It seems that the time of the venerable #3DBenchy has now expired.
The “Benchy” is almost certainly the most 3D printed model of all time, as it has been used as a benchmark object for virtually every 3D printer on the planet, from large-format devices down to microscopic 3D printers.
The #3DBenchy first appeared way back in the wild days of 2015. Designed by Daniel Norée of Creative Tools in Sweden, it was intended as a way to help people calibrate their 3D printers. Back then, desktop FFF 3D printers were rather primitive, and failures were common. Tuning was the game, and when Creative Tools released the #3DBenchy under a CC license, it took hold. While there were a few other benchmark objects available at the time, the #3DBenchy was “fun”. In fact, its tagline was the “jolly 3D printing torture test”.
It is no longer jolly.
Here’s what seems to have happened. Ten years ago, Creative Tools was a gaming company that got into 3D printing and became a leading reseller of desktop 3D printers in Sweden and neighbouring Nordic countries. As part of their marketing, the #3DBenchy was developed to help customers with their cranky 3D printers.
According to a lengthy post by Norée on LinkedIn, over time the company drifted away from the 3D print world to focus on software projects. Many of the staff departed. However, the #3DBenchy, released with a CC license, continued to be used widely throughout the 3D print universe.
Then in February 2024, Creative Tools was acquired by NTI Group, a Danish company. What do they do? Their website explains:
“NTI is a consultancy and software company for all creators and innovators. Our experienced experts are committed to supporting, improving, and inspiring people and companies within the construction, design, manufacturing, and media & entertainment industries.
As a reliable and honest digitalization partner, we guide our customers to continuously innovate in a sustainable way, resulting in faster and more efficient workflows and keeping them as front runners in their field.”
It appears that the company shifted into AutoCAD in the 1980s and has been providing digital design services to businesses for many years. What are they doing with Creative Tools? They write:
“Through the acquisition, NTI will now be able to leverage the extensive experience of Creative Tools in the gaming, film, and VFXindustry. Alongside Bluegfx, acquired by the NTI Group in the fall of 2023, Creative Tools will contribute to further strengthening NTI’s footprint in the European Media and Entertainment market.”
As you can see, this acquisition has nothing whatsoever to do with 3D printing, and NTI Group’s interest in the technology would be minimal, if anything at all.
However, they DO have an interest in the intellectual property acquired from Creative Tools, including the #3DBenchy model. There are now reports that they are issuing take-down orders to several online 3D model repositories.
But wait, how can they do that to a CC-licensed 3D model? It turns out they are not requiring the removal of the #3DBenchy 3D model, but instead all remixes derived from their model. In a Reddit post, mkrjoe showed a message from Printables explaining the situation:
Printables wrote:
“Hello, thanks for [your] question. Unfortunately, all Benchy3D models will be removed in the coming days due to the strict licensing requirements set by the original company https://www.3dbenchy.com/, which prohibits any remixes or modifications. While we are not happy with this outcome, we must comply with and enforce these licensing terms, especially since Benchy3D is a widely recognized model for testing and calibration.
This decision applies across the entire platform, and we are committed to ensuring consistent enforcement.
Thank you for your understanding, and we appreciate your continued contributions to the community.”
There have been countless variations of the #3DBenchy designed over the past ten years, all following the original spirit of the design: “jolly 3D printing torture test”. However, the specific CC licensing used by Creative Tools apparently precludes remixes.
This is terrible news for 3D printing, because the Benchy was a favorite model, and now its spirit has become a victim of legal issues.
Why would NTI Group do this? There are two possibilities.
One is that NTI Group might wish to leverage #3DBenchy’s fame to promote their business and products among the 3D print community.
This is quite unlikely, because their move has instantly spoiled the spirit of the model and provided extraordinarily negative sentiment towards the company. Secondly, their business doesn’t seem to have anything to do with 3D printing.
The second possibility, which is far more likely, is that their corporate lawyers are simply following procedure when acquiring companies: protect all assets. They may not even have any notion of what they may want to do with the model, but until they do, they want to protect it.
At this point, I believe it’s time to move on from the #3DBenchy entirely, and not only because of the negative moves from NTI Group. There are vastly better 3D print benchmarks that are widely available. Many can test very specific tuning factors that cannot be done with the #3DBenchy, and some are even directly built into slicing software.
There is no longer a need or desire by many to use the #3DBenchy.
But I’ll miss the jolly.
