At the end of January this year. Josef Průša – the founder and owner of the Czech PRUSA Research, published an article on the company’s blog summarizing his company’s achievements in 2021, as well as describing a number of challenges and problems of a procurement and logistics nature that he has to deal with. At the same time, at the end of the post, he mentioned that soon a completely new version of PrusaPrinters.org will see the light of day – a proprietary platform with 3D printing models, developed by the Czech company since 2019. So the moment has come – from today PrusaPrinters.org to Printables.com. In addition, it is available in Polish and has quite interesting functionality that you will not find on Thingiverse …
Initially, PrusaPrinters.org was the next version of the largest platform of this type in the world – Thingiverse, but with the passage of time and a number of interesting and unique functionalities it has become a value in itself. At the same time, Průša noticed that many potential users treat it primarily as a file repository for the 3D printers he develops, or he feels that only on his 3D printers the models will work. Leaving aside the abstractness of such a perception of the matter, to dispel any doubts, PRUSA Research rebranded itself, cutting off its name in the name of its owner, creating a new entity – Printables.
The platform has all the existing functionalities of PrusaPrinters.org, introducing a quite useful option to view GCode files on the day of the premiere (so far, you could only view files saved in .STL or .3MF formats). The browser is quite extensive and offers several different display modes, so you can check the model before downloading it.
In the near future, there will also be a function of browsing social channels of your favorite designers and creators, as well as detailed statistics on the 3D models that are uploaded to the platform. In the long run, it is also possible to sell models on a similar basis as, for example, on the competitive MyMiniFactory.
It is also worth recalling that since mid-December last year, a loyalty program has been operating on the platform, where user activity is rewarded with physical prizes. It consists in the fact that for specific activities on the platform you receive points called Prusameters. The captured Prusameters are “wound” on a symbolic spool of filament. When the threshold of 350 points is reached, corresponding to the minimum weight of the proprietary filaments of the Czech manufacturer – Prusament, you can exchange them for a physical roll of material or other awards (e.g. company clothing).
Source: www.prusa3d.com
