Wherein the MakerBot Operator earns citizenship in a ribald community. To be accepted as a true MakerBot Operator, one must share designs on Thingiverse, but all are welcome to reap the bounty of shared digital designs for physical objects. Allowing others to modify your design sets your design free to fly like a bird from the nest.
Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/) is a website where users from all over the world come together to share digital designs for making physical objects. For this reason, it’s sometimes called the "Universe of Things". User-contributed things have files of all kinds, from 3D files that you can build on your MakerBot to 2D files for laser cutting or CNC milling, to circuit board designs that you can order online or build yourself at home. In addition to the files themselves, each thing has computer-generated renderings of those files, pictures of physical copies of the finished thing, instructions for how to assemble the thing, and a discussion section where users can collaborate, suggest improvements, or even just show their enthusiasm for the work of the thing’s creator.
Even better, Thingiverse is built around a culture of sharing, learning, and remixing. Most of the designs you’ll see are licensed by their creators under Creative Commons licenses (http://creativecommons.org/) which, depending on the license chosen, allow you to make physical copies from their design, create and post your own new derivative from the design, and sometimes even sell your physical copies. Each thing’s page highlights pictures of the finished thing made by other users and derivative things that are based on the creator’s original design.
As a MakerBot operator, Thingiverse is an incredible resource! You can get started by making your own copies of popular things, or searching for things that solve a problem you’re trying to solve. Things on Thingiverse also serve as excellent examples for learning because most creators upload the original source files usable in their 3D modeling software, in addition to the files that you can make on your MakerBot. As you learn to create your own things, Thingiverse is a great place to showcase your new work, get feedback from a community of helpful experts, and collaborate with others to make your new designs even better!
Ready to jump in and join the Thingiverse community? Great!
The first thing you’ll need to do is create an account. Start by pointing your browser at http://www.thingiverse.com/. Click the Register link in the upper-right corner of the page to go to the registration page. Once there, enter a username, your email address, and a password, and enter the captcha to prove that you’re not a robot. Then hit the Register button to create your account.
From there, you’ll see a page that lets you enter your profile information. This is your chance to let other Thingiverse users know who you are, what your interests are, etc. You can (and should!) also upload a profile photo. Your profile photo is shown on any things that you create, on things that you like, and more. A good profile photo helps other members of the Thingiverse community recognize you around the site.
One important aspect of setting up your profile is choosing the default license for the things that you create and upload to Thingiverse. You can change the license for any thing that you create, but it’s helpful to have a good default. There are many options to consider when choosing a license. Thankfully, Thingiverse makes use of the excellent work of the Creative Commons, and has made many of their licenses available for you to choose. For more information on Creative Commons licenses, check out http://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
When you’re done filling out your profile, click the Save Your Profile button at the bottom of the page.
You’re all set to explore the Thingiverse!
Every user (including you!) on Thingiverse has a profile page with information about the things they’ve created, physical copies they’ve made of other things, things they like, etc. You can view your profile at any time by clicking on your username in the "Welcome back" message at the upper-right corner of the page. You can always edit your profile by clicking on the "Edit" link in the upper-right corner of your profile page.
Your profile page can be used as your resume as a maker! Be sure to provide links to your work and information on how to contact you.
Things are the heart and soul of Thingiverse. So, how do you find the things you’re looking for?
At the top of each page of Thingiverse is a Things menu. You can use it to browse the latest things, see photos of the latest physical copies of things that other Thingiverse users are making, browse the most popular things, and more!
Additionally, each thing belongs to one of a handful of categories. You can browse through the various categories and see the things in them using the Browse menu at the top of every page on Thingiverse.
Further, users can add tags to their things to make them easier to find. You can browse through all of the tags and their things using the Browse By Tag option at the bottom of the Browse menu.
Finally, Thingiverse has a search box which lets you type in search terms for the things that you want to find. You’ll get back a list of things that match your search terms.
Once you’ve found a thing, go to that thing’s page (see Figure 10-1). It has several sections that make it easy to find the information you need.
At the top of the thing page is the info card. This section contains clickable preview images of the thing’s files and any photos that the creator has uploaded. It also tells you the name of the thing, who created it, when it was published, what other things the creator derived it from, and any description that the creator has entered for the thing. This section also has buttons for sharing this thing on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
Below the info card are two key sections.
In the left section you’ll find various subsections for:
- Download links for all of the thing’s files.
- A list of tags for this thing. Feel free to add your own tags! It helps other users find the things they seek.
- In the right section you’ll find instructions from the thing’s creator.
- At the bottom is the comments thread for this thing—a great place to see what other Thingiverse users think!
And further down on the left (not shown in Figure 10-1):
- Photos of physical copies made by other Thingiverse users. Click I Made One! to upload your own.
- Click I Made a Derivative! to showcase your own derivative of this thing.
- Click Watch It! to be notified when the thing’s creator changes it.
- Click Collect It! to add the thing into a collection to save for later or to share with other members of Thingiverse.
- Profile photos of users who like this thing. Click I Like It! to join them.
- License information about this thing. This section contains a link to the license that the creator chose for this thing. The license tells you how the creator allows you to use the files they have provided.
Thingiverse is all about sharing. That’s why there’s a large Upload a Thing button at the top of almost every page!
Click Upload a Thing to start the process of uploading your thing. This page shows you the uploading guidelines for Thingiverse which will help you determine if the thing you are about to upload is appropriate.
If the guidelines make sense to you, you’re ready to upload! The process has a few steps, but they’re fairly simple:
If making your thing requires multiple files just choose any one to start with (Figure 10-2); you can change their order later.
Be sure to include at least a name, description, category and license (Figure 10-3). Write a good description and instructions to make sure other people can make your thing. Click Save Your Thing when you’re done with this step.
Add photos to your thing (Figure 10-4). You can arrange the images in the order you’d like them to appear by dragging and dropping the thumbnails in the Manage Images section. You can also delete an incorrect image in this section.
Note
If you upload an incorrect file, you can delete it in the Manage Files section.
Tags make it easy for other users to find your thing so be sure to enter any and all that apply.
Check the "ancestry" of your thing. If you forgot to click I Made a Derivative when starting your new thing, or if your thing is derived from several things, you can use the Ancestry section (Figure 10-5) to find these things and indicate that your thing is a derivative of them.
Finally, you can hit the big Publish button (Figure 10-6) at the top of the page to make it visible to the world!
You can find your new thing in the Things I Designed section of your profile page. Click through to admire your handiwork! If you’d like to make changes, you can edit your thing at any time using the Edit link in the upper-right corner of the thing’s page.
Thingiverse is a fast moving and growing community and it can be difficult to keep up with all the activity as it comes through. The Thingiverse Dashboard (Figure 10-7) was created to address this issue. Look for Follow or Watch buttons throughout the site. Whenever a person you follow publishes something, or whenever a thing, tag, or category you watch is updated, you’ll see it in your dashboard. The dashboard will let you know whenever someone comments on, makes, or derives from one of your things, too. A red numbered badge on the Dashboard link at the top of every page lets you know when you have new items to read. It’s a great way to keep your pulse on the Thingiverse without being overwhelmed.
You can take a tour of all the features of the Thingiverse Dashboard by visiting http://www.thingiverse.com/dashboard/tour.
Now that you’ve become familiar with the Universe of Things, let’s look at how you can make the most of it.
Collections are more than just a way to organize the things you’re interested in, it’s also your own to-do list on Thingiverse. Every user has a default "Things to Make" collection; use it to keep track of the things you want to remember to make later. How much of your "Things to Make" collection has been made and shared using "I made one!"? Can you get to 100%?
Whenever you share a thing or a physical copy on Thingiverse, you will want to upload a good photo along with it. Strong, clear photographs will help your thing stand out in a sea of other things and is essential for being featured on the home page. You don’t need an overly expensive digital camera to get a good photo. The most important things are to have a clean, uncluttered backdrop and a lot of natural light. There’s no right way to capture your thing so play with different angles and shots and have fun with it. Use photo editing software to crop your image and adjust the colors so it really pops.
Providing a good description and set of instructions is another key to the success of your thing. Provide a clear and concise description for what your thing is, what it’s useful for and why somebody might want to make it. In your instructions, mention which print options you used, along with any tricks that can make things go more smoothly.
Did your thing start life as another thing? Did you find inspiration from other things? Be sure to use add those as ancestors of your thing. Just copy/paste the Thingiverse URLs in the Thing Editor. Keeping track of ancestry helps the community keep track of the thing’s family tree, and gives credit to the hard work of other makers.
Note
For some interesting derivative works from 3D scans, check out what folks have been doing with the Met Hackathon scans at http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/06/01/met-makerbot-hackathon-art-now-on-thingiverse/.