I’m so trying to decide whether to chime in on this one or not…
eh…I’ll wait…see what everyone else has to say…
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I’d think they’d want to test drive user submitted projects, just to ensure that they’re viable. These designs will be listed on their website and under their umbrella, so they’ll probably want to assure a certain standard of quality.
Otherwise, where’s the incentive for buyers to purchase designs from GF, instead of just cruising eBay or even Pinterest?
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Ah come on chime in. I’m perfectly ok being the odd man out with my “ludicrous” idea. The more I talk about it the more I like it as a business model for a laser catalogue.
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While I’m hoping that the design store will be just the right combination of curated but accessible don’t forget that there is always Etsy for designs you want to sell but are not suitable for the gf store.
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This is highly dependant on what GF wants the catalog to be. If they want it to be a premium, hassle-free, 1 print = 1 product kind of a place… then 100% testing, registration, and other restrictions need to exist. If they want it to be a free for all, hope it works out, test with cardboard first kind of place… then no, they don’t need all of that. But even then some degree of registration should be mandatory to deal with the inevetible copyright infringement.
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You guys realize that you don’t have to use the design catalog to sell your designs right? And the glowforge is not locked to a proprietary format? If you disagree with it (thou it’s too early to make that discussion in my opinion) just sell it elsewhere.
The point is to have a convenient location to house designs for current and future glowforge owners. Which means glowforge as a company is going to look out for what’s best for them and their users.
Honestly I’d wait until it gets released and the EULAs are visible before you pull out the pitch forks and torches.
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Definitely. I’m just a business model junkie and I’m curious as to what will end up working best for the customers and the designers. I’m also curious as to what other people think will work. Content has turned out to be of huge importance in a number other hardware devices, the iPhone being one of the best examples. The Glowforge will be more like Google’s android model.
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Adding to my idea I’d set up a stepped commission program. Designer gets 100% revenue until design submission fee is recouped, after that not sure… 90/10? I’d bet designers will be willing to pay more than being on etsy, but not a lot more.
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Yeah… I was thinking about that, too. I hope there’s a rating and/or comment system for designs. Although I’d hate for any designer to get insulted by such a thing.
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I know the conversation moved back to design catalog but regarding Proofgrade materials: they are superb. From my figuring and feel for the price with my access to the catalog, I’d be perfectly satisfied. But personal economics really is, well, personal and I guess I’m making the decision not to enter into the debate.
As far as the design catalog goes: I am very curious about what will be in it. I’m torn between taking the time to design a marble machine and just breaking down and buying one. If Glowforge has one available at the moment I would buy it tonight.
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We acknowledge and embrace our derp and the derp of our customers.
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Heh. Easier said pre-release, me thinks. 
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I’m starting to go off the whole idea of the design catalogue as it just doesn’t seem to be for me - not for buying anyway. Personally If I bought a design for commercial use I would invariably want to tweek it some way. For example, to add graphics to the design, change the tabs so it can be made in thicker/thinner material, improve the design or add features that the original designer ner thought of. To do any of these things I would need to download the file. So, for the catalogue to be of use to me it would need a download option as well as a ‘just print’ option.
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I’ll reserve that decision until after I see what ends up there. Some things may simply be too cool to resist! But I’m leaning your direction at the moment myself. If I want to buy a product I’ll go buy it, but I bought a laser so I can do custom things. But there’s nothing that says you can’t customize some things… adding graphics, as you said, would be a simple matter of a second job with your custom artwork. I suggest you don’t rule out the catalog just yet. Give it a look and maybe a try.
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Oh, i’ll certainly try it. We are supposed to be getting gift tokens after all.
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Exactly. No risk… only reward.
I’ve been thinking about customizing catalog stuff too. Luckily, there’s a fairly large class of customizations that should be plausible to apply pre- or post-print. (It’s also not clear to me: obviously you can position catalog cuts/engraves – or at least you should be able to – but can you scale them?)
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Yes, you can scale anything once it gets loaded onto the interface. 
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Once you get a design from the catalog, can you add/delete/modify the steps?
For example, say there is a wallet design. I’m assuming there will be separate cut/etch steps. Say I want to disable the etching steps and import my own design to etch to customize it.
Is this doable?
Or are the designs from the catalog locked and you can’t modify them at all?
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The few designs that Glowforge has offered the Pre-Releasers cannot be modified. Nor can you download them to your computer. You can disable cut, score and engrave steps, you can set power and speed for each step, also resize each component but not segments of a component, and add image(s) to engrave on the parts.
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