Tutorial Summer: the first steps of your 3D print
Are you ready for our Tutorial Summer? Bert, our Product Designer, will kick off the first session and tell you all about the first steps of 3D printing your design.
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Introducing our Tutorial Summer!
Summer is finally starting to kick in a little (at least in our Belgian headquarters) and to celebrate we want to introduce you to our Tutorial Summer!
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Tutorial Thursday: Don’t underestimate the power of search!
Not everyone can be a pro when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But if you want people to find your designs in our gallery, then it’s important to follow some basic rules.
1. Use keywords
When people go to the i.materialise gallery, they often use the search field to find nice designs. Use the description field to explain your design in a few sentences and add a good title. Designer Michael Mueller, who created this ‘Decision Spintop’ uses a good description for his product with some quirky sentences. You know immediately what it is (a spintop), what material (gold plated brass) and the use (pendant).
2. Tags
It’s very important to use enough tags (try to find 5-10) that describe your product. To give you some inspiration: use your designer name, the material, the use, the category, the color and the name of your design.
We see a lot of designers don’t use tags for their designs, which gives them less chance to be found with our gallery search optio
Tutorial Thursday: stand out from the crowd!
There are so many artists and designers out there that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. But nothing is impossible: follow our tips and tricks.
Marketing yourself is hard work, but if you’re a designer and you want to make a living, it’s a necessity. There are so many ways to put yourself in the spotlights, but it’s very important to come up with your own personal plan that suits your style.
1. Start networking
If you’re just starting to expand your network, there is one simple rule: start spreading your news in familiar places. Contact friends and family, use your social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Google +.
Go step by step. Try to get in contact with interesting people through the people in your personal network.
2. Seduce bloggers (or seduce us)
It’s very important to make a good impression. Start simple by making good pictures and visuals of your project (see our previous tutorial to make your pictures tip-top). Do you have a a design with mo
Fixperts: Fixing a sliding window with SketchUp
French journalist Gilbert Kallenborn had a big problem when the lock of his sliding window didn’t function any more. Perfect for a DIY 3D printing project!
Gilberts window dated from the seventies and he was looking for a solution for months. He couldn’t find any spare parts so he asked smithlocks, friends and family, but no one could help him and it would cost 3000 euro to buy a new window. Gilbert Kallenborn: “I heard a lot about additive manufacturing or 3D printing, so I wanted to give it a try. I wrote down all the measurements of the old part and after some research, SketchUp (which you can find in the i.materialise creation corner) seemed the right program to start with.
They have really good tutorial videos and after just 20 minutes I already mastered the basics.”
Gilbert chose i.materialise to 3D print his file: “I checked the prices and, according to me, you are the cheapest to 3D print in stainless steel. I uploaded the file and ordered it through the 3D pr
Tutorial Thursday: Making professional pictures
Every last thursday of the month we will help you to put yourself in the picture and to optimize your sales. This month: the importance of making professional pictures.
A picture says more than words. That’s why it’s so important to have descent, professional looking and creative pictures of your design. Do you need a professional photographer for that? No, not at all. If you follow these guidelines, you will have professional pictures in no time.
1. What camera?
A professional camera is nice to have, but it also costs a lot. At i.materialise we make most pictures with a compact camera which makes very good pictures if you master some basics.
2. Make place for your own professional photo studio
To make good pictures, good lighting is very important. The best way to shoot small 3D printed objects is in a light box. Of course you can buy one, but it’s so much cheaper and fun to make it yourself. On this blog, Kateryn explains you step by step how to make your own light box
New SketchUp 3D Printing Plugin & Cheap 3D Printing Tip
Make 3D printing your SketchUp models easier: here is the i.materialise 3D printing plugin you’ve been waiting for. As the for the cheapest 3D printing in the world? I’ll qualify and explain that statement below. The process of going from SketchUp model to 3D print can be a complex one. Architects, students and people renovating there homes are using this tool to make it easier for them to 3D print their architectural designs. We’d love to get feedback from you on what you like (or dislike) about our newest plug in so we can make it better. We think this is the easiest way to take a SketchUp design and get it 3D printed, but we want to improve it even more. (more…)
