Thingiverse is a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

dedicated to the sharing of user-created digital design files. Providing primarily free,

open-source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...

designs licensed under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...

or Creative Commons licenses, the site allows contributors to select a user license type for the designs that they share. 3D printers,

laser cutter A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

milling machine Milling is the process of machining using rotary cutters to remove material by advancing a cutter into a workpiece. This may be done by varying direction on one or several axes, cutter head speed, and pressure. Milling covers a wide variety of d ...

s and many other technologies can be used to physically create the files shared by the users on Thingiverse. Thingiverse is widely used in the DIY technology and Maker communities, by the

RepRap Project The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative to develop a low-cost 3D printer that can print most of its own components, but it is now made up of hundreds of collaborators worldwide. RepRap is short for rep''lic ...

and by 3D printer and

MakerBot MakerBot Industries, LLC is an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Proje ...

operators. Numerous technical projects use Thingiverse as a repository for shared innovation and dissemination of source materials to the public. Many of the object files are intended for the purposes of repair, decoration or organization.

History

Thingiverse was started in November 2008 by Zach Smith as a companion site to MakerBot Industries, a

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

3D printer kit making company. In 2013, Makerbot and Thingiverse were acquired by

Stratasys Stratasys, Ltd. is an American-Israeli manufacturer of 3D printers, software, and materials for polymer additive manufacturing as well as 3D-printed parts on-demand. The company is incorporated in Israel. Engineers use Stratasys systems to model c ...

. Thingiverse received an Honorable Mention in the Digital Communities category of the 2010 ARS Electronica, Prix Ars Electronica international competition for cyber-arts. As of November 2012, 25,000 designs had been uploaded to Thingiverse; by June 2013, the total exceeded 100,000. The 400,000th Thing was published on July 19, 2014.

Administration

The site is owned by

and was originally owned by MakerBot Industries and run by one of its founders,

Bre Pettis Bre Pettis (born 1972/1973) is an American entrepreneur, video blogger and creative artist. Pettis is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of MakerBot Industries, a 3D printer company now owned by Stratasys. Early life and education Pe ...

, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In its terms of use, Thingiverse stipulates that users must not include content that "contributes to the creation of weapons, illegal materials, or is otherwise objectionable." In 2012, Thingiverse removed an uploaded design for an entirely 3D-printed gun. In response, the gun's designers launched the site

DEFCAD DEFCAD, Inc. is an American startup that has created a search engine and web portal for designers and hobbyists to find and develop 3D printable and other CAD models online. History Founding When Makerbot Industries removed firearms-related 3 ...

, designed to host Thingiverse's "censored" files.

Open-source hardware

Whereas many

projects focus on project-specific materials, Thingiverse provides a common ground from which derivatives and mashups can form. These derivatives typically involve users modifying or improving existing designs and uploading them back to the site. Because all models on the site are open source, this behavior is actively encouraged by the site and community. Many 3D printers can be upgraded with 3D-printed parts. Thingiverse users produce many improvements and modifications for a variety of platforms. Popular examples of community-based 3D printer projects include the

RepRap project The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative to develop a low-cost 3D printer that can print most of its own components, but it is now made up of hundreds of collaborators worldwide. RepRap is short for rep''lic ...

and the Contraptor project. Some 3D printers can be almost entirely 3D-printed themselves.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.thingiverse.com/ Open content Social information processing Open hardware organizations and companies Free software 3D publishing Internet properties established in 2008 3D printing websites

History

Administration

Open-source hardware

See also

References

External links