3DLT is Not the First 3d Store for Printable Objects
In this age of overhype, the launch of 3DLT at Disrupt was hailed as the launch of the first store for printable objects by TechCrunch. Many blogs and a few news organizations repeated their claim without checking it. But anyone that’s actually involved in 3d printing knows there are already many stores and repositories for objects that are printable.
The kind of marketing hype 3DLT is inspiring is useful for attracting eyes to their business. But it is disinformation that makes the 3d printing ecosystem appear less developed than it really is. A seemingly generic web store with less than 150 models is not disruptive. Turbosquid has 2,500 models available as printable stl files. Thingiverse has over 50,000 models available for free. Many better resources already exist for free and paid 3d models for 3d printing. If 3DLT really wants to disrupt, they need an actually disruptive idea.