MakerBot Announces New "Collections" Feature as Phase Two in Thingiverse Evolution

Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MakerBot'sThingiverse website, thebest place to get and share downloadable 3D "Things," is goingthrough an evolution.  Some exciting recent updates haveincluded a new Dashboard, a Follow Feature, and as of today, a newway to create "Collections" on Thingiverse to organize all of yourfavorite Things! 

"Since the beginning of Thingiverse, 3D printingenthusiasts have been using 'Favorites' by clicking 'Like.' They have always craved a way to organize their favorites, and nowthey can," said Bre Pettis, CEO and co-founder of MakerBotIndustries, which owns and operates the Thingiverse website.

Thingiverse is MakerBot's open resource for3-dimensional designs.  The popular site offers more than25,000 3-dimensional items and has had more than 8.5 milliondownloads of 3D objects for printing since the site began in2009.  Thingiverse has also had more than 500,000 downloads inthe last 90 days alone.  If you are looking for inspiration orspecific items to print, Thingiverse is the place you want tovisit.

With Thingiverse's new Collections feature, users have theability to create not just one collection of their favorites, butas many collections as they want.  These Collection themes canbe "Things I Absolutely Have to Print," or "Holiday Ornaments,""Replacement Parts," "Things with Moving Parts," "Houses &Buildings," "Medical Devices," "Fun Things," "Household Items,""Gifts" and more.

To make a "Collection," users find items theylike and then just click "Collect It!"  It's thatsimple.  This new button has been in use by Beta members forseveral weeks and is now available to everyone!  You don'teven need to visit the main page for a Thing - you can collectsomething directly from the thumbnail on the main page. Thingiverse users will also be able to see updates to Collectionsin their Dashboards.  Whenever something has been added to aCollection, you can see this from the main page of a Thing.

MakerBot will also be "Featuring" Collections,so the race is on to create the best collections on all ofThingiverse!  A curated page will show the best Collections onthe site.  Some of the recommended Collections already on thesite include:

EPICtutorials, by aubenc

Mustaches,by jonahg

PEZtoppers, by tomburtonwood

Pencilobsession, by MakeALot

Chains and chain mail, by melodiousb

Adorablethings, by Ansel

CameraGear, by 7777773

Al users will start with a "Things to Make"Collection right when they login; it's up to them to fill it upwith all of the great items they love on Thingiverse.

"This systematic way of organizing favorites isa great tool for using Thingiverse," said Pettis.  "We'vewatched the evolution of items being added to the site, how ourusers favorite items, and listened to their comments for ways toimprove the site even more, and are excited to announce this new'Collections' feature."

Founded in 2009, Brooklyn-based MakerBot®(www.makerbot.com) has grownto be a global leader in desktop 3D printing. MakerBot had 16percent market share of all 3D printers (industrial and personal)made from 2009 to the end of 2011. In 2011, MakerBot had 21.6percent market share. In 2012, MakerBot estimates that it now has a25 percent market share of the 3D printer market.  There aremore than 15,000 MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers in use by engineers,designers, researchers, and people who just like to makethings.  The first generation MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3DPrinter has been named Popular Mechanics "Overall Winner" for best3D printer and was honored as one of Time Magazine's BestInventions of 2012.  In addition, MakerBot was named "BestEmerging Tech" at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, won PopularMechanics Editor's Choice Award, the Popular Science Product of theYear, and recently was awarded the Fast Company 2012 Innovation byDesign Award.  The company has been featured in The New YorkTimes, The Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Wired, The ColbertReport, Fast Company, Engadget, Make: Magazine, Rolling Stone,Time.com, IEEE Spectrum, CNN, Financial Times, NPR, Vogue Italiaand many others.

A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=16098