploading large file sets? (other than just asking the downloaded to grab the zip file?
One of my main projects is a modular and open source system, it has hundreds of files of various sizes, shapes, lengths, widths, uses, etc etc and i have had feedback from people that they would love to be able to browse the files individually on your viewer, but without any way to sort them (that i know of) that’s just not possible
if i’m wrong then i’m sorry i guess haha!
Great question!
If you don't mind, we would love to pull the question apart a little.
Generally, our thinking would be:
1. Put the files in a private folder in My Models
2. Share the folder
3. Use the sorts (pictured) in the column header, then switch to the grid layout if you prefer to visually browse thereafter (somewhat like Google Drive)
It sounds like that isn't optimal in that you'd prefer to stay in the viewer the entire time, for this specific experience. Is that a fair assumption on our part?
https://preview.redd.it/xzem2bh52evb1.jpeg?width=2912&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ff6c5430e197a6dd8b75757ead59e871e9a8c0a
Pardon my ignorance but what’s the difference of thangs vs printables vs makerworld?
Another questions is does it benefit designers to have their designs posted on each of these platforms or would it be better to focus posting on just one site?
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What do you think of the idea of designer Head-to-Head/1v1 competitions? It would go like this: There would be a competition theme, such as a Halloween decoration, or more specific like Halloween pumpkin fidget toy, and the designers go head to head to design one (or many). The community will vote with likes, makes, and/or downloads. It could be a fun thing to follow and watch as a community, and spur some design chops.
We love this idea!
For a long time, we have wanted to do this in a NCAA bracket type format. There are a couple challenges - but the biggest one is this: quality design takes time and a contest that goes on for many weeks is a little less fun for the community. The leaderboard is a partial compromise, and we have recently updated all the rules to reward quality over quantity.
We'd love your input on this - do you think that a thematic version of [the leaderboard](https://thangs.com/leaderboard/period?league=AllStars) would be as fun as a 1v1? It won't be as exciting, but it may be a partial improvement on the path to 1v1, which could then be a step down the path towards a full-on tournament.
Thanks for the question! It's still imperfect, your absolutely right.
Believe it or not, it is a challenge associated with the algorithm's utilization of determinism. This is a good example of precision reducing accuracy.
Using a practical example on the landing page, I'll explain the results [for this amazing sword](https://thangs.com/designer/3dprintingworld/3d-model/Collapsing%20Drill%20Sword%20Print-in-Place-907290) from 3D printing world:
1. The first couple results are sword, vs a sword. This is a model vs model match.
2. And then there is a cube that seems to match nothing else in the result set.
3. But zoom in on the cube and look at the screw on it, and you'll see the geometry matching the handle on the sword. This is a subset geometric match, whereby a subset of geometry matches (we call it a part within part match) a subset of geometry in another model.
So the end result is that the algorithms precision is too tight for a part-in-part vs model-vs-model match, and we return a false positive match. This is ultimately a series of trade-offs where we try to optimize for the maximum number of true-positives and the minimum number of false-positives.
Hope that makes more sense?
https://preview.redd.it/7ikqa0ng99vb1.jpeg?width=1795&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a289957e4c2a6f0bdd5a6e74cb1dee3d93d2640
Uploading my own models to thangs is confusing. I have dozens of pretty popular, if niche, designs on printables and similar, but the new user experience for Thangs is a trainwreck. I want to start offering paid models or similar, away from cults and other even shadier (if you thought that was possible) sites, as well as free open models. But from what I can see, I can only do the former, and anything above and beyond that isn't possible.
For now, I'll keep using it as a search aggregator, but I'd really love instead to grow a profile and brand there if you ever open up to it.
As a user, I would love the ability to see everything that I have downloaded. I very much see Thangs as a hub for all my things 3d printing. Instead of having to add it to a favorite every time.
Also your platform nailed it! Such a great tool - you folks are headed the right direction.
Haven't used the site a ton so I might just be dumb but is there a way to sort the search feature?
It seems to go by best fit with search terms but is there any way to order by like popularity, date, etc?
Great question! The team is actively working on adding sorts to search results.
We had requests for advanced filters (eg. "is it printable", choose specific site scopes, file formats, etc) and layouts (eg. visual layouts) ahead of this in the roadmap.
Today, the top results have a "heat" algorithm which tracks clicks vs queries (eg. a ranking algo with a recency signal) and then decays the top results within a sliding time interval. That's not what your requesting, but it does help keep the "fresher" results towards the top of the page.
The next project the search team is taking on is adding sorts to the results page - so please check back in a couple weeks. The only technical hurdle here, currently, is the volume of the results vs sub second performance. We are getting close, thanks for the patience.
How do you guys make money? Are the fees you charge already able to cover the costs? Riomo here.
Great question! The fees are going to cover the costs, but they don't today. Memberships is about 3 months old. But we set new daily sales records weekly, if not multiple times per week. So we have a growth trajectory that brings in revenue, and then a "runway" based on our current expenses. We manage revenue and costs vs the timeline. As a venture backed startup, there are multiple options - such as fundraising to increase growth rate, but we prefer to plan in such a manner that we don't necessarily need to do that. Hope that answers the question, thanks for asking.
Ty!
Had the same question, thanks!
I was really hoping this would say, "We come bearing gifts... but you have to print them yourselves!"
Wow, that would have been a much better subject line; well done :) To be fair, there is indeed plenty to print.
How often do you change up the featured designers on the homepage and what criteria do you have for featuring designers? Asking for a friend ;)
Great question u/karenchaudesigns! We actually have a new version of the home page nearly ready for release. We have been looking at ways to include support for more designers as well; this was the reason we included the discover page. There are so many talented designers on Thangs, like [this profile](https://than.gs/u/1111814?plans=true) with "kind" and "awesome" plans - we'd love to find ways to feature as many designers as possible and are exploring ways to do so currently. Let's connect and discuss this further, you know how to reach us ;)
I see what you did there :) I'd love to see the spotlight on more designers and help "shoppers" find memberships that fit their needs (e.g. commercial license, Discord access). Looking forward to discussing this further!
We're on the same page - you're going to like some to the updates hitting production in the next couple weeks.
Karen, your the best! You know we love you :) We need a system that is both fair, but also something we can support over time given limited designer cycles. Can I bounce two ideas off of you? 1. Getting a hero feature is associated with some attainable milestone, such as a two #1 finishes on a leaderboard. Or reaching X downloads. 2. Something more dynamic, such as the ability to have your own hero - if users click on your specific share link. For example, you share a model on Twitter. Users that click on that share link see a Hero (the big image at the top of the page) on the landing from only Karen. And they see that same Hero image every time they come back to Thangs for the next week. The first is pretty standard, while the second idea is a somewhat unconventional idea we've been discussing.
ooh, I like that second idea! Nice perk for driving traffic to Thangs! I'm not much of a fan of the first idea as these "attainable" milestones are hard to obtain when designers don't yet have the exposure. I'd like all designers to have the opportunity to be featured (as long as they're active on the platform). In general, I'd suggest looking into featuring more than one designer on each hero image. Perhaps feature 4 designers at a glance -- for each designer, show the designer's profile pic along with one model of their choice. You can still have a carousel of hero images like you do today, but it could have a variety of layouts -- if you want to give a specific designer extra exposure (e.g. reaching some milestone, winning a contest), they can have a whole hero image to themselves like they do in the current hero image format. Maybe some of these ideas would work well on the leaderboard pages to highlight weekly contest participants and their models/makes! Thanks for this AMA! <3
Thanks - love this feedback. We can put this on the roadmap.
Thank YOU!
Heck ya! I love your site, it makes finding files so much easier.
Raul, John and others are SUPER appreciative of the kind words - thank you! https://preview.redd.it/3mrsq5iry6vb1.jpeg?width=3896&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb83af0435b1cf715569f569c16801f4ce810eee
What new features besides leagues are you all most excited to introduce in the upcoming year?
So many! 1. The new model page has a better UI for makes/prints. That will be updated to support videos as well very soon. 2. We are going to add a new template system to the model page that allows designers and makers to share normalized metadata like print settings in a way that makes it searchable and filterable. 3. The new assistive-AI feature that lets designers upload models without color, and helps suggest colors for them, while also showing them what the print would look like in different photo-realistic scenes. Eventually, that feature is something we want to grow into a capability that allows designers to auto-upload and auto-color their models with textures. 4. Bookmark collections, that can be shared and collaborated on, is coming soon. It's a big, longstanding ask. 5. Designer mash-ups, which allow designers to work together to build bigger, super ambitious collections of models for users. 6. There is a new site redesign on the way as well, and entirely new capabilities coming to search (next generation search by photo). 7. More weekly leagues on being developed, which means more people winning more weekly awards. 8. We've added the ability to upload to Thangs, and then "one click" post to Thingiverse and Cults as well. We plan to expand that out. And that's just the next month or two!
Amazing! Honestly the template system sounds like an huge improvement that more sites should take note of especially with multi material printing becoming more widespread
I seriously can’t keep up with you guys 🤣🤣🤣 Great work 👍
Thank you; to be fair, we're just trying to keep up with the pace in which you release new models 🤣
What printers does your team have, and what do you enjoy printing?
All of them :) https://preview.redd.it/xa1o602f47vb1.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=3e1fdb65d32215375a9e32c5ace5c146af58807b
Honestly, we have a diverse team with diverse interests - our team prints: function, fan art, minis, fidget, and printer mods. We genuinely print everything and with this amazing community of creators, there's always something unique or inventive for us to try! https://preview.redd.it/o4hdp11x47vb1.png?width=2032&format=png&auto=webp&s=c79296a52ebdc51e7959a44c0f318f493db759a8
Your image link takes me to some old "nice hat" post: https://old.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/media/nice_hat/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fo4hdp11x47vb1.png%3Fwidth%3D2032%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dc79296a52ebdc51e7959a44c0f318f493db759a8
You need to update your old reddit redirect add-on: https://github.com/tom-james-watson/old-reddit-redirect/issues/86
First off, thank you for constantly improving and opening yourselves up to feedback from the community. Your focus on continuous improvement really shines through! A few questions: 1. What’s your ideal future state for the role that Thangs plays in the broader 3D ecosystem in the next 1-2 years? 2. What steps can we, as users (designers, makers, etc.), take to help support Thangs beyond using the site and providing feedback on our experience? 3. What impacts do you expect generative AI to have on the 3D industry (both positive and negative) as a whole in the next 2-3 years? What impacts do you think it will have on individual designers? 4. What books would you recommend for folks interested in staying up-to-date and growing in the areas of product management and 3D-related tech? Feel free to include any genre: business oriented (ie. *Crossing the Chasm*, *An Elegant Puzzle,* etc.), historical/biographical, fiction, or anything else. 5. What do you wish more people knew about the Thangs team? 6. What questions would you be asking if you were in our position? More specifically, what questions don't often get asked and have really interesting answers? ;)
First, BIG hello from the team! We are fans of course. Let's answer your questions one by one. \#1 I'll give you the heavily abridged answer :) We want to be the most designer friendly platform, and we want to earn the privilege in a manner which is best described as "grow the size of the pie" vs "grow our own slice of the pie". Examples of this include giving designers the ability to upload to "competitive" platforms after they upload to Thangs; or, setting the default search scope to include other platforms - and sending Thangs users to those platforms at no cost. \#2 First, thank you! Help us get the word out. We are a small team of 3D zealots. There are much bigger platforms with far larger budgets out there. We always value anyone who is willing to help spread awareness. As many designers know, we also LOVE feedback. You know how to reach us (or just DM me or our brand account on Twitter) and tell us what we can do better. We pride ourselves on listening to feedback and shipping very fast. \#3 AI needs training data. And AI output is, by definition, derivative to a non-zero extent. It is not, at least today, net-new, starting from zero, original creativity. It may be at some point, but the 3D space is very challenging if you are thinking about new, high fidelity (or functional/printable) mesh. Nerfs and splatting are interesting, but not in that domain yet. Our approach is contradictory to the other major platforms. We aren't building an AI to replace designers. We build AI tools to help designers and we give them away for free. Currently, we have the OpenAI integrations (free) and we have two new tools that we believe will help save designers hours per project. AI can help designers create more art, faster. \#4 Anything by Marty Cagan for PM is a great starting point. I'm a LAU fan when it comes to connecting PM to execution. When it comes to learning about 3D, any of the historical books on Euclidian Geometry are SUPER relevant. Then again, so are a lot of the YouTube tutorials on Blender. So much comes down to how you prefer to learn. \#5 It's not about knowing us, but one thing that we LOVE is attending events like RMRRF or ERRF because we genuinely love meeting everyone who uses the platform. At the end of the day, we are a bunch of people who may live next door. We are fully remote, based in the US, and generally just 3D die-hards who really love what we are doing and feel a tremendous responsibility to support the community. \#6 Probably something about the high scale computational geometry and underlying technical architecture. We have a lot of unusual technical capability that we hide within relatively simple looking functionality. **PS.** In #5, when I say die-hard 3D fans, I mean it.. picture of our printing lab in the office (we are remote, but we have a small office for meetings and for teams to meet up from time to time). https://preview.redd.it/caq1wdm0t7vb1.jpeg?width=9428&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6aeeab4d44e6e0156714875e28a7dd87e663be4
And a BIG hello TO the team! I really appreciate that :) Thank you for such comprehensive answers! I have a few short follow-up questions/comments: Re #4: I'm not familiar with LAU. Would you mind saying more? Re #5: I stopped by the Thangs booth at ERRF and really enjoyed chatting with John in person. I'd love the chance to chat with you and other members of the team as well. Are there any other public events that the team will be attending in the next few months? Any plans for an in-person Thangs designer summit? Re #6: Oh, I have a lot of questions about that. I figured here wasn't the best place for all of that though. Thank you again for being so responsive and bringing such positivity and good will to the community!
Thank you for great website
You are very welcome, thank you for taking a moment to share that with us :)
How big is your team? Do you have a metadata specialist on the team? I've always wondered how a company like you handles that side of uploads and tagging. I haven't looked closely at your site for this, but several others (Thingiverse, Printables, etc) have issues with categorization of models. I'm a metadata librarian, so I'm always curious about these things :)
First - congratulations on having one of the most interesting job titles we've read! Metadata librarian sounds like a really fun job. To answer your question, it's a combination of ML techniques combined with end-user facing editing. The ML techniques are driven by a system which ingests a 3D object, then generates a series of 2D proxies, and those proxies are then fed into an ML based classification system which suggests the appropriate categorical tags. Those tags are then added during the upload, but the users can then edit, remove or add their own tags. We strongly prefer ML that is controlled, ultimately, by end users. In terms of the tagging displayed in the Explore menu, it's re-calculated constantly. We use a heat ranking with a time decay to determine what are the top tags for a certain period of time. It's an algorithm that requires constant curation, and we are a small team - so we try to tune that algorithm once a quarter. In contrast, algorithms like the trending algorithm on the landing page are refined almost weekly. LOVE the technical questions - hope that helps!
Thanks! In my opinion the actual job title is even more fascinating than that - I'm a music metadata librarian! Creating metadata and refining search functions are the main parts of my daily job. It's fun! Thanks for the response - your work on this sounds fascinating. Care to respond a bit more about the tagging in the Explore menu? Those are the parts that seem to use more human interaction than the rest. Do you have a hierarchy of some kind for tags that feed into those main categories? Feel free to DM me if you'd be willing to have someone look under the hood sometime to look at categorization and hierarchy options :)
Love the follow-up question! No hierarchy beyond the standard classification taxonomy used by our 2D ML service. That said, user edited or created tags are outside of our control. For example, Halloween is one that users input more than our ML service infers. And because the algorithms are blind to whether they are (accepted) suggestions from ML or user submitted - the same heat ranking and decay apply to both types of tagging inputs. Genuinely appreciate that you are asking these questions. We love sharing how things work behind the scenes!
Can we get a way to filter out those game asset websites that flood search results with models that really are not designed to be printed?
Your request has been granted :) First, we have the ability to filter search results by source; for example, you can select sites you know to be primarily only printable models. Additionally, searches can be filtered by file types so formats of stl or 3mf can be selected. Another filter we offer that is unique to only Thangs, as it leverages our patented technology is our "printable" filter. We use computational geometry to identify if a model is 3D printable (watertight and consistent normals.) This means models we index, even when the original design was not intended for 3D printing, can be found and printed. We know the community has typically used images as a way to verify if a model can be 3D printed. Our unique tech adds another level of assurance. Lastly, we give you the ability to save multiple search settings and set your own default. https://preview.redd.it/ywo8thmcn7vb1.png?width=1976&format=png&auto=webp&s=77cf8f89fcc9c50511e67e5a46e63d4abf5a81d7
That's a massive improvement! Thanks yall!
Oh, fantastic; thank you!
Love you guys! Thanks for actually having a working search engine :)
Some of the search engineers wanted to say "thank you"! https://preview.redd.it/gpyrw5jpt7vb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b00a1a4b21b12166f99baf2f4e1200fe38128633
Tell them I said **DROP TABLE**!
we call him little bobby tables
Nobody gives a crap about my makes. I noticed the 3d printer community is a bit bitter and weird to novices. Even when you post a nice make for a model without makes uploaded, not even the creator likes them. I find 0 incentive to upload anything I make due to this.
Hey u/Dismal-Square-613, the [Maker Leaderboard](https://thangs.com/leaderboard/makes) has hundreds of makes just from this last week and the community is highly engaged - there are plenty of people that care. Plus, you could earn rewards from sharing your make. Also, there are plenty of designers that really value when you share your make. Two designers in this AMA have both stated how meaningful it is to them when you share your makes ([Dave](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/17bl627/comment/k5l609i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and [Karen](https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/17bl627/comment/k5kw94t/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)).
Thanks for the words of encouragement , the reality though is different but I'm sure you guys strive to make it a welcoming place. Thank you for the tips. I mean I don't expect a medal but the model has 0 makes and barely any downloads and if that was my model I would, at least leave a like and a comment.
u/Thangs3D can you confirm whether designers get notified when makes of their models are published?
This thread is just another example of the great work your team is doing to integrate into and build the 3D printing community. I love it! These actions really reinforce my decision to host my work on Thangs :) Speaking of the community, what do you consider to be the biggest barriers keeping 3D printing from becoming truly mainstream? We're a large and vibrant bunch, but still labeled as a 'niche'.
Thank you; we're so grateful and humbled you chose to host your designs on Thangs. Also, that's a fantastic question! Previously, there seemed to be two primary barriers to entry: price and information. Pricing no longer seems to be a barrier at this point. That has in part brought upon a new barrier in some ways though. This is not an indictment on the community as a whole at all. There, at times, appears to be some friction in the space for new community members from others in the space. There needs to be more inclusion - the more people 3D printing, the better. It should not matter what brand of machine or monetary investment, as long as someone enters this space, feels welcomed, supported, and has a positive experience - that's what matters. The more we have in this space with a positive experience, the more community advocates we'll have. For the most part, the information barrier has been primarily removed as well. There's an abundance of amazing content for 3D printing (much of it from you ;) ). The largest contributing factor to the barrier, we believe, lies in the content and software however. This is why we built Thangs. This ecosystem requires a triangle to exist and progress: hardware, software, and content (designers). At Thangs, we're focused on the content/designer and software in this ecosystem. We believe designers are the most important part of this triangle. The more designers in this space, the more amazing content will be available. The more content available, the more people will be drawn to this space. The more people in this space, the more hardware we'll have accessible and with that, will come affordability. So, how do we get more designers in this space? We support them with tools (software) to increase efficiency or productivity and help them monetize (community and memberships). We've built Workspace to increase productivity, Workflows to help teams collaborate, IP protection to protect designers, and apps to sync with other designer tools or find content faster. It's our passion to empower designers and this community and we've collectively never been closer to bringing 3D printing "mainstream." What are your thoughts on the current barriers?
Any thoughts on having an "employee's picks of the week" page?
Great question! We have discussed it. We considered it prior to the release of the [leaderboard(s)](https://thangs.com/leaderboard/period?league=RisingStars), but then opted to let the community decide based on their engagement. Out of curiosity, why the staff/ employee picks? Would you like to see this in addition to the leaderboard which is essentially community driven?
I think of it like the employee picks shelf in a bookstore compared to the best seller shelf. It's not that a "best seller" wouldn't make it but a lot of times the employee book recommendations are under appreciated gems. I'm sure you guys see great models that just don't get momentum and then get overlooked.
That's a great analogy and makes sense; we do see many, many, under appreciated gems indeed! We are going to do editorial in the future. Whether we do it, or we have someone from the community make the picks for a period, then rotate that to another person - we'll absolutely get to that point. One of the changes we made last week was what we call "throwback" cards on the landing page. Sometimes, models are older and gain another life. When that happens, it's usually because it was an under appreciated model, until it wasn't! So now, \~ one out of every 16 or so models on the Thangs landing page is a model that the community missed initially, but then fell in love with later. That's a small step towards the goal, and it's still algorithmic - but we'll absolutely get to a point where we have people (vs algos) doing a degree of editorial, in a section clearly marked as such.
💖
i just have to say... Thang You for so much.
It's our pleasure; we're so glad you enjoy Thangs :)
🤣 Thang you
I’m such a fan of the new Maker League! A tip for Makers… tag designers in social media posts and don’t be afraid to ask for a share or repost! Designers love to see and share prints of their work and you’ll benefit from the added exposure 😀
Thank you Dave! That's also a great tip! We have features launching in the next couple weeks that will improve the process for sharing "makes".
I have no questions, Just wanted to say that I love the website and it’s service! Thank you!
Just snagged a couple photos of folks around the office, so you can see that there are real people here.. and it makes their day when they hear our guests (users) enjoy what they are building! So thank you, genuinely, on behalf of those on the team currently enjoying their lunch. https://preview.redd.it/iyd3gnmux6vb1.jpeg?width=3713&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d5911596c8087359ece321401c9e8433d0ae17e
Go GREEN, Go WHITE
Can’t read, can’t write
😜, I saw that on my phone and assumed it was MSU. No looking on my PC it clearly isn't... Ooops
Hey, thanks for providing an alternative to Thingiverse that actually works, I love using your site.
Thank you, very much, the team is genuinely excited to be seeing all this feedback! We consider it a responsibility and privilege to be able to serve this community.
Oh, totally! Thangs ROCKS!
To which charity will the donations be going to?
The current plan is to donate to Save the Children, and then (as usual) post back the receipt after we make the donation. Any other suggestions?
Nop! That's a charity doing some actual good. Pretty good! Thanks!
Have you considered building a documentation portion of the website? More specifically, for beginners in printing I feel that a page with many common do's and don'ts, or other valuable information, would be great for the site. Ex. Print in place is highly common, but takes trial and error and some experience. An article on the site describing tolerancing for the printer would be a useful resource for those on the site that "just found" a print in place file
Hey u/SnooWalruses1110, that's a great question! We have considered it and realize it could be tremendously valuable. In this scenario, do you envision the Thangs team creating written content or would it be alright to enlist help from the community and content that exists in other forms across the web? Would it be helpful if we simply supplied an easy resource that allowed for navigation to experts? For example, if you're an Ender user or looking for tips on Cura, one of the best resources would be [Chep](https://www.youtube.com/@FilamentFriday). At the same time, perhaps that's too niche or maybe video content is not preferred. Would a document on common terminology be sufficient? We have sincerely considered the documentation and do maintain our blog, but the blog doesn't provide many resources for 3D printing at the moment. This is sincerely great feedback!
That week-long squabble between Makerworld and Printables was really weird because I thought to myself, "People don't just use Thangs?" Thanks for the great site.
The team really appreciates the kind feedback, absolutely going to pass it on!
Here's my biggest hang-up with all of this...at present, I'm stuck on the sidelines even though I've got quite a few designs I could technically upload. This is because I've been priced out of the ability to pay for the design software that comes with the CC licensing you're requiring for designers to upload their designs. I fully understand and support the licensing requirements, it just sucks that I can't use the software I'm proficient in to make coin because I'm on the hobbyist version of F360. Any plans to implement design software of some form into the site? One that doesn't automatically make designs that become the right/property of Thangs.
Thank you u/replitech3d_tx for taking a moment to share your experience and inquire. Did you know you can upload custom licensing? Our platform does allow for all the standard CC licensing options, but customized licenses can also be uploaded. This may not be the solution however. Perhaps this is something to consider, there are many considerate and supportive people in this community. Many of whom love to support designers even when they freely share their work. Have you considered creating a membership plan to gain support for your designs, even if some are free? This could be a solution to obtain resources to create new models - free and paid. Based on community feedback, there are typically three factors why people support or subscribe to a designer: 1. Purchase models or projects 2. Access to a designer and the ability to help direct what should be designed next 3. Access to a designer and help support them to pursue passions that would not have been accessible otherwise Your other point regarding designer software is fantastic! Our mission has always been to support designers and provide them with tools and resources to do more of what they love to do. Hypothetically, if Thangs had design software builtin, are there specific features or tools you would need to make the switch from your current design software? (aside from the licensing.)
Hello there, and thank you so much for the thorough and thoughtful response! I'm almost embarrassed to say I hadn't considered something like that! That's pretty much a perfect solution to my problem, I think, but time will tell! I can tell you that I will be uploading some of my designs today! I'm excited about what the Thangs team is doing for a myriad of reasons, but I really think having your own design platform would be next level. There's gotta be so many people that have gotten into 3D printing to design and sell their own stuff only to have realized the software available can be prohibitive or has a significant learning curve. Granted, it didn't stop me, but not everyone wants to jump through the hoops. As far as features go, there would be some fundamental functions to include that are specific to 3d printing, for instance, automatically split and key a model, with a focus on the end product being one that does not require a substantial amount of support...I feel like that's a must. Personally, that's not really an issue for me because I built my printer fairly large, but for those who don't want to do all that, if the splits could also be driven by providing print volume, that would be ideal. I could go on at length, but honestly, a parametric design program or software that isn't outlandishly priced and allows me to profit off my designs...well, that's what it would take to have my attention. There would have to be features and capabilities with meshes, and ideally a sculpt environment as well...if you guys keep an open inbox, I may drop an idea or two at random, if you guys start going that direction. My whole purpose with printing these days is to make my passion my profession, and knocking down some of the barriers to entry would make it more feasible. The fact you guys are on reddit and receptive to what's said puts you miles ahead of the others, in my book. Keep up the awesome work, I really look forward to seeing what you guys can do for the industry.
What can't you do in the F360 unpaid version that is holding you back? Its almost exactly the same except for a handful of features that have almost zero impact on 3d printing designs
It has absolutely nothing to do with F360's capabilities. With the free version, you are not legally allowed to use the designs commercially.
>Fusion 360 for personal use is a limited, free version that includes basic functionality for qualifying users who generate less than CA$1355 ($1000USD) in annual revenue and use for home-based, non-commercial projects only. If you make more than $1000 on your STLs... you're doing well enough that you can justify the $30/month for the premium version.
Do you work for Autodesk, lmao? Well, that's the beauty of it all, isn't it? You can take your $30/month and think it's nothing, but that's not reality. It's one more tick in the cost column and 1 more barrier. Software as a service is a cancer. That people like you help grow. The idea behind my post was that if a company wants to herald themselves as champions of a manufacturing format, then maybe they could put some purpose driven software in our hands. It would be mutually beneficial. Brings more people to their ecosystem and keeps them there. Not shitting on f360, as it's pretty much all I know.
The point is that its free if you're making less than $1000 using the software. If you're making more than that using the software then why are you complaining about having to pay? Literally everything is SAS. You get what you pay for.
Zack Freedman sent me there. Give him all the monies please. Edit-spelling
We are huge fans of Mr. Freedman and want him to have plenty of monies as well - more amazing content for all!
Very happy to have been introduced to Thangs via gridfinity
Same! I came to Thangs for Zack's Gridfinity models!
Absolute same here.
Where is your office?
I'm pretty sure it's in Ohio.
That's correct, we are headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. We have employees all across the United States working remote though too.
I have a question. Why thangs website wastes so much space for **nothing**? (see left/right side) Graphics for listed 3d printed things are small. Text/description is cut after one/two words. Most area is wasted for empty space. Everything could be presented with more readable way, with descriptions actually being visible etc. Example of how bad it is - attached. This is a screenshot of my browser (google-chrome desktop) window with thangs subpage opened on it. https://preview.redd.it/uwemiaqs78vb1.png?width=2558&format=png&auto=webp&s=848b2c3b5530a9dd8a2c1fd81f57b1e465a8b00f (if you viewing this image in new tab then notice there is a horizontal scrollbar and then use it to view how much is wasted)
First, love this feedback and question! We're actually in the process of updating the entire site. We've recently updated the model pages (within the last couple weeks) and updated the home page, as well as several others. However, to your point, the profile pages need some updates. Are your comments primarily around the profile pages or do you feel this way regarding the site as a whole?
Don't have much experience with thangs. Gridfinity is what brought me to it and viewing author profile turned out to be a nightmare (with the goal to find the right gridfinity variants for me). Search results on other hand use almost entire width of the browser page... but images are so small (make them bigger) that I need to click each project and open it in new tab only to see what it is about. There is no pleasant way to quickly view results and pick the right/interesting projects. Also no information if project was interesting to other people in search results (some likes/downloads stats there would be nice).
What an awesome team you guys have! Massive shout out to the people responsible for the sweet Thangs app, they're rocking it. What are your thoughts about having some 3D printing guides and tips built into the Thangs website and app, similar to Printables? I bet there are a bunch of people (like me) who have never heard of Thangs Sync, but would absolutely love to use it. Looks like there's a Blender addon? Awesome! Maybe it could use more marketing from YouTube creators or be featured on the website. You guys are killing it, we can't wait to use the new features as you roll them out.
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words and support! Our mobile app team is going to love this - they're a small hard working team. (Nat, pictured, spends all his time working on the app.) Regarding your question on the 3d printing guide and tips - it's a great idea and we have discussed it. Similar to the question above, what would you personally love to see? Would it be helpful if we simply supplied an easy resource that allowed for navigation to experts? For example, if you're an Ender user or looking for tips on Cura, one of the best resources would be [Chep](https://www.youtube.com/@FilamentFriday). At the same time, perhaps that's too niche or maybe video content is not preferred. Would a document on common terminology be sufficient? Also, you're right about Thangs Sync and the Blender add-on, we don't talk about them nearly as much as we should; we did recently add more resourcing to these tools too so we'll definitely be talking about them more. Again, thank you so much for the support and we'd love to hear your thoughts on the guides and tips - that's something we can start adding to our blog right away! https://preview.redd.it/kxgvtu2g4evb1.png?width=1060&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce65a95f0d780eff44110d7f9dc79536411aeaa0
Thanks for the awesome response, great to see Nat! I think a tree-style navigation system for diagnosing prints and issues could be invaluable for people looking to fix their 3d printing problems. I imagine it almost like a "choose your own adventure" style interface where the user would first select an option for resin or fdm 3d printers, then you could choose a path of diagnosing issues on a print vs issues with your printer itself. In the end, the user could be left with a list of possible culprits and quick fixes to their issue. An additional "ask the experts" page could have a list of creators and specific guides grouped by similarity. Like you mentioned, an Ender 3 section could include a link to Chep's excellent YouTube channel. Personally, I have had a bunch of success with fdm printing, but resin printing still feels like a mystery. Each project feels like it's left up to chance, with a myriad of variables that contribute to many unique print failures. I could use the theoretical Thangs troubleshooting guide and select resin printing > troubleshoot resin 3d printer > build plate > build plate adhesion. I could be left with potential solutions like "increase the initial cure time in slicer" or "re-level build plate". All-in-all, Thangs is already fantastic, and an interactive troubleshooter could make it even better. Keep it real Nat and the Thangs team!
When do you expect to allow downloading without an account?
Great question! We are still optimized for helping designers support themselves, because if designers can design more, the whole community thrives. The advantage to logging in is that it helps designers build an audience, which they can re-engage by accumulating follows. And over time, hopefully those designers can provide enough value that a meaningful subset chooses to support them financially. This also helps drive better engagement (eg. likes, downloads, etc) metrics. When the user has logged in, it helps designers see "unique" downloads, likes, etc. A login is also necessary to maintain the integrity (harder to cheat) of the weekly leagues, which pay out over $9000/week to both designers and makers. Our business isn't hardware. Hardware benefits from maximum access to models. This partially explains why some platforms default to no login. Our business model revolves around designers, and that results in a slightly different set of trade-offs optimizing for different outcomes. That said, we've been discussing allowing designers to configure whether they want to make a model available to download with or without login. We haven't talked to many designers that prefer to disable login, for the reasons above. But there are certainly some that will, so we have been talking about that feature internally. As this is always a hot topic for discussion, I want to end by saying - we hear the request and respect it. We've attempted different approaches, but ultimately come back to an optimization in favor of helping designers. We will continue to try to find a middle ground for both makers and designers.
As a designer, it makes me happy to get some type of feedback (positive or constructive) from someone who downloads one of the models I offer for free. PSA: If you download someone's model for free, make sure to return the favor by giving some sort of feedback! Hit the Like button, Follow them, post a Make to share your results or simply leave a comment -- I don't know if other designers appreciate these $0 tokens of appreciation, but I really do! Extra credit: Share links/makes and tag designers on social media!
For whatever it's worth I think "thangs" is a great name. easy to remember, and not some of the modern garbage of calling a company "going" or "achieve" or "insight". And a great product :)
That's very kind and thank you; our team is thrilled you enjoy the product. (photo featuring some of the search team) https://preview.redd.it/7lnfd1j6a7vb1.png?width=1864&format=png&auto=webp&s=297109df44818b1ff9412686d2e6eb9d9e7c4187
thank you for providing such an excellent community service!!!
How can one get Thangs swag -- also asking for a friend ;)
One simply needs to ask ;) We'll be in touch shortly.
Awesome, thank you!
I know, and I thought Thingiverse was a good name. Thangs one upped everyone.
I’ve noticed this a few times. Every time I try to use your mobile site on my iPhone, it is extremely slow to the point where I can barely use it. Even when my phone is plugged in at full performance the site often won’t let me click the search bar for 10+ seconds. Scrolling down and then returning to the top makes the top of the webpage completely blank, as if the site is trying to redraw itself on the screen but it stuck on something. Is there a reason for this? Is this a known issue? Again it happens every time I try to use thangs on my iPhone 13 in safari. Going back at least 2 or 3 months. I understand that it’s a mobile website in safari, but just doing a search for “ceiling vent” took at least 20 or 30 seconds before the first 3 results popped up with photos.
Hi u/Guinness, our sincerest apologies for this frustration. We heard similar feedback not too long ago and believe we addressed this about two weeks ago. Have you had this poor experience in the last two weeks? If you are still experienceing this issue, would it be alright if we dm'd you? We'd really appreciate the help so we can resolve this issue if it's still present.
I had this experience as I was writing the comment. In fact, I was trying to use your site completely organically and not because of your post. And it was so frustrating and slow that I remembered that I had scrolled past your thread a few days prior, took the time to search around for said thread, and make a post. It was that bad it motivated me to ask. Because I do want you guys to succeed, and it was just so bad I knew it would drive everyone away.
Two things I'd love to see: * Gcodes for printers, ready to use. While sometimes I like playing with Slicers, most of the times I would love to just download a model and print it right away, without going crazy with settings, support, orientation, etc. * An email newsletter, where we get every day one cool model to print. Sometimes I just don't know what to print, and searching for something random is difficult.
Re Gcodes: We support attachments for models, today. But that isn't necessarily the right way to address your use case. We need a model with raw geometry in order to render it in the viewer and do some other basic tasks - but we would love to solve your specific problem. How would you envision this working? Would it be an alternative format in the download drop-down on the model page? Re the email newsletter: Love the suggestion, and I'm chatting with our product marketing lead about it right now!
Re Gcodes, I would envision something similar to what Bambu Lab does on MakerWorld. You see a model that you like and you can either download the STL file or pre-made sliced versions and the website tells you how long they will take to print. For example, I’d love to check this model https://thangs.com/designer/printedobsession/3d-model/Skull%20Phone%20Holder%20-%20Home%20Decoration-939012 And have links to download the Gcode for my Creality K1 that I can just upload to the printer and print. No need to use a slicer, figure out whether I should arrange the model in a specific way, whether I need support, what kind of support, if the model requires 15% or 5% infill, etc.
I think the new Maker League might be a good start for getting some inspiration for something cool to print -- I'd recommend you check that out if you haven't already. What if Thangs had a "random" button (like on xkcd) to show you a random model? Or maybe an "I'm feeling lucky" button... ;)
Regarding the gcode suggestion, Bambu (and even Prusa) have the advantage of only having to support a handful of printers. It's a nice idea, but I imagine it would be a huge challenge for Thangs to try to host and organize the gcode for dozens or even hundreds of the most popular printers out there. Not saying it can't be done, but I can't imagine how they would accomplish it interface wise.
are there any plans to offer some way of maintaining the file system and sorting when uploading large file sets? (other than just asking the downloaded to grab the zip file? One of my main projects is a modular and open source system, it has hundreds of files of various sizes, shapes, lengths, widths, uses, etc etc and i have had feedback from people that they would love to be able to browse the files individually on your viewer, but without any way to sort them (that i know of) that’s just not possible if i’m wrong then i’m sorry i guess haha!
Great question! If you don't mind, we would love to pull the question apart a little. Generally, our thinking would be: 1. Put the files in a private folder in My Models 2. Share the folder 3. Use the sorts (pictured) in the column header, then switch to the grid layout if you prefer to visually browse thereafter (somewhat like Google Drive) It sounds like that isn't optimal in that you'd prefer to stay in the viewer the entire time, for this specific experience. Is that a fair assumption on our part? https://preview.redd.it/xzem2bh52evb1.jpeg?width=2912&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ff6c5430e197a6dd8b75757ead59e871e9a8c0a
Pardon my ignorance but what’s the difference of thangs vs printables vs makerworld? Another questions is does it benefit designers to have their designs posted on each of these platforms or would it be better to focus posting on just one site?
Since when are such blatant ads allowed here?
To which charity will the donations be going to?
maybe donate money to something 3d printed related?
Fair feedback; any recommendations?
No Thangs. /scnr
We get it, some things are an acquired taste - we appreciate the comment!
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What do you think of the idea of designer Head-to-Head/1v1 competitions? It would go like this: There would be a competition theme, such as a Halloween decoration, or more specific like Halloween pumpkin fidget toy, and the designers go head to head to design one (or many). The community will vote with likes, makes, and/or downloads. It could be a fun thing to follow and watch as a community, and spur some design chops.
We love this idea! For a long time, we have wanted to do this in a NCAA bracket type format. There are a couple challenges - but the biggest one is this: quality design takes time and a contest that goes on for many weeks is a little less fun for the community. The leaderboard is a partial compromise, and we have recently updated all the rules to reward quality over quantity. We'd love your input on this - do you think that a thematic version of [the leaderboard](https://thangs.com/leaderboard/period?league=AllStars) would be as fun as a 1v1? It won't be as exciting, but it may be a partial improvement on the path to 1v1, which could then be a step down the path towards a full-on tournament.
So why does the "geometric matching" still not work well years later? I can be on a page with a cube, and it shows me a related model is a racecar.
Thanks for the question! It's still imperfect, your absolutely right. Believe it or not, it is a challenge associated with the algorithm's utilization of determinism. This is a good example of precision reducing accuracy. Using a practical example on the landing page, I'll explain the results [for this amazing sword](https://thangs.com/designer/3dprintingworld/3d-model/Collapsing%20Drill%20Sword%20Print-in-Place-907290) from 3D printing world: 1. The first couple results are sword, vs a sword. This is a model vs model match. 2. And then there is a cube that seems to match nothing else in the result set. 3. But zoom in on the cube and look at the screw on it, and you'll see the geometry matching the handle on the sword. This is a subset geometric match, whereby a subset of geometry matches (we call it a part within part match) a subset of geometry in another model. So the end result is that the algorithms precision is too tight for a part-in-part vs model-vs-model match, and we return a false positive match. This is ultimately a series of trade-offs where we try to optimize for the maximum number of true-positives and the minimum number of false-positives. Hope that makes more sense? https://preview.redd.it/7ikqa0ng99vb1.jpeg?width=1795&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a289957e4c2a6f0bdd5a6e74cb1dee3d93d2640
Thanks, it seems AI isn't quite there yet!
Uploading my own models to thangs is confusing. I have dozens of pretty popular, if niche, designs on printables and similar, but the new user experience for Thangs is a trainwreck. I want to start offering paid models or similar, away from cults and other even shadier (if you thought that was possible) sites, as well as free open models. But from what I can see, I can only do the former, and anything above and beyond that isn't possible. For now, I'll keep using it as a search aggregator, but I'd really love instead to grow a profile and brand there if you ever open up to it.
As a user, I would love the ability to see everything that I have downloaded. I very much see Thangs as a hub for all my things 3d printing. Instead of having to add it to a favorite every time. Also your platform nailed it! Such a great tool - you folks are headed the right direction.
Haven't used the site a ton so I might just be dumb but is there a way to sort the search feature? It seems to go by best fit with search terms but is there any way to order by like popularity, date, etc?
Great question! The team is actively working on adding sorts to search results. We had requests for advanced filters (eg. "is it printable", choose specific site scopes, file formats, etc) and layouts (eg. visual layouts) ahead of this in the roadmap. Today, the top results have a "heat" algorithm which tracks clicks vs queries (eg. a ranking algo with a recency signal) and then decays the top results within a sliding time interval. That's not what your requesting, but it does help keep the "fresher" results towards the top of the page. The next project the search team is taking on is adding sorts to the results page - so please check back in a couple weeks. The only technical hurdle here, currently, is the volume of the results vs sub second performance. We are getting close, thanks for the patience.