We’re looking at a new 3D print service, 3DVIX. Yes, we know there are already many existing 3D print services, but 3DVIX hopes to do things a little differently.
Like other advanced 3D print services, 3DVIX can perform 3D prints for your uploaded 3D models and they also offer artists the opportunity to create customized online stores where their works can be exhibited – and sold as 3D prints.
So what’s different with 3DVIX? Shapeways and other services can already do this. They will provide 3D design services to help you make your idea become real. 3DVIX will curate 3D models to ensure quality offerings are shown, but we think their major innovation will be locality.
As of now they operate from their Florida base, but they’re planning to open up additional locations in Brazil. Why Brazil? Because that country has massive import duties, making use of foreign 3D print services very distressing. By producing the prints locally, 3DVIX will avoid such taxes and presumably do a good business in South America.
We spoke with 3DVIX’s Joaquim Venancio to find out more about the new service. He explained how the system works:
We can print your designs in a wide variety of materials and ship them to you or to your customers wherever they are, worldwide. We don’t sell your designs, we make, sell and ship on your behalf products which we make from your designs. When you upload your design files to 3DVIX, you get instant quotes for printing it in all available materials, which includes many types of plastic, gypsum, metal and – coming soon – ceramics. You set the selling price to your customers by marking up our printing fee for each material you want to make available for your designs. The amount of the mark-up is your income.
Will they provide general services or specialize in particular kinds of 3D models? Venancio says:
While the 3DVIX website features stores focused on a range of categories, we want to have a special focus on art and fashion. 3DVIX was born in fashionable Wynwood Art District in Miami. We have close connections with world-class artists whom we are helping expand into the world of 3D printing. In the near future, we will be launching a specialized site for limited-edition 3D-printed art called LIMIT3D Edition.
Like any similar service that has recently opened, the issue is to fill it with 3D model content delivered by designers. We asked about their current size and strategy for attracting 3D modelers and their content:
We have just launched our website. Our focus is on quality rather than quantity, and we are pleased with the initial response. We expect to be hosting 500 stores featuring 10,000 quality designs in the very near future.
We want to establish a close relationship with our store owners. We want to help them promote their designs. We want to make them very happy with the service they get from us and we want to make their customers very happy with our service. In order to do all this, we have to start slowly, taking one step at a time. When the focus is quality, you can’t be in a hurry. We are getting valuable feedback from our designers at this beta stage which we are using to make our service more user friendly to store owners as well as consumers. Soon we will start promoting and advertising 3DVIX to reach a larger audience.
For artists, it’s an obvious play to set up another shop for their works. For shoppers, you’d best search 3DVIX for some great prints.
Via 3DVIX
