Pay-to-Print to Improve 3D Quality

How Does It Work?

A designer submits a 3D model file to the printf.cloud system. From here the designer can specify how they want to sell their work. They put the model up for sale on the site. As people buy the models, behind the scenes they are getting an NFT that represents their rights to print the 3d model they just purchased. From software on their 3d printer and slicer they can select a model they have rights to and print a copy. Depending on the license details in the NFT, the printer approves their ability to print the part.

Why Would You Use It?

The market for 3D models continues to expand as more personal 3D printers are sold. The promise of the 3D printer is infinite reproduceability of any imaginable part (as long as it fits within the constrains of the printer and is made of some type available 3D printable material; wood, plastic, metal, resin, etc)

Conclusion

This product will only work if designers decide they want to be paid for their work, their work is of high enough quality that people will pay for, and that those people are running open source 3D printer software where we can plug-in to prevent un-authorized prints, and they’re willing to install that software to begin with.

If we cut out the printer software side it might be easier but then it is more of just a marketplace and that already exists. The decentralized NFT side of this was that the printer software checked the wallet of the person authorizing the prints (but this doesn’t work if I want someone else to print the part for me). The NFT might have some lose concept of ownership but the printed item has utility that far outweighs the “crypto caché” of being “the only owner of X of Y 3d part.” NFTs and their loose grip on the digital asset they represent really hold value (if they hold any at all) among pure digital communities.