It is something that Glowforge will have to outline with the use of their catalog designs. The fact still remains though, if I am buying something for private use and I am limited on how many times I can use it, I will probably look elsewhere.
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It kind of depends on the pattern, and the terms that the designer stipulates. For example, a lot of beadwork designers will offer patterns or tutorials with the caveat that you can make them for personal use only. Others will let you sell a limited number for āpin moneyā (such an antiquated term), others let you sell as many as you want as long as you credit them for the design, and others donāt care what you do with it.
Similarly, I see a lot of digital/downloadable stuff on Etsy that allows you to make (and sell) whatever you like, as long as you donāt offer the (stand alone) file itself as a salable work.
Some of this has been discussed before in terms of how it applies to the catalog, but the last time it came up, I think they still hadnāt sorted out TOU.
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Sadly, this is all too trueā¦ which makes that whole ātrustā part a bit tricky for some of us.
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It took longer to write this than make the print. Got stuck in an upload loop. Anyway, it works great. Comes in as a 19" by 19" file so i resized it to 3.75" and cut it on catfood carton chipboard.
It had a box around it that came in as an engrave and it had a box around it that came in as a cut. The tree came in as a cut.
Yep. Opened it up and it had two unseen white boxes. No clipping path at least.
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Yippeeeee! I just wanted to see if I could create a vector file on iPad only, from a photo. Looks like it is certainly possible, from simple files at least. Woot!
Thanks so much for testing!
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This is really exciting to me, too! At your suggestion, I also downloaded the scanning app and the Imagine app. so I can try this out when I get a Glowforge. Iāll probably just try it out anyway, even though thereās no where to send the file. A girl can dream, canāt she? 
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Our goal is to let people opt to print themselves one of a thing to get a big discount compared to unlimited prints of the thing. Think about it as buying one product vs. buying the designs to print a million of them. The interesting question is how to do that in the case that something goes wrong - like tripping over the power cord.
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If you post it to Free Laser Designs with a request, then who knows who might print it! (cc @cynd11 - thatās the right place to post designs if you want someone else to print them)
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A much better idea!
If you buy a design from the store - one off or forever use - are you able to download and edit it in any way? For instance, to use thicker/thinner materials, so you need to change tap hole sizes. Or adding a handle or somesuch to a box/whatever?
The free designs on the Glowforge site are not currently editable nor can they be downloaded. You move them from Glowforge design library to your workspace in the cloud and can print from there as many times as needed. Sounds like the other design store will be different as to whether a design can be printed multiple times, but would be surprised if you will be able to edit.
As I said aboveā¦ If I cannot print a few copies or trials of something for my own personal use then the likelihood of purchasing any item will be negligible. For example: If there was a really cool design for a light switch wall plate I would need to print four or five minimum and expect to pay one price for personal use. If I purchased a fancy tea light lantern I would want to try it in several different woods to see which I liked better. And if having a Glowforge has taught me anything, I can screw up the most idiot proof print. Might take a couple days to get a design to print perfectly. No fault of the unit. Maybe others will feel differently.
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I was thinking the same. I canāt imagine single-forge being useful most of the time. Even if it came out perfectly youāre gonna say āDamnā¦ I thought this would look great in {material 1} but now that I see it it would look way better in {material 2}.ā
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Unless the owner wants to provide a design for limited personal use on a single Glowforge it makes more sense to just go out and buy something mass produced off the web. I guess they could price the design so ridiculously low to make me feel OK about the possibility of not getting it right. But that devalues the artist.
Of course itās up to the owner of a design and Glowforge but the economics donāt make sense to me for a single print. Doesnāt give me a sense of ownership or even limited creativity so why bother with it. The original designer is not going to make any money that way.
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Okay! This was more a proof of concept than a free laser design, but Iāll try that next time.
I agree completely.
A lot will depend on what the single-shot price is. For some things it might be low enough (compared to the unlimited price) that buying the same thing two or three times makes perfect sense. Designers might also want to provide lower-priced or free sample versions (crippleware/demo) for testing purposes.
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I was considering that as well. Maybe a low-res or missing features version for testing.
I would have thought an etched copyright notice on each major part of the design would be better.
I think this may be one of the reasons they have the unlimited option 2 inches to the right of the single useā¦ lol.
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A big watermark lasermark. That works.
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