Hey Everyone,
I was wondering if it the Catalog exists yet and if so if it would be possible to view it before my Glowforge comes. This would be very helpful for planning my projects once I have it.
Thanks,
Mike
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No catalog, they are just trying to get us all our GFs. -Rich
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We have seen very little new content from @madebynick in the last little while.
That makes me think he has been working on design catalog items, and that it will be accessible and have a good variety of good designs available from the get-go.
If it was my company, I would want the catalog to be part of every beginners workflow from the very start, so that people get used to the idea of starting with a purchased design. If it lags too far behind the machine, fewer people will use and need it. If it is available for people to browse without owning a GF, it could spur people to buy, the way that looking through thingiverse makes people want a 3D printer.
In fact, I would imagine that there are plenty of folks with 3D printers who thought initially that they would design their own stuff, but who have ended up purchasing plans for most of what they makeā¦ and I would think that the same will be true for the Glowforge/Design catalogā¦ but only if it has enough, good designs.
The first impression of the design catalog is going to make it or break it for some folks.
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I so canāt wait for the catalogue!
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One of the pre-releasers said this just like today.
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I think your exactly right that a delay between having a glowforge and being able to access the catalogue will drive people to look elsewhere. Either to design their own projects or just buy designs elsewhere. Thereās no lack of designs for sale in the wild.
And I think youāre exactly right about the catalogue needing to be good right off the bat. Iām sure thatās what glowforge is aiming for, but if the designs donāt appeal to you, and find a better source for designs that do, you arenāt going to go back 6 months or a year later to see if the catalogue has improved. It doesnāt even have to be bad. Just not enough designs or not enough of the right kind of designs. And I think thatās a harder thing than it sounds. Just the interests on the forum alone are really varied, and thatās just a small, likely-non-representative part of owners. Iām interested to see which direction the catalogue goes.
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I have been pleased with the variety of items that the Glowforge team has shown us so far. I can only believe that the catalog will have lots of really nice projects to choose from. 
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But then he went on to say that is wasnāt ātheā catalogue but some files that were included with the beta GFs.
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I am personally hoping that some of those catalog files include āblank templatesā so those of us who are more artistically bent and less mechanically bent can just throw art work on the templates and hit print. 
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I canāt wait for the catalogue either, I too have lots of plans for it and it seems like a great place to share everyoneās creations! Super stoked!
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Just out of curiosity, what would the āblank templateā consist of in your mind? Weāve seen you can put art on the bed and scan it or you can trace it with material positioned below it. Iām not sure if youāre looking for Photoshop or illustrator (or other programs) where you can import a file then run macros for prep and export, etc.
Maybe Iām way overthinking this since Iāve been thinking of making myself Photoshop templates that would use layering to assign colors for engrave, cut, score, etc. to help organize how I approach making files ready āto feel the burnā 
FWIW Iām not very artistic but I do have my delusions of adequacy when it comes to aesthetics. DNA was probably correct in his assertion that those matters are much too important and should never be left to engineers.
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Examples of blank templates I wantā¦
1: The candle holder. I want to be able to either do 2 passes, one for the art I drew on the material and a second for the candle holder template itās self, OR I want a blank template that I can import into Inkscape or Illustrator and update the inside of that template with my art and then do a single pass print.
2: iPhone and iMac templates. In the video they show doing engraving on an apple laptop. While Iām sure they will provide some nice engraving options for those laptops Iām wanting to develop my own and not have to worry about figuring out the dimensions needed since someone else has already done it.
Essentially, I want a frame that i can put my designs into and know that it will just work with out having to go through the trial and error phase. I have no issue going through all the testing needed to get the RIGHT design just how I want it, however having proven and tested templates available will make that process soooo much quicker.
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Donāt forget @dan bonus due to the delays:
āFirst, you probably watched the video on glowforge.com before making your decision to buy. There, you saw some of our earliest designs that are headed for the store. We plan to release most of those designs for the catalog slowly over the course of the coming year. When we do, weāre going to give you every design from the video thatās in the catalog, for free. Yes, even the ginormous dollhouse and dual counter-rotating rubberband gatling gun drone. Weāre even going to try and get the license for the Catan board for everyone.ā
There should be plenty of designs to get us all started. 
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I have an assumption that is based on the maker-faire sample/trace-engrave items.
I assume that the designs the catalog are set up in layers, and that decorative (engraved) sections would be on a separate layer than structural (cut) sections. Based on this initial assumption, I also assume that we could decide to turn off an engrave layer that we did not want, and/or add an additional engrave layer.
If these assumptions are correct, than most (if not all) catalog designs would be customizable with your own art.
- these assumptions may not be correct.
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That would be nice and interesting to see. I have no problem doing the hard work myself, but sometimes itās nice to have a starting point.
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sorry if this question has already been answered but I just made a purchase from the catalog but I donāt see my design when clicking the āopen my designā link.
If you go back to your Dashboard it should show up there. (You might need to scroll down using the āShow Moreā button at the bottom.)
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If that doesnāt help, please start a new topic with a screenshot (support doesnāt see it when you post a new answer to an old topic). Iāll close this one so it doesnāt happen again.