Future plans for Printables.com (formerly PrusaPrinters.org)  

Future plans for Printables.com (formerly PrusaPrinters.org)

I'd like to start by just saying a big thank you to the team for releasing Printables.com. It is fast becoming the thing that Thingiverse should have always been, and whilst there's still improvements to be made, it's already far better designed and built than Thingiverse ever was.

I just had a couple of suggestions and/or discussion points on features and changes to Printables.com that I feel would be a great step forwards for it!

• Allow design uploads for other file types
  I understand that laser engraving/cutting isn't a feature yet offered by Prusa printers, but as Prusa has openly said that Printables is designed to be there for people regardless of what printer they have, I feel that allowing uploads of files for laser cutters would be a great step forward. Having a drop-down (defaulted to 3D printer) when creating a new design on there to select whether it's for a 3D printer or laser cutter would mean that they could easily be separated in search results.
• Orientation suggestions
  Generally it's pretty obvious which way up to print something that's been uploaded, but it's a question I've seen countless times. As Printables already features a 3D model viewing system, I was wondering if it would be possible so, once you've uploaded your STLs, you're given a 3D view of each of them with the option to select a side (Exactly like the "Place on face" option in Prusa Slicer). Then it generates an image of the files showing which orientation they should be printed in.
• Stronger focus on community (Groups)
  It may sound like a strange suggestion as I'm posting it on an already active forum, but I feel the forum is tucked away from the Printables environment and it doesn't always play into the sort of discussions going on there. There are obviously the groups, which is a great start, but there are a number of limiting factors on there that are holding them back.
  I think it's great that you can add the location when creating a group for real world communities, but I feel rather than it being a requirement, you should be able to tick a box which says it's an "Online group".
• Separate Makes & Comments
  This one I'm a little surprised about. I'm not really sure why the decision was made to have makes and comments on a design indistinguishable from each other. Having a separate tab for each would make FAR more sense and would encourage community interactions in the comments discussions.
• Print Settings
  Now, I really like the flexibility and freedom Printables has with being able to structure the text however you like it, and with a nice built in mark down system. I especially like that users are then able to download a copy of it in PDF. I just wonder if there's some way that there could be more incentive for people to post print setting recommendations ?

On the whole though, I love it and it's definitely become my main focus for where I upload new designs now.