Interview with Brian Garret at 3D Hubs

Last week, 3D Hubs released its April’s 3D Printing Trend Report. The highlight of the report is almost certainly the building momentum behind 3D Hubs, in the last month alone more than 1000 more 3D printers have been added to the network, tipping the total to over 4000. Following the report’s release, which can be read at leisure at the above link, and the news that the 3D printer network and community has partnered with Autodesk, Shane caught up with Brian Garret again, one of the co-founders, to get some further insight.  

Shane Taylor: Can you tell us more about your partnership with Autodesk Brian?

Brian Garret: At 3D Hubs we love to keep things simple, that’s why, since the start of our company we’ve been promoting the use of web-based design tools like Tinkercad. However going from these apps to production on 3D Hubs was still unnecessarily complicated. With our API integration with Autodesk we allow anyone to directly print to 3D Hubs from the suite of 123D Apps. The beauty is that this trickles down into our ecosystem, so with this integration we’re hooking up over 4000 local printers to the tools used by millions of people through Autodesk and 3D Hubs plays an important role in making this seamless connection. All of a sudden that copy shop on the corner can direct people from Tinkercad directly to their printer on 3D Hubs, that’s pretty powerful.

Shane Taylor: Just how would a beginner get from using Autodesk 123D to 3D printing on 3D Hubs?

Brian Garret: I’m not avoiding this question but, it is hard to convey simply in words. What I will offer is a walkthrough demonstration once the integration is live, possibly with a video.

Shane Taylor: That’s one to look forward to then. Thanks Brian.

Your network has grown large enough to attract big players such as Autodesk and MakerBot. Do you feel you may lose the interest of the open source enthusiast, maker and RepRap community as 3D Hubs becomes more commercial, or are your endless trips to local 3D printer groups a sign that you really are there for every level of player?

Brian Garret: Actually it’s good news for the RepRap community and for the smaller 3D Printer manufacturers, that we’re connecting with these powerful tools, we’re helping more people get access to their machines and thereby getting more exposure for the open source community as well. Of course anyone who uses 3D Hubs and has a good experience with a RepRap becomes a potential customer for buying or building their own RepRap.

Shane Taylor: Out of all the people you have now met in the 3D printing industry, which are the projects that captivate you the most?

Brian Garret: We recently had Scott Summit as one of our speakers for the San Francisco meetup he spoke very passionately about the use cases of 3D printing for prosthetics and even a 3D Printed Exoskeleton allowing a paralysed woman to walk again, that was really powerful to see. Another awesome project that hasn’t lived up to its potential yet is coming from India. It’s called Fittle, which I was delighted to see you cover on 3DPI, because it’s a 3D printable puzzle for visually impaired kids. Through our global network we try to supply these prints to local schools for the blind. Finally there is the Cloud Collection by Francis Bitonti, which is a daring plunge in to the deep for any fashion designer – as he has released the production files of a complete range of interior products to the public. I think Francis is very much ahead of the curve and paving the way for many other designers and the future of fashion in general.

Shane Taylor: Why choose 3D Hubs and not xyz for home 3D printer owners or ProtoExchange for professionals?

Brian Garret: The short answer is, we’re by far the biggest platform, so we offer the most choice and have the best coverage. Our vision is also different from the other players, we’re actually building local maker communities where we organise meetups, workshops and presentations spreading cutting edge hardware and software developments from the industry. With regards to Industrial printers, we have got about 300 machines listed now that can do SLS, SLA, Full-colour or Polyjet 3D printing and this number continues to grow as we add more services for professionals.

Shane Taylor: Your monthly trends report continues to show strong growth for the 3D Hubs network. Where is next in the world for a 3D Hubs growth push?

Brian Garret: We’re now moving to the content side with the launch of our API, the partnership with Autodesk shows that we’re serious about connecting everywhere where 3D printable content is being created. Over the next months we’ll launch many more integrations, so stay tuned for more collaborations and announcements.