Just got the notification in my inbox. Pretty sad, but I can’t say it is a surprise. They have obviously been dumping money into the site (the number of giveaways and contests in such a short time was incredible), but it seemed like they got very little traffic out of it. Objects with thousands of views on Thingiverse would have tens of views on Pinshape.
I’m still hoping that we get some real choice in terms of 3D object repositories/marketplaces, but it really seems like Thingiverse is unbeatable right now.
The blog post explaining the shutdown is here, but it seems like the site is barely responsive right now so it might not load:
May they rest in pieces with Solidoodle I wasn’t a big fan of pinshape but it was a nice alternative. Maybe they went a little too hard too fast. Back to http://youmagine.com then right?
Now that their blog is loading again, you can read their full announcement. Seems they are basically blaming a waning of interest (???) in the consumer 3D printer market, and even go so far as to call out Solidoodle’s recent closure as evidence that it’s unclear if consumer 3D printing has a future…
Also Solidoodle died to port strikes and poor chinese manufacturing, Makerbot suffered severe cuts due to crappy Smart Extruders ruining their market perception.
Yeah, I don’t really agree with their version of the current state of the industry. I don’t deny that there is certainly some question as to how prevalent 3D printing will be for the average consumer, but the parties they named all had other outstanding issues; it certainly wasn’t lack of interest.
I’m not personally convinced there is any market for selling STL files, and creating an entire site predicated on that idea perhaps just isn’t viable right now.
I could never bring myself to pay for a model. Not when I can design it myself. CAD is just so easy, and there are already so many free models out there.
hate to say it but this is what happens when everyone and their dog wants to profit from the 3d market. it became saturated. honestly i didnt visit pinshape all that often and i think it was because i never thought about the site. then you have other sites that spam their blog posts by the authors who get paid for the blogs.
@Daniel_Joyce SD died because of poor management. Port delays, manufacturing delays, and other similar things happen to companies all the time. “Poor chinese manufacturing” isn’t something that just happens to you - it’s a choice. It wasn’t just bad luck, though that certainly could have accelerated their demise.
As for the blog post from Pinshape…
I’d love to know who the “major players” are…
“We’ve seen most major 3DP players abandon the consumer segment entirely and shift their focus to industrial applications and opportunities.”
They name DDD and Stratasys… while large, they definitely don’t constitute a large portion of the ‘consumer segment’. Makerbot has been largely irrelevant for 18+ months, and neither DDD nor Stratasys has ever been more than ankle deep in the consumer space.
Consumer 3D printer market was/is simply inflated. That’s one of the reasons that you see companies dropping out now.
While there is a consumer market, the business market is much bigger right now. But they ask different things of you.
We (at ultimaker) are still going strong. I just hope we do not lose our soul and origin. And for example, decide to shut down youmagine because it’s not adding value for businesses.
I wasn’t a big fan of pinshape but it was a nice alternative. Maybe they went a little too hard too fast. Back to 