Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MakerBot's Thingiverse website, the best place to get and share downloadable 3D "Things," is going through an evolution. Some exciting recent updates have included a new Dashboard, a Follow Feature, and as of today, a new way to create "Collections" on Thingiverse to organize all of your favorite Things!
"Since the beginning of Thingiverse, 3D printing enthusiasts have been using 'Favorites' by clicking 'Like.' They have always craved a way to organize their favorites, and now they can," said Bre Pettis, CEO and co-founder of MakerBot Industries, which owns and operates the Thingiverse website.
Thingiverse is MakerBot's open resource for 3-dimensional designs. The popular site offers more than 25,000 3-dimensional items and has had more than 8.5 million downloads of 3D objects for printing since the site began in 2009. Thingiverse has also had more than 500,000 downloads in the last 90 days alone. If you are looking for inspiration or specific items to print, Thingiverse is the place you want to visit.
With Thingiverse's new Collections feature, users have the ability to create not just one collection of their favorites, but as many collections as they want. These Collection themes can be "Things I Absolutely Have to Print," or "Holiday Ornaments," "Replacement Parts," "Things with Moving Parts," "Houses & Buildings," "Medical Devices," "Fun Things," "Household Items," "Gifts" and more.
To make a "Collection," users find items they like and then just click "Collect It!" It's that simple. This new button has been in use by Beta members for several weeks and is now available to everyone! You don't even need to visit the main page for a Thing - you can collect something directly from the thumbnail on the main page. Thingiverse users will also be able to see updates to Collections in their Dashboards. Whenever something has been added to a Collection, you can see this from the main page of a Thing.
MakerBot will also be "Featuring" Collections, so the race is on to create the best collections on all of Thingiverse! A curated page will show the best Collections on the site. Some of the recommended Collections already on the site include:
EPIC tutorials, by aubenc
Mustaches, by jonahg
PEZ toppers, by tomburtonwood
Pencil obsession, by MakeALot
Chains and chain mail, by melodiousb
Adorable things, by Ansel
Camera Gear, by 7777773
Al users will start with a "Things to Make" Collection right when they login; it's up to them to fill it up with all of the great items they love on Thingiverse.
"This systematic way of organizing favorites is a great tool for using Thingiverse," said Pettis. "We've watched the evolution of items being added to the site, how our users favorite items, and listened to their comments for ways to improve the site even more, and are excited to announce this new 'Collections' feature."
Founded in 2009, Brooklyn-based MakerBot® (www.makerbot.com) has grown to be a global leader in desktop 3D printing. MakerBot had 16 percent market share of all 3D printers (industrial and personal) made from 2009 to the end of 2011. In 2011, MakerBot had 21.6 percent market share. In 2012, MakerBot estimates that it now has a 25 percent market share of the 3D printer market. There are more than 15,000 MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers in use by engineers, designers, researchers, and people who just like to make things. The first generation MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer has been named Popular Mechanics "Overall Winner" for best 3D printer and was honored as one of Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2012. In addition, MakerBot was named "Best Emerging Tech" at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, won Popular Mechanics Editor's Choice Award, the Popular Science Product of the Year, and recently was awarded the Fast Company 2012 Innovation by Design Award. The company has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Wired, The Colbert Report, Fast Company, Engadget, Make: Magazine, Rolling Stone, Time.com, IEEE Spectrum, CNN, Financial Times, NPR, Vogue Italia and many others.
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=16098
