The3dStudio.com Blog Network

Cube 3D Printer - Part 3 - Software by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:21:00 GMT

Cube 3D Printer - Software

Part 3 in a series of blog posts on the awesomeness that is 3D printing. To see all posts in this series please click here.

In part 3 of our series on 3D printing we'll go over the included Cube software that comes with the Cube 3D Printer.

Warning: This product is made by our parent company but I will do my best to remain as unbiased as possible and give my honest impressions along the way.

The Cube software is a very simple tool and very easy to use, partly because it is very limited in its intended functions. This isn't a 3D editor so you won't be designing models in the Cube software. Instead, it's a tool that will import 3D models in .stl format, .cube format, or .creation format and here is what it looks like...

Cube 3D Printer - Part 2 - Printing by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:18:00 GMT

Cube 3D Printer - Printing

Part 2 in a series of blog posts on the awesomeness that is 3D printing. To see all posts in this series please click here.

In part 2 of our series on 3D printing we'll go over the actual process of printing a 3D model, what we call a "creation", with tons of pictures. It's a pretty amazing process and even though I've watched over 20 creations print it still blows me away every time.

Warning: This product is made by our parent company but I will do my best to remain as unbiased as possible and give my honest impressions along the way.

Once you setup your Cube printer you'll get a USB thumb drive that is included and has a few print ready models on it in the .cube file format that the Cube printer can read. Don't worry too much about the .cube format though, the included software will let you import any STL file as well as scale that STL file to the size you want. The software then builds the STL file into a .cube file and you're off to the printer from there.

Cube 3D Printer - Part 1 - Unboxing by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:18:00 GMT

Cube 3D Printer - The Unboxing

Part 1 in a series of blog posts on the awesomeness that is 3D printing. To see all posts in this series please click here.

For our very first blog post on the topic of 3D printing with the Cube we'll give a little bit of background information on what the Cube printer is, what it can do, and then move onto the unboxing of our very own Cube. While those of us at The3dStudio.com have been dealing in 3D modeling for years now, we're actually new to 3D printing so we're learning as we go!

Warning: This product is made by our parent company but I will do my best to remain as unbiased as possible and give my honest impressions along the way.

3D Systems Acquires My Robot Nation by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:05:00 GMT

Our parent company, 3D Systems, just acquired My Robot Nation. Check it out: http://www.3dsystems.com/press-releases/3d-systems-acquires-my-robot-nation

Cube printer for Best In Show at CES by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:27:00 GMT

Pretty cool, the new Cube personal 3D printer was named as a finalist for CNET's Best in Show at CES. If you like what you saw at CES, or like the idea of the Cube printer in general give us a vote: http://www.cnet.com/ces/peoples-voice/

Deelip talks Cubify by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:52:00 GMT

This is a pretty good read on Cubify the concept and platform from Deelip who heads up the programming development team for Cubify.com. Have a look here: http://www.deelip.com/?p=7117

3D Systems announces Cubify.com by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:32:00 GMT

Today is a pretty exciting day for all us here at 3D Systems (our parent company) because we can finally talk about some top secret stuff we’ve been working on since 3D Systems acquired The3dStudio.com last May. I’ve had tons of questions from many of our members over the last 8 months asking all sorts of questions about what our next step would be and now I can finally tell you.

3D Systems is launching a beta version of a brand new website called Cubify at www.cubify.com and it is going to change the 3D marketplace forever. What is Cubify? Simple, Cubify is a way to make something 3D and Cubify.com is the marketplace to buy and sell content. Want to turn that sketch you have into a 3D model? Then Cubify it. What to print that 3D model into a real product you can touch and hold? Then Cubify it.

Cubify.com will be home to all sorts of 3D related content which includes print ready 3D models as well as 3D apps that will help you build your own 3D models. The entire site will be very community driven and we’re looking for app developers to take a look and start building 3D apps right now.

What will happen to The3dStudio.com now that Cubify.com is launching? We’re not going anywhere, The3dStudio.com is still flying along and growing daily and Cubify will be a complimentary sister site to The3dStudio.com. What this means to our authors (developers / artists) is that they now have a new marketplace to sell on which will increase their overall customer base and allow them to expand their sales to entirely new markets and demographics. So, think of Cubify.com as an extension to what The3dStudio.com does already.

I’ll keep everyone updated over the next few weeks as we announce the full launch of Cubify, new printers, new content, new features, and so on but I just wanted to share this news with you all now that I can finally talk about it!

Cube at CES by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:03:00 GMT

Check out the new Cube 3D printer and Cubify.com (launching tomorrow!).

3D Systems to Acquire Z Corp and Vidar by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:23:00 GMT

Our parent company, 3D Systems, just announced its plans to acquire Z Corp and Vidar...check out the full press release. For those that don't know, Z Corp also makes 3D printers as well as 3D scanners but I have to say that I am most looking forward to getting to know their 3D printers that print in full color! Vidar has some amazing high end digitizing technologies and products that are geared towards medical applications (a big compliment to the 3D Systems portfolio).

All pretty cool stuff that I wanted to share as I know many of you are now following 3D printer news and technologies and this announcement is about as big as it gets in the world of 3D printing!

Our 15th anniversary is today! by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:33:00 GMT

So, today is our 15th anniversary here at The 3D Studio which is a pretty amazing thing when you look at most other online sites / companies. We're down right old in Internet years! Eh, what's that son, speak up so we can hear ya.

This is where most people in my position would take a trip down memory lane but if there is one thing I hate, it's "clip shows". Well, that and the fact that I played that card last year on our 14th anniversary. So if you want to look back at our first 14 years then please have a look at that blog post.

Of course, that doesn't cover the last year of our business here but this post will fill you in on that awesome-fantastic-amazing year. 2011 is really the re-birth of The3dStudio.com because it launches us into some awesome 3d printing technology that I've followed for years now and it puts us right in the middle of that game changing fun. So many cool things to come!

So what sort of wisdom can I share from 15 years in this business and to those starting and running their own businesses? Well, for starters, plan your start date better because having a major 15 year deal land on 11/11/11 isn't going to be good for getting your news out there...there's WAY too much stuff happening on this day. I mean, in the USA it's Veterans Day (and they're infinitely more important than us), some big movie comes out today (probably more than one no less), and Skyrim comes out today which means most of you won't even read this until December...in fact, I might not read this until December. I'm sure half our population will get married today and all sorts of other media stunts will be performed today. But that's okay, we'll be buried in the news but more importantly we'll be here tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.

Of course, I can't write a post like this and not thank everyone that helped us get this far. We've had an amazing amount of loyalty from our members (both buyers and sellers) that put us where we are today and we'll never forget that. You know who you are, and there are tons of you. Having that many loyal members is the kind of thing that most companies would kill for these days but when you treat people the right way they treat you the right way and it all just works out. It's the concept our company is founded on and that won't ever change.

Thank you all, and I look forward to another 15 years here with you!

Try the brand new Alibre Design 2012 for FREE! by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:19:00 GMT

Our neighbors over at Alibre.com (also owned by our parent company 3D Systems) have just released the all new Alibre Design 2012 CAD software and are giving away a free trial of it. This is a major upgrade for Alibre and it brings a brand new user interface that's much easier to use. Give it a try or take a tour to learn more.

Maker Faire 2011 video by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:30:00 GMT

For those that didn't get to attend Maker Fair in New York this year have a look at this video of the event which shows off some of the cool printers from our parent company 3D Systems.

3D Systems acquires The3dStudio.com - Matt's take by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 09 May 2011 13:26:00 GMT

Finally, it’s finally here! The day I am finally able to talk about some absolutely amazing news for The3dStudio.com and all of our wonderful members. It’s a day that was 15 years in the making and well worth the wait!

So what’s the big deal? 3D System Corporation (NASDAQ:TDSC) has acquired The3dStudio.com, Inc. (press release here)

Yup, like I said, it’s a big deal. I never started The3dStudio.com with this sort of thing in mind, it was just a hobby back in the day (circa 1996) and that hobby grew out of control and turned into a full time business. A few years back that full time business then grew further out of control and I brought in several of my family members to help out.

But it never stopped growing and then one recent day the planets aligned and I received an email that turned into a phone call that turned into a meeting with the great folks at 3D Systems and the rest is sort of a beautiful blur. In no time at all we realized that we had a lot in common with 3D Systems and their “family” thinks just like our family and the rest is now history.

For any conspiracy theorists out there, please remove your tinfoil hats for a minute and allow me to explain a couple of key points to put you at ease…

If you sell with us on The3dStudio.com then your royalties stay the same! That’s right, nothing changes there. We’ve guaranteed that our sellers keep their royalty rate before and that’s still the case. Refreshing honesty is hard to beat and that’s been our secret sauce from day one.
It’s just another day at The3dStudio.com so the family (Matt, Tracy, Lisa, Beth, and Kevin) is still here and will remain here, we’re still doing what we’ve always done, and we’re still intensely focused on customer service and support. It’s truly business as usual for you and us.
Our core values haven’t changed and they never will and 3D Systems is one of those rare groups of people that have the same exact philosophy as us so it’s the perfect marriage. Keep in mind that we were a privately owned company and wouldn’t have made this move if it wasn’t the right thing to do. We chose to do this to improve and grow The3dStudio.com!
As part of this partnership with 3D Systems we will be opening up to many larger markets than we ever would have had access to before and that leads to many new sales opportunities for your products and many new products for our customers.
As a large and successful company with amazing leadership, 3D Systems has the resources we need to grow and expand in all areas. All of the ideas and dreams we’ve had for The3dStudio.com can now become a reality light years sooner than we had previously planned!

If you are not familiar with 3D Systems you should check out their main website. They have a lot going on but their obvious talent is in the world of 3D printing. This is that star trek world we’ve all been waiting for where you can literally print your own models, toys, parts, and so on. Take that cool 3D Model and print it into a model you can physically hold in your hand. It’s a process that will turn even the most curmudgeoned of adults into smiling kids when they see it in action. It’s the future and the future is here now…and The3dStudio.com is a big part of that future and now you are as well.

As always, we’ll all still be here to work with you and keep you updated on the future of The3dStudio.com and I’ll do my best to answer all questions and concerns as honestly and openly as I always have. There are lots of great things cooking in the oven right now so stay tuned for more! We’ve truly arrived and we couldn’t have done this without YOUR help…rest assured that is something we know very well and will never forget.

So please stay tuned for more updates as we move forward. In the meantime, feel free to leave your on-topic-comments right here in this post.

Introducing our Exclusive Pricing Program (EPP) by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 04 May 2011 19:59:00 GMT

We just launched our brand new Exclusive Pricing Program (EPP) for sellers who are in our Member Loyalty Program (MLP) and I just wanted to take a minute to tell you what it is and how it can benefit you as a seller on The3dStudio.com.

Many of our sellers list their products here on The3dStudio.com for a price that is lower than any other website that they sell on. Most do this simply because we pay them the highest royalty rate around and they prefer that customers buy their products through The3dStudio.com so they give customers here a better deal because of that.

One of our members, who already listed their models with the lowest price here on The3dStudio.com, asked us if there was some way we could show customers that the best deal in town was here at The3dStudio.com. We did that for them and then others asked about it as well so we decided to expand it into a program that any of our sellers could join as well.

The rules are pretty simple:

1. You must first be in our Member Loyalty Program (MLP) to join.

2. You must make sure all products you sell on The3dStudio.com are priced lower than other websites you sell on while you are in the MLP.

That’s it! Like the MLP, the EPP is also completely optional and there are no penalties for not joining! Those that do join will get a little icon listed on their products along with some eye catching text to show customers that The3dStudio.com has the lowest price around.

To learn more please see our EPP help page or you can sign up for the EPP on your Seller Home page.

About Us - Real feedback from real customers! by The3dStudio.com

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:45:00 GMT

We’ve recently update our About Us page by cleaning things up, adding pictures of the main family that runs day to day operations here, and started displaying some of the customer praise we have received.

So I just wanted to make a quick post for those interested in who we are and/or seeing what a bunch of goofballs we look like or whatever. So check that out here!

If you also want to get an idea of what our customers think then be sure to take a look here to see for yourself. We’ve only posted about 350 reviews from our customers so far but we’ll keep adding to it over time. We don’t save all of the praise we get, and I don’t mind saying that this is because there truly is just too much to save! But take a look and you’ll quickly understand that we don’t joke around when it comes to service, support, and speed and that there isn’t a single company on this planet that does it better than we do.

NOTE: These are un-edited emails and quotes from our customers worldwide. There are a few cases where a competitors name was mentioned and we have edited only those names to avoid any further embarrassment to those other companies! After all, they have enough to worry about.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Exclusivity by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:58:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

Exclusivity is a topic that we don’t touch on very much here at The3dStudio.com but it’s one that has been coming up a lot lately as people leave other competing 3d marketplace websites so I wanted to write a quick blog post to cover all of your options as a seller on The3dStudio.com.

When you sell your products on The3dStudio.com your royalty rate is 60% by default (meaning, you get 60% of the sale). This is a rate that once you join and accept it by selling with us we have guaranteed to NEVER change on you.

We also wanted a way to give a higher royalty rate to those who are loyal to us and plan to stick with us for the long term. So we created our non-exclusive Member Loyalty Program that pays you a 70% royalty rate and is about the highest rate you will find from any major 3D marketplace website. Best of all, you aren’t locked into any sort of exclusive contract with us and that makes this program the smart option for most of our sellers.

We think those are the best options because we think that many sellers would want to be able to sell their products anywhere they want and so we don’t really advertise our exclusive option. To us, the marketplace is best when it is kept competitive but as other competing marketplaces continue to drop their rates, force their sellers into bad contracts, and make other dumb mistakes we understand that some sellers prefer to sell exclusively at The3dStudio.com.

For those sellers we do offer an Exclusive option that pays a 75% royalty rate which most will agree is hard to beat, especially when you look at the costs involved in running a site like The3dStudio.com! Since many of you have been asking about this and signing up I just wanted to put it in a blog post so everyone can see it and know that it’s open to anyone who is interested. If you are only selling on The3dStudio.com and have no immediate plans to sell on other websites and would like to be an exclusive seller at The3dStudio.com just contact us and let us know.

Japan quake: Let's help! by The3dStudio.com

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 16:32:00 GMT

I’ve been watching some of the footage of the Japan quake and tsunami and it’s very sad stuff to see and in a situation like this there is little I could do to help beyond giving a donation of money to the cause.

In the past I would probably donate to the Red Cross but that charity rubbed me the wrong way a few months back. In our Stock Photos / Images category we had some images that contained “red plus” symbols in them. Two or three were actually images of custom fonts (plus, minus, % symbols) and a few others were abstracts (one I remember being a bunch of plus signs in various colors, one of which was red, sort of like a puzzle made of plus symbols).

Innocent enough as they had nothing to do with the “American Red Cross” charity and I don’t know how the plus sign from a font in the color red would ever be confused with the charity. But I guess lawyers need to prove their worth and so the Red Cross lawyers actually demanded a DMCA style takedown of a few images we sold. We have to comply with DMCA rules and take them down but in these cases the authors of the images didn’t want to deal with disputing it and simply changed the color of their plus signs to green.

Okay, easy enough fix, but the problem here is that this all happened over many emails from the Red Cross lawyers and each email was a PDF file. As far as I coud tell, that PDF was printed out on the Red Cross letterhead, then scanned back in, converted to PDF, and emailed to us. Sort of a convoluted process to say the least…time consuming and expensive when it’s an attorney on the clock!

So that got me thinking, I’ve donated thousands of dollars to the Red Cross over the years and basically all of that money I donated was likely just to pay that lawyer to email me to make a ridiculous takedown request. That doesn’t seem right to me at all so I wanted to find a way to help in Japan without using the Red Cross. I’m glad I looked into it at Charity Navigator anyhow because the Red Cross isn’t very efficient with their donations anyhow (and boy does their CEO get a nice pay check!).

Oh, and let’s not forget the big fight between the Red Cross and the Johnson and Johnson company over the use of a “red plus” symbol in their logo. I can only imagine how much money (millions?) was spent on that issue before they realized it was dumb and dropped the complaint.

As you’d expect, the Charity Navigator home page is ready for this and gives plenty of ways you can donate to various charities to help out our friends in Japan. So hopefully everyone that is able can go there and find a charity they can donate to. Every amount helps.

Member Loyalty Program (MLP) Facts & Stats by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:16:00 GMT

We get a lot of questions about our Member Loyalty Program (MLP) and so I wanted to write a quick blog post that covers the most common questions about it. Chances are good that the MLP is right for you (if you sell at The3dStudio.com) and maybe you just weren’t quite sure what it means to join so let me explain…

Can I sell on other websites besides The3dStudio.com if I join the MLP?
YES! You can still on other websites (or anywhere); the MLP is a NON-exclusive program. We do not try to blackmail our members or force them into selling only with us—we believe in the free market and competition.

If I join then you give me 10% more in royalties, what’s the catch?
There is no catch, if you join the MLP you are simply telling us that you plan to stick around and sell on The3dStudio.com for at least 5 years from the time you join. That’s it! This allows us to give you more money for every sale you get because we know that you are sticking around and being loyal to us…and loyalty should be rewarded.

What if I need to remove a product?
No problem, we understand that there are situations where something needs to be removed for whatever reason and we always work with our members to take care of that. The idea here is not to penalize you for joining so if a product needs to be remove just contact us and let us know.

Can I still edit and update my products?
Yes. You can still edit any product and add/change/remove images, files, keywords, pricing, and so on. Nothing changes there and you can always update your products as needed.

So, how about some stats on the MLP?
I just ran some numbers over the last 6 months and 76% of all products that were sold came from Member Sellers that are in the MLP. That’s even more impressive when you consider that only 39% of members who sold products during that time are in the MLP!

That means that 39% of the members are getting 76% of the sales. How can that be? Simple: One big added benefit of joining the MLP is that our product reviewers spend more time on each product you add by checking and adding the keywords, spelling, and so on. MLP members get mentioned in our newsletters, blogs, facebook, and twitter accounts as well. This helps maximize the sales potential of your product so you get the most out of it.

Now, if we look at the MLP sign-up rate over the last 6 months we can see that 87% of members who joined The3dStudio.com and sell products have joined the MLP. So it has a huge success rate and is likely right for 99.9% of sellers just like you.

You can join the MLP at any time from the Seller Home page (as long as you have one or more products in your account).

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 7 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:20:00 GMT

This is part 7 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

Promote yourself!

Self-promotion is probably the single most overlooked part of selling stock resources. It’s slightly more known to our stock photo sellers but only the top 3d model and texture sellers take the time to self-promote.

Self-promotion can take many forms but let’s just go over the simple and free or very cheap ways to self-promote your products on The3dStudio.com.

Grab some links from our Affiliate Program (offered to all members), these will get you can extra 20% in royalties when customers click them and make a purchase so that can mean a full 90% in royalties that gets paid to you when somebody buys your product through an affiliate link!

Take those links and put them in your email signature and in your signatures on any forums where you post (assuming the rules allow it). Put it on any business cards you hand out as well as any demo reel or portfolio media you have.

If you have a website/blog make sure it links to your collection on The3dStudio.com and make sure you are updating your site/blog when you add new products to The3dStudio.com.

Don’t have a website or blog? We offer free blogging tools as part of your The3dStudio.com member account so you can start blogging now and expose your products to an audience of millions in a matter of seconds!

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 6 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:09:00 GMT

This is part 6 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

Variety!

If you sell 3d models and are only offering 1 format for your model then you are missing out on a very large audience, probably 90% or more of customers.

If you only sell .max files then they can only be used by customers who have 3ds max software. Simply exporting that model to a few other formats opens up your customer base by a huge margin.

For example, adding .3ds format allows your file to be opened in many other programs…even newer versions of Photoshop can open .3ds files!

Some of the most commonly requested file formats for 3d models are: 3ds, obj, lwo, c4d, ma/mb, dxf/dwg, dae, and wrl/vrml. If you can export to these formats it is worthwhile to do so and you will instantly have expanded your potential customer base by 10 times or more.

Need export software? Try the free demo of Deep Exploration.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 5 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:53:00 GMT

This is part 5 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

Think outside the cube

Having trouble coming up with a good idea for a 3d model, photo shoot, or texture map? You’re not alone in your search for inspiration!

The key here isn’t to simply browse around The3dStudio.com to find products we have and then make your own similar item. After all, how many stock photos of flowers does the world need? How many 3d models of chairs can anyone possibly use?

Instead, try to look for areas that don’t have large numbers of similar models and work on filling those voids. The top sellers know this tip very well and they’re always looking to fill those voids because the early bird gets the worm.

Not sure where to start? There’s a report for that, two reports actually, and they’ll show you what customers are currently (in real time) searching for as well as the most requested searches. You can filter these by category type so it’s a great place to get ideas.

Once you have some ideas simply search The3dStudio.com to see what comes up. It’s okay if several models come up in your search but you really want to try and find a way to set your product apart. For a 3d model this could mean making more lower poly “game ready” models if all you see are high poly models. For a texture artist this could mean making a more complete “Brick wall” texture product that includes more for the customer (low and hi-res file, bumps, and normal maps all in one product).

Find ways to make your products more unique, this is what the top sellers do.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 4 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:38:00 GMT

This is part 4 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

Keep on truckin'

This one sounds simple enough but it’s really what separates the hobbyist seller from the professional seller: Keep adding products!

See, I told you it was simple. The key to maximizing your income in this business is to keep increasing the size of your product portfolio (collection) and the only way to do that is to keep adding products. Slow and steady wins the race here.

Consider these two ideas…

Set goals: If you are a photographer this might be something like adding 5 new photos each day. If you are a 3d modeler maybe your goal will be 1 new model per week. Whatever it is, set your goal and stick to it.

Focus: Don’t waste your time on forums! You won’t find the top sellers on forums because they have more important things to do like creating. It’s fine to hit a forum (etc) when researching, learning, etc but they can be a terrible time waste so avoid them while you focus on your goals. When all is said and done, was that visit to YouTube really productive?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 3 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:26:00 GMT

This is part 3 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

Join our Member Loyalty Program – Earn 70%

We pay a 60% royalty rate to all members which is the highest rate around for a site like The3dStudio.com. We don’t fool around with goofy rate ladder plans that change your payout rate based on your earnings, product counts, or any other such non-sense. We just offer a really high flat rate so that you get as much money from your products as possible.

We’ve taken that idea a step further and with our Member Loyalty Program (MLP) we offer you a 70% rate. That means that 70% of each sale goes to you and it’s such a good rate that many people have to ask “What’s the catch?”

Well, there is no catch but there is one rule: In exchange for the higher 70% rate you are agreeing to sell with us for a period of 5 years. That’s it! The 70% MLP rate is much higher than what most other sites would pay you for being exclusive with them and we do not require ANY exclusivity. It’s just our way of rewarding you for being a loyal seller, because it’s the right thing to do.

So what’s the secret that all of the top sellers on The3dStudio.com know? Simple, they maximize their earnings by joining the MLP.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 2 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:15:00 GMT

This is part 2 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

What customers want: A well listed product

What’s a well listed product? Simple, one that has accurate information and good preview images.

To break that down further that means entering an accurate, meaningful, and correctly spelled name. For example, if you are selling a 3d model of a girl you don’t want to name it “girl-003-xsa.zip” but instead could name it “Teenage Girl” or “Girl sitting on chair” or some other short, yet descriptive, name.

When it comes to keywords you want to make sure that you enter only relevant keywords. Adding non-relevant keywords will actually hurt your search rankings while not adding enough keywords won’t allow customers to actually find you. Don’t try to describe how the model might be used in keyword, just describe what the model IS via keywords. At the same time, don’t use keywords like “orange” and “banana” when your model is of an “apple”.

Add descriptions when needed, always add counts for polygons and vertices (for 3d models), and be sure to show multiple preview images so the customer can see your model from several angles. We also suggest adding a few wire frame views of your 3d model so customers can see the structure (it’s one of the most common customer requests we get). For sellers of seamless textures, we suggest showing the texture itself along with a render of it being used (tiled a few times).

Top sellers know these tips and they follow them to give their customers as much information as possible and products that are “well listed” always outsell products that are not. Take a few extra seconds when you add your products to make sure you follow these tips.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Sellers – Part 1 of 7 by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:50:00 GMT

This is part 1 of 7 in a series of blog posts that will show you how to maximize your 3d model sales here at The3dStudio.com. Many of these tips will apply to other items such as stock photos, textures, and tutorials as well.

Price: Set it and forget it.

When setting your price search around on The3dStudio.com and see what similar products are going for. In most cases you’ll find a range and a lot will depend on the quality of the model, if it has textures, if it is rigged/animated, and the poly count.

In most cases you can easily find similar models and come up with a fairly small price range to work within. For example, a nice car model may sell between $79 and $119 which tells you that the average sweet spot is right around $99. If your car has a full interior you should go for the higher end of that scale, if it doesn’t then maybe you’ll go for the lower end.

By using this technique you can easily get a good idea of where to price your model. Don’t sell yourself short here; if you worked hard and have a good model then it should have a price that is fair for you and the customer. You don’t need to play the price game here and try to undercut your competition by a few dollars, which has virtually no impact on sales in this marketplace. Besides, customers tend to “perceive” model quality and value based on priced and our years of data shows that when choosing between 2-3 very similar models the majority of customers buy the more expensive one!

Once you establish your price you’ll want to leave it alone…for good. No, really! The top sellers in this business set their price and then never again adjust it. Don’t waste your time constantly raising and lowering your prices a few dollars here and there, it’s pointless. Professionals that buy 3d models rarely worry about a few dollars and your constant price changing (if noticed by the potential customer) is more likely to get them to buy something else. Nobody wants to buy something that has a price drop days later.

Have questions on pricing your models? Then simply contact us via our support form and give us the Product ID to the model you want us to check. We'll then suggest a price (or price range) for your model. We provide this service free of charge to ALL of our members!

The3dStudio.com now accepts vector images by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:05:00 GMT

I just wanted to make a quick post to announce that we are now accepting vectors to the Stock Photos / Images category of The3dStudio.com!

This has been the #1 most requested feature from our stock image contributors and it has finally been released today. You can learn more about submitting vector images (as well as how to add a vector to your existing stock products) in our Help section.

If you have any feedback on this new feature please let us know via our contact form.

Looking back at 14 years of The 3D Studio by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:14:00 GMT

Since today (November 11, 2010) is our 14th anniversary here at The3dStudio.com I figured I'd do a quick blog post on the history of The3dStudio.com web design so everyone can see how our website used to look at how it has changed over time.

I don't have any images from those early days of 1996 when we officially started (under a free hosted web domain for the first couple of years) but trust me when I say you aren't missing anything. From what little I do remember of our first website design I can tell you it wasn't pretty and was mostly a text based site...hey, it was 1996 and text was in!

Of course, I can easily argue that many of our early designs from around 1999/2000 aren't exactly standing the test of time either! It's sort of like when I happen to catch a re-run of a classic 1980's TV show like The A-Team or Knight Rider...back in the day those shows blew my tiny mind, but today it's downright painful to watch them.

So, for my own ego (as I was the "designer" of some of our early designs) I will simply chalk up web design in general to something that just doesn't hold up over time. Please, no need to point out examples that prove otherwise :)

On to the show!

One of the earliest designs when we moved to our current domain of The3dStudio.com was this one from 1999/2000:

I think back then black was in, and if you were going to be a serious player in any sort of CG field then you had better make sure you had a black background with white text. It was the parachute pants of that time. Oh, and throw in a lot of rounded corners because squared edges were so 1998. Of course, now we're in 2010 and rounded edges are back but we didn't fold this time around!

Fast forward 2 yeas and my eyes finally got tired of the annoyance that is white text on black and we decided to go for a cleaner look while retaining the left navigation menu system. Not sure why on the left menu system but me being lazy is a likely candidate. We also got a new logo, made by one of our members at the time (just like the original 1999 logo). Here is what 2002 brought us:

Then a year later in 2002 I switched to this top navigation system that you see here:

This was by far my best attempt at web design but clearly it just isn't my thing. Still, this was a busy time for The3dStudio.com and what had started as nothing more than a hobby and a place to organize 3D resources across the world had turned into a bit of a business.

The next major design update happened around 2004 and 2005 and into 2006 where the site was changing all the time as we grew at an insane pace and had to find ways to accommodate that growth with a design that fit everything we were breaking into. This time we had real designers working with us and they did a much better job. So by that time it looked like this:

At the tail end of 2009 we upgraded again using our in house designers and essentially took the same 2006-ish design as a base and upgraded it for higher resolution displays, streamlined the vertical height being used, and really just tried to clean it up and make it a little bit lighter. While I think we will always have people who love our design and some that don't, I think we've come a long way and are in a great spot as we move forward.

We're always listening to feedback from our contact form and always improving our site on a daily basis (no really, we truly do add features and make it a smoother process almost daily) to ensure that it is as easy to use as possible while being as feature rich and as clean as it can be (just say no to Flash!).

I hope you enjoyed this look back at the history of The3dStudio.com web design and I look forward to many more years with all of our great members!

My 100th Kiva.org loan by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:06:00 GMT

I just realized today that I just made my 100th (and 101st) loans using Kiva.org. You can see my Kiva portfolio here.

It adds up faster than you think but it's nice to know that the system at Kiva is working so well. That means that over 100 people and/or groups were able to get a loan from me and many others around the world and start a business, expand a business, make improvements to their homes and lives, and so on.

Each loan is only $25.00 USD and it is just that: a loan. That means that you get the money back, though there is a small risk that the borrower could default on the loan and you would lose your money. In my 100+ loans this has not happened at all and the average loan default rate over all Kiva users is only 1.16% so the risk is very small.

When the loan is repaid you can take your money back out or re-loan it to some body else. Don't you have $25 to loan? You can even join our The3dStudio.com Team Page to lend money with us!

Did you know: Searching is better, easier, and faster by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:24:00 GMT

We’ve improved our search engine here at The3dStudio.com and wanted to tell you all what’s new and improved. We've increased search speed and made it easier to use but the main upgrade is the ability to search and match some of the keywords you enter or match all of the keywords you enter.

Matching all keywords will give you more accurate, but fewer, results while matching some keywords will give you more results but may not be as accurate. Depending on what you are searching for it you may need a very specific keyword match and other times may now so we now give you the flexibility to choose.

If you search our Stock Photos / Images category the search engine will default to the more accurate option of matching all keywords when possible. If all keywords can’t be matched it will revert to matching as many as it can and show the results as a “partial match”. For other categories, like 3d models, it will default to the broad search to show more results and then give you the option to do an exact search if needed.

Here is how an exact match looks:

But it gets even better and smarter! If you do an exact match, but only a few results are returned, our search engine will show you those matches at the top of the results list but will also do a broad search at the same time and show you those results as well. Have a look:

This way we are giving you the best of both worlds and giving you as much choice as possible while still making it very easy to find the best possible matches. Best of all, this new search tool works with all of the other filtering methods we offer such as sorting by categories, image types, file formats, etc.

Our search page is always a work in progress and we’re always tweaking it and adding to it to make it as useful as possible to help you find what you need. We’d love to hear any feedback you have and you can contact us at any time to offer suggestions on this or any other part of our site.

Did you know: Add stock photos even faster by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:35:00 GMT

We’ve gotten a lot of praise for how fast and easy our Stock Photo upload and creation system is and that’s really all due to the feedback and ideas we have had from our members over the last several months.

Today we just released two new features that will allow you to add stock images even faster than before.

The first was a member request to have the stock creation form remember the pricing you last used. So, if you like to set your own stock prices for each image size then our system will now remember that and set the last pricing you used from your last image as your default pricing when adding in new images.

The second feature is one of those “why didn’t we think of this before” features. In the past you would “save” your product and be taken back to the page that lists all of the images uploaded to your temporary queue. You would then pick the next one in line and keep repeating that process until you turned all of your uploaded files into products.

Now we added a “Save & Next Image” button that will save the image you are adding and then immediately go to the next image in your temporary queue without going back to the temporary queue list page. This allows you to stay on the “create” form without having to keep switching between the create form and temporary queue list page which will save tons of time for those adding a lot of photos.

Have an idea for a featured you would like to see added to The3dStudio.com? If so, please contact us and tell us about it!

Did you know: Print a PDF quote before you order by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:48:00 GMT

Did you know that you can download a PDF quote of your shopping cart before you order? A lot of our corporate customers were asking for this feature and we added it a couple of weeks ago.

Just head over to your shopping cart and under the “Cart tools” section you can click the “Create PDF quote” link which will create a custom PDF quote for your intended purchase. The quote will be complete with Product ID’s, details, and prices that you can then use with your purchasing department to get approval to complete your order.

Have an idea for a featured you would like to see added to The3dStudio.com? If so, please contact us and tell us about it!

Did you know: You can get your receipt in PDF format by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:40:00 GMT

Did you know you can get a receipt in PDF format for any order you have placed on The3dStudio.com?

Just hop over to the Profile > Order History section of The3dStudio.com. From there you can both view your receipt online and download a PDF version for emailing and printing. You will also get a PDF link in the receipt email we send out with each order as well.

Have an idea for a featured you would like to see added to The3dStudio.com? If so, please contact us and tell us about it!

Did you know: Email your shopping cart to somebody else by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:55:00 GMT

Did you know that you can email the contents of your shopping cart to somebody else? You can and it’s a great feature for those customers who need to have a purchasing agent / department make the actual purchase for the items they need.

To send your shopping cart contents to another person simply add the items you want to your shopping cart as usual. Then, from the shopping cart page, click the “Email this shopping cart” link under the “Cart tools” section.

You’ll then get a special link that you can give to anyone you want and they’ll be able to copy all of those items to their own shopping cart where they can complete their purchase. We’ve found that this also works well for small to large teams / groups since each group member can create a cart and email it to one central person who can then load them all up and make one purchase.

Have an idea for a featured you would like to see added to The3dStudio.com? If so, please contact us and tell us about it!

Vray - The kiss of death by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:12:00 GMT

When it comes to selling 3d models there is one mistake I see sellers make over and over again and it’s become the number one reason for customer confusion, support tickets, and product returns. What is it? Vray.

When is a texture not a texture? by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:03:00 GMT

I have noticed that there tends to be a lot of confusion as to what defines a product as a texture versus a stock image. It’s a topic I have seen come up over and over again from many of our new stock image sellers (contributors) and I figured it made sense to clear things up a bit for everyone…especially as I (literally) answered this question 3 times today alone.

Our newest category on The3dStudio.com is our Stock Photos / Images section where sellers can offer JPG images (photos, drawings, renders, etc) for sale. At the same time we have a Textures category (which we have had from the start) where sellers can offer images (JPG, PNG, etc) for sale.

So, how does a new seller know where to place their image? Well, it’s not as confusing as it might seem but it requires understanding what a texture is as it relates to the Textures category on The3dStudio.com.

First off, customers that buy textures from us are looking for images that are manipulated to work in their 3D software. If I was building a house in a 3D program I might need a good brick texture. Ideally, that brick texture would be repeatable, meaning that it tiles seamlessly, anything less is not as likely to sell. To put it another way, if you took the same brick image and put it side by side with another copy of the same image you would not be able to see a “seam” where the two join. This is called a seamless and tileable texture and is the most popular kind of texture we sell.

Second, beyond just being seamless and tileable most texture buying customers want “real world” textures. A real world texture usually starts from a photograph of a real life surface. In my brick wall example above that means that the texture started life as a photograph of a real brick wall somewhere. A texture artist then took that picture and made it tile seamlessly which can, depending on the source material, be an easy job or one that takes many hours. It’s truly an art form. They’ll usually take it a step further and make a matching bump map as well which is a hand adjusted grey scale version of the texture that defines depth in the 3D program.

Third, some customers buy what we call “cutout” textures or “billboard” textures. Without going into the complexities of a 3D world, these are images that have had the background cutout. In the world of Stock Photography it’s similar to isolating an object on a white background but goes a step further by actually hand cutting out the background on a transparent layer (usually saved to a PNG file or 1 JPG for the color and 1 JPG for the alpha / transparency channel). These are popular among architects and game developers as it allows them to add background props (trees, plants, people, etc) without increasing the complexity of their 3D scene.

So, where does that leave you if you shoot (or draw) stock images? Well, chances are good that unless you know how to take a photo and turn it into a texture (using the offset filter in Photoshop, the clone tools, and a lot of practice) then your image probably belongs in the Stock Images category but not in the Textures category. If you make a lot of non-photo “patterns” or “backgrounds” then these will be best off in our Stock Images category since most of these type images have very little use in 3D programs (they’re just far too common and don’t have that real world use).

BUT…if you know how to truly make a seamless and tileable texture that has real world source material (or a hand drawn equivalent) and matching bump maps (when appropriate) then you might be a texture artist. The vast majority of sellers we have are either one or the other, but there are a few who do both very well and making textures is a great skill to have.

The3dStudio.com Update - Category Suggestions by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:44:00 GMT

If you sell products on The3dStudio.com then we think you will love our new Product Creation form which is used in the creation of all products (except Stock Photos / Images as they have a different process). We are constantly tweaking this process to make it as fast and easy as possible and we think that some of our latest updates are some of the best yet. Here is what's new...

1. We've added ajax style abilities to our create page to make it more fluid with fewer full page refreshes.

2. We've reduce the vertical height as much as possible to reduce the amount of vertical scrolling that is needed.

3. We switched the category selection drop down boxes to list boxes so you can see more categories at a glance and more easily select the category you want. Rather than clicking to see the choices and clicking again to select one you can now see many choices at once and then simply click to select what you want.

4. Best of all, we've just added a new Category Suggestion feature. Simply type in the name of your product and click the Suggest Categories button and we will scour our products for the best possible matches to what you have entered and suggest the most appropriate categories that match that name. We've even gone a step further and display the average price for those matching products so you can get a rough idea of where to start your pricing.

But wait, there's more! Click any one of the categories we suggest and it will auto-select all categories and sub-categories in one shot. This should prove to be a great time saver when it comes to adding products.

This is a brand new feature so we will be tweaking the accuracy of the results over the next few days to really dial it in. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

The3dStudio.com Preview Image Update by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:39:00 GMT

Our latest update on The3dStudio.com is the addition of our new HUGE preview images that can now be up to 600x600 pixels in size. This new size is absolutely huge when compare to our older 400x400 pixels preview images, just take a look at these tasty looking french fries to see what I mean...

We will be updating all existing Stock Photos / Images to the newer 600px size in the next few days and all new products added to The3dStudio.com will automatically upload to this new size. It's all part of the 3.43 gazillion updates we are working on to keep improving The3dStudio.com!

The3dStudio.com profile picture update by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:02:00 GMT

We've just increased the size for profile pictures which show up in blog posts (example) and author searches (example). The new sizes now let you upload images up to 350x350 pixels (reducing anything larger automatically) and it will create a nice sized thumbnail at 100x100 pixels as well.

Go upload your profile picture now!

The3dStudio.com Report Section Update - Again by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:48:00 GMT

I just wanted to let all of our Member Sellers and Member Affiliates know that we've update our Reports section. It's now much easier to run all of the reports we offer and all of the reports have been cleaned up to fit our new site design.

We've also added a new report called "Referral Sales Earned" for all of our Member Affiliates who refer Member Sellers to The3dStudio.com. This new report will show all of your referral commissions for any time period and can be grouped by day, month, or year. You can now see, in real time, all of the lifetime referral sales you are bringing in 24/7!

The3dStudio.com design update by The3dStudio.com

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:07:00 GMT

As you can probably see, we've gone and update the aging design of The3dStudio.com to something that we think is a bit cleaner, lighter, better looking, and easier for our members to use. The biggest change you've probably noticed is the wider format of our site and new color scheme as well as the much bigger thumbnail images.

We still have a lot of work to do and many pages will still be getting a face lift to clean them up a bit so please bear with us while we continue to make updates over the next couple of weeks and get everything up to speed.

The gift that keeps on giving by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:48:00 GMT

It's that time of year again where we all get to go out and buy a bunch of stuff nobody wants or needs. Okay, there are some exceptions to that but I think we can all agree that we make bad buying decisions around this time of the year, right?

So, why not take some of that extra cash and donate a bit of it to a good charity? Oh, right, the economy sucks and everyone is broke. I can understand that but I think even those of us in a bad financial spot can likely afford to still make some sort of donation, no matter how small. Don't shake your head "no" if you've purchased a Starbucks in the last month because you ARE able to help somebody out.

To be fair, there are those that can't spare $5 for a donation but maybe you can donate your time somewhere instead.

Now you have to pick your charity and it's best to know a little bit about where your money goes. I suggest a trip over to http://www.charitynavigator.org/ so you can see all of your options and get a good idea of where that money goes. There are many charities that will gladly take your money only to have a small percent actually go to the people and causes that need it.

My November donation usually goes to Feeding America each year as they're one of my favorites and that whole "needing to eat" idea seems pretty logical. My December donation (which I made today) goes to Toys For Tots because I got plenty of toys every Christmas and it would suck to be a kid and not get something. So, buy your kids 1 less toy and help another kid out. You can even donate online, it takes just a few seconds.

Still not convinced? Consider a Kiva loan which lets you loan out some money to various people who need it, and these people REALLY need it. I've loaned out many times on Kiva (it's just $25 per loan) and have received my money back each time. These are loans so people can start, run, and expand various businesses that they own/run (farming, services, sales, etc) and it's all managed with a predetermined payback period. You have almost nothing to lose here, and even if you had something to lose it's only $25.

The3dStudio.com Report Section Update by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:36:00 GMT

This is just a quick blog post on an update we did today to the "Last 100 Searches" report in the Seller Reports section. In the past this report could be somewhat inaccurate since it wouldn't tell you what type of search a customer was doing so you had no way of knowing if they were looking for 3D Models, Stock Photos, etc.

We've since updated this report to show this information as well as let you sort by the category you are most interested in. We also show how many results the search turned up and have a link to view that exact search yourself. This report is a great way to see the current activity on the site so you can get a better understanding of exactly what customers are looking for and finding.

I know there are sometimes requests to show more than the last 100 searches but we limit the information to the last 100 simply because we get so many searches each day (50,000 to 100,000 searches daily). Just check back every few minutes if you want more data because it's (literally) changing by the second.

More report updates are coming soon

The3dStudio.com Blog Network - Minor Update by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:47:00 GMT

We just updated the Comment Moderation section of the blog section here on The3dStudio.com. You can now delete comments that have already been approved.

This is especially good for those who have their comments set to automatically approve and need to occasionally weed some inappropriate comments out.

35 Entrepreneurs 35 & Younger by The3dStudio.com

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:40:00 GMT

Today I was lucky enough to be selected as one of The Arizona Republic's picks for their 35 Entrepreneurs 35 & Younger list. Cool!

Member Loyalty Program - Everyone is welcome by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:52:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

We recently announced our new Member Loyalty Program as a way to reward those who have been loyal to us with a higher royalty rate of 70% on all of their sales.

It turns out that the program became and instant hit with everyone and we were soon flooded with people signing up. But, we had one complaint that kept coming up and that was the minimum requirements we had put on this program. We originally required a certain amount of products to be in your collection in order to sign up and those that didn't meet the minimum requirements felt like they were just as loyal and should be included.

Well, we really can't argue with that sort of logic so we have decided to open the program to ALL members on The3dStudio.com. It won't matter if you have 1 product or 100,000 now because you can join our loyalty program and make a 70% royalty rate now.

Remember, this is not an exclusivity program so you can still sell your products on any other website you want.

Read about the program and sign up here.

PS - For those who have contacted us or sent in your form please note that we will get back to you as soon as possible. The program is very popular right now and we are still trying to catch up with everyone who is wanting to join.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Member Loyalty Program by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:20:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

I just wanted to write a quick blog post about our upcoming Member Loyalty Program which will be officially announced and started this week.

All of us here at The3dStudio.com are always looking for ways to keep our costs down and save money so that the business is run as efficiently as possible in order to keep our high royalty rates as high as possible. We truly believe that the artists / contributors that sell on The3dStudio.com should be getting every possible penny out of each sale they get.

In continuing with that spirit we have decided to create a new program that we are calling the Member Loyalty Program. This program is designed to give a higher royalty percentage back to all of those artists / contributors (sellers) for their continued loyalty to us.

It’s a simple concept really, if you (as a seller) agree to let us keep hosting and selling your products for a period of five years (you can go longer of course!) then we want to give you more money on each sale. Instead of our standard 60% royalty rate you will get an industry high 70% rate.

Yes, you read that correctly….you can make 70% of every single sale, and that puts your affiliate sales at 90% which can’t be beat by anyone. All of that and you are still selling non-exclusively with us which means you are free to sell on your own site or anywhere else.

What about those that don’t join? Nothing. You can keep selling with us at 60% just like you have been. No penalties, no rate reductions, no nasty emails from us trying to push you into the program, no B.S.

So, who is eligible? Any Member with 100 or more priced products in our 3D Models, Textures, Tutorials, and other non-Stock Photo / Image categories is eligible to join this program. Stock Photo / Image sellers are eligible to join when they have 1000 or more Stock Photo / Image products for sale.

We’re always looking at ways we can continue to give back to the community that keeps this site going and we think that this is a great way to do it. You’ve all been loyal to us so why not get paid for it? For anyone that is interested you can read our Help page on the Member Loyalty Program or contact us to join.

The3dStudio.com reviewed in 3D Artist magazine! by The3dStudio.com

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:01:00 GMT

The3dStudio.com was listed as the best place to sell 3d models in the last issue of 3D Artist magazine and now the publishers at 3D Artist have gone and done a full write up and review on us and we couldn't be happier!

Here is an image version of the article that is in the magazine:

And here is the conclusion and ratings they gave us:

We are very happy with that but they actually got a few facts wrong and it was too late to correct them. Had they gotten the facts correct I am sure we'd be closer to a 9/10 for sure. Here are the important facts that missed...

1. This review was done several weeks ago when we only had 300,000 or so resources and we have since surpassed 450,000 resources. So we offer even more right now and have hundreds more added every single day.

2. The 30% tax rate is correct, but for the vast majority of countries and sellers we have that can be reduced to below 30% and even to 0% in many cases. It’s also important to know that if any tax ever is paid that it is only on orders that are placed by customers inside the USA per our tax laws here in the USA. Orders outside the USA never have any tax on them.

3. Payments do have a $50 balance unless you are on PayPal, in which case we pay out monthly on any balance owed. At a time where other stock sites are raising their minimum payouts we felt this was the right move to make even though it pushes our costs up a bit.

Overall, we are very pleased with this review and want to thank all of the great people at 3D Artist magazine for taking the time to review us!

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Where does it sell? by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:19:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

My last post on this subject talked a little about what type of model categories sell the most so this time I figured I would cover another popular question which is "Where do the buyers come from". So we decided to pull up some statistics on that and show the top 25 buying countries.

The chart above was run on all orders from 2009 (up until September 8, 2009) and covers all sales types (models, stock photos, etc) but only the top 25 countries are shown in this graph. As you can see, 41% of customers come from the USA though we have some months where that number may go as low as 30% or so.

After that, we have Great Britain in second place and then Germany in third. From there we have Canada, Australia, France, Italy and Spain all fairly close to the same amount. When you get around 12th place through 25th they all come very close to the same percentages overall but the order counts will be different by a few hundred to a few thousand still.

It's also interesting to note that this year alone we have served around 150 different countries and that number goes up quite a bit if we include previous years. We are a truly global company and get orders from just about everywhere on the planet and it's always great to hear from our various customers in all of these great countries and know that we are able to serve that many different places.

The3dStudio.com reaches over 400,000 resources by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:40:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mesa, AZ—August 31, 2009: The3dStudio.com, Inc. (www.the3dstudio.com) announces their collection has reached a new milestone—400,000 royalty-free 2D and 3D resources are now available on the web site, and more are added each day.

The recently added Stock Photos and Images category continues to expand. The3dStudio.com has changed the way stock photos are purchased. Instead of being forced to prepay for “credits” as at other stock agencies, buyers at The3dStudio.com pay with major credit cards or via PayPal payments. Products are located via the search box or by viewing images, then they are added to the cart. After purchase the products are available for instant download. A customer can buy 1 image or more with this fast and easy process.

The3dStudio.com is a one-stop shop for all types of free and priced resources including 3D models, textures, tutorials, plugins, and software as well as stock photography and images. Expert custom work and free file conversion are available.

In addition to providing a venue for artists to distribute their work, The3dStudio.com continues to add features and benefits. The company offers all members—buyers as well as sellers—a free, fully customizable blog. Sellers who blog gain extra exposure for their products because 15 of their products are displayed alongside each of their blog posts. Bloggers are not limited to 3D topics; they can blog on any subject which allows members to share information about their lives and work.

President Matt Anderson says: “We are one of the oldest and largest 3D resource sites on the Internet, and we provide the best customer service around. Our email support system is fast and personal—you will never get an automatic or canned reply from us. We operate our business by the Golden Rule—we treat everyone the way we would like to be treated. The3dStudio.com pays one of the best royalty rates in the industry to artists who sell their resources on our web site. There is no cost to become a member or to sell resources at www.The3dStudio.com and there are many benefits—see our Help page.”

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Member Loyalty by The3dStudio.com

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:33:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

For this post on building trust I wanted to talk about a little bit about how our decision making process here at The3dStudio.com works. By decision process, I am talking about the logic involved when we make various choices of any kind. This could be choices about new features we want to add the website, payment options we offer, why we do something a certain way, or anything at all.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - What sells? by The3dStudio.com

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:26:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

One of the more common questions we get from our sellers (those new to the marketplace as well as the "old timers") is "What sells best". The vast majority are interested in 3D model sales so I will start there for this post.

I've always personally answered these questions any time I get them and then I realized that it really just makes sense to create a blog post on this stuff instead so that everyone can easily see it and be informed. We've been meaning to make a report for sellers on this subject for a while and at some point we finally will, until then let's see what I can share with everyone here.

The3dStudio.com featured in 3d artist magazine as best place to sell by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:01:00 GMT

The3dStudio.com has just been featured in Issue 06 of 3d artist magazine as the best place to sell your 3D models, textures, tutorials, stock photos, and more. They are going to also do a full write up and review of us for their Issue 07 next month.

Looks like a combination of our high royalty rate, excellent customer service, and upfront and honest approach to doing business is continuing to pay off for for all members of The3dStudio.com.

A big thanks goes out to 3d artist magazine for the recognition and to all of our members (buyers and sellers) who continue to make The3dStudio.com their 2d and 3d marketplace of choice.

Here's a larger version of the text in the above image.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Starting Your Own The3dStudio.com by The3dStudio.com

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:44:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

Every now and then I see a forum post or read a blog about how one or more sellers of The3dStudio.com, a stock photo site, or similar 3D site have the idea to make more money by cutting out the middle man. This is more common on the stock photo sites because they take an unusually high commission out of each sale but I’ve seen a few 3D sellers bring it up as well over the years so I figured I would address that subject.

Our 1000th Blog Post on The3dStudio.com Blog Network by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:01:00 GMT

Just wanted to point out that The3dStudio.com Blog Network has reached its 1000th post today!

Want your own blog? Get one here on The3dStudio.com for free!

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - The Cost Of Doing Business by The3dStudio.com

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:43:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

This Building Trust blog post will cover some of the costs of running a business like The3dStudio.com. I think many people who sell on a site like this ask themselves “Why on earth am I paying them a XX% commission to sell my products?” Common question and it’s understandable that you want to know where that money is going, and I want to tell you.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Theft and Stolen Products by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:33:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

This post on building trust will be of most interest to our sellers, but I think our buyers will actually appreciate it as well. It’s about stealing models, photos, etc and trying to sell them as your own.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Safety, Security, Fraud Protection by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:11:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

For this post on building trust with our members I wanted to talk a little bit about some very important and often overlooked areas. These would be safety, security, and fraud protection. There’s nothing glamorous about these topics but they shouldn’t be overlooked and it’s something we should all take very seriously.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Meet The Family by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:27:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

For this post on building trust with our members I want to focus a bit on “who” The3dStudio.com is. I want to give some of the key people who work here a long overdue introduction so you know a bit more about who we are and what we do.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Royalty Guarantee by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:56:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

As I mentioned in my Building Trust at The3dStudio.com – Introduction post, I plan to start posting more about how things works here and what our future plans are for The3dStudio.com so you can see how they impact you as a member.

One of the hottest topics for any member who sells 2D/3D resources is on the subject of royalty rates.

Building Trust at The3dStudio.com - Introduction by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:28:00 GMT

View all posts in this series on building trust.

For those that don’t know me at all, I am Matt Anderson and am the President of The3dStudio.com, Inc (this website). When I started The3dStudio.com website back in 1996 it was just a small hobby website of mine. The idea was to have a place where I could post the 3D models and textures I made and share some tutorials on 3D that I had made.

New file upload features at The3dStudio.com by The3dStudio.com

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:32:00 GMT

We're always working hard to improve our website here at The3dStudio.com. We listen to all of the feedback that we get from our members (both buyers and sellers!) and do our best to accommodate all requests when it makes sense and is possible to do so.

One common request has been to improve our file upload system so we have gone and done that as many of you already know. For those that don't, the new system (which works in all major browsers) is a very nice and easy to use system that can show thumbnails and let you easily select multiple files. See screen shot below:

During upload it will show the overall progress as well and let you know when it is done. It even has support for dropped connections and will try several times to reconnect when that happens.

Another nice feature (for those of you who upload Stock Photos / Images) is the ability for our site to read in meta data (IPTC data). We currently read in the Title and Keywords field so that turning your JPG images into Stock Photo / Image products on The3dStudio.com is now easier (and faster!) than ever. Adding a stock product to our site literally takes just a second or two now.

So, start uploading your stock photo / image or 3d resources now:

http://www.the3dstudio.com/product_upload.aspx

As my favorite TV pitchman would say, "But wait, there's more!"...and indeed there is more. We've listened to what our stock photo / image authors want and that's a super fast and easy system so they can quickly and easily add their entire image collections.

You asked, and now you have received:

As you can see from the above screenshot, our new Product Creation form for stock photos / images is very short and simple. If you use meta data for title and/or keywords all you really have to do is pick a category and save your product. That's it and you're done!

Go try out the new creation tool at:

http://www.the3dstudio.com/product_list_add.aspx

And be sure to set your category "preference" to stock photos / images (or 3d models, textures, etc where appropriate) on that page to further customize our product creation process to your needs.

Last chance to enter our free give away contest... by The3dStudio.com

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:31:00 GMT

Today is your last chance to enter our free home furnishings give away contest.

If you are in the USA or Canada to enter and all you need to do is leave a comment on the Contest Blog Post (not this post) telling us which item you want to win and why!

Contest give away - Win some free home furnishings by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:01:00 GMT

UPDATE 7/5/2009: The contest is now over and the winner is CThomas who selected the Juicer. Congratulations to them and their winning comment...

I like this contest and could really save on emergency room expenses if I could win the juicer! Had friends over for a weekend toast and bought several lemons and limes for our cocktails. I dont own a juicer and my buddy came up with the great idea of cutting several slices into the fruit with a sharp knife to squeeze the juices out. Problem was I didn't buy any red fruit and when we saw that color we knew we had a problem! After 4 hours at the ER we finaly got back to our drinks but the ice had melted. Lesson Learned: Try to stay away from ER's best you can

We were contacted by the good people over at AllModern.com who stumbled onto The3dStudio.com Blog Network and noticed our 3D models of furniture and other home furnishings and they thought it would be a cool idea to offer some of their items to all of you for free in a contest.

First, if you've never heard of AllModern.com you need to have a look at their site, they have all kinds of cool items for sale (seating, lighting, art, bedding, furnishings, and much more). They are part of CSN Stores where we here at The3dStudio.com have actually shopped for our office furniture in the past and were very happy with the price, selection, and products. We aren't affiliated with them in any way, just happy customers.

More about AllModern.com: All Modern offers a great selection of modern furniture, home accessories and lighting from brands like Knoll, Herman Miller, Alessi, Blu Dot & more!

RULES: So, we're gonna make this contest really easy...

You MUST be in the USA or Canada to take place in this contest (sorry, those are the rules as All Modern doesn't ship beyond those area yet).
To enter, simply leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post telling us which item you want to win and why (okay, the why part is optional but it might help us pick a winner).
That's it. Pretty easy right? On July 4th we will pick one lucky winner from the comments and contact them via the email address they registered with to get their shipping information. The winning comment / member will be listed here on this post at that time as well.

Now, let's go over the prizes. We have picked 3 items from the AllModern.com website and one lucky winner will get to choose 1 of these 3 items as their prize.

First choice: Alessi - Juicy Salif Citrus-Squeezer by Philippe Starck, 1990 ($90 value)

Second choice: Blu Dot - 2D:3D Wall Magazine Rack ($99 value)

Third choice: Kenneth Wingard - Small Sunburst Wall Clock in Brass ($79 value)

Our 500th Blog Post on The3dStudio.com Blog Network by The3dStudio.com

Thu, 14 May 2009 22:01:00 GMT

We introduced The3dStudio.com Blog Network on April 7th, 2009 and just over a month later we have reached 500 blog posts created. Oddly enough, THIS post that you are reading is number 500.

Want your own blog? Get one here on The3dStudio.com for free!

Think money is tough to come by, put yourself in their shoes... by The3dStudio.com

Sat, 09 May 2009 23:18:00 GMT

I've posted about Kiva.org before and since I just sent out a few more loans I figured I would post an update about it here. In addition to actual donations that we make here at The3dStudio.com, we are all big fans of Kiva and the idea of loaning less fortunate people in other countries money. Yes, it's a loan so you will (almost always!) get your money back. We've gotten our money back every single time with the 45 or so loans we have made now but there is a tiny risk I guess.

Anyhow, we just now made loans for 6-Qu?ng Hung Group, Paul Arthur, Lydia Somani, and FILOMENA CHAMBILLA PACOTICONA (hey, nobody said you had to be able to pronounce their names in order to help). Consider making a simple $25.00 USD loan to these people as well considering $25 to them is probably around the same as hundreds (if not thousands!) of dollars to you.

If you do make a loan, consider joining our The3dStudio.com Kiva Team first and let's see how much us 3D types can lend! Here is our complete lending profile as well for those interested.

Blog Contest - And the winners are... by The3dStudio.com

Tue, 05 May 2009 17:07:00 GMT

The3dStudio.com Blog Contest is over and we have some winners...

1. The grand prize winner of the $150.00 gift certificate for the Blog Post Drawing is found on Salihov's Blog for their post called Unlucky Easter.

2. The winner for the $100.00 overall Blog drawing is the 3DTutorialZone.com Blog.

3. Our comment winner was found on this post which was made by rushourgraffic with the comments: Same group that created all those crop circles.

Congratulations to all of our winners!

The3dStudio.com is upgrading to Dell R710 energy efficient servers by The3dStudio.com

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:36:00 GMT

Here at The3dStudio.com we like to do our part when it comes to being environmentally aware. In fact, most of the staff tell me I have been putting the mental in environmental for years now...I think that's a good thing. All of us here try to conserve resources, re-use what we can, and recycle whatever we can.

Our offices use energy efficient lighting and ceiling fans for cooling when possible. Most of us either use laptops or very energy efficient desktops like the Dell Hybrid Studio (which uses around 30 watts of power!).

The hard part comes in when we look at our data center (yes, we have our own). The first thing we did is super insulate the data center itself so that keeps the hot Arizona heat out (it can hit 120F and up here outside). We've also planted trees to offset emissions and shade our building.