3D Share Offers Free and Paid Models for Printing

A new 3D model service hopes to offer something for both designers and consumers of 3D models. 

3D Share operates as a kind of “app store” for 3D models. While there are many free 3D models currently available (over 1300 by our count), there are over 60 pay-for 3D models. The idea is to have very low pricing on 3D models, as the market has shown 3D printer operators are not willing to pay large prices for 3D models they print only once. 3D Share’s price? USD$0.99, the same as Apple’s App Store. 

Also similar to the App Store is the remuneration to designers contributing models: 70% of item sales goes to the designer, with the rest going to the house to run the service. Thus, designers participating in 3D Share can choose to mark their uploads as either “Free” or “99c”. 

Attracting designers to a system is challenging, but 3D Share believes their payment scheme could work. So far it appears several designers have signed on to the system and their works are displayed. Some even offer models exclusively on 3D Share. 

Using 3D Share is straightforward: browse, select, hit the download button. For paid 3D models, you are asked to confirm the withdrawal from your account and the download proceeds. For some models, you can obtain a dynamic 3D spin-around view of models before you download or purchase, enabling confirmation that the model is one you really want. 

Curiously, the downloaded 3D models arrive as a ZIP file containing not only the STL file but also the preview images. Unfortunately, all the downloaded files are named “product-xxx” so if you collected several, you may find it hard to tell them apart. Expect to spend a bit of time renaming files. 

Finding models can be accomplished by simply trolling through browse pages, as the number of models is not yet very large. You can also search by keyword, tag or find a designer’s other models. 

Via 3D Share