Wanted to gauge about how many people use premium free design. So my question is how often do you find yourself printing from the free with premium design catalog? Wondering if I should keep creating more designs for it.
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I use them a lot! Love it when there are new additions. I just noticed your trophys were added. I’m sure I’ll have a need for them at some point.
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Hey thanks for noticing. They are what inspired this question actually lol. I’m glad to hear you use the files quite a bit.
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I grab things that interest me, but I seldom print them. More times than not I want to see how something was designed.
I’m more of a “design my own stuff” kind of person.
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I’ve only used a few. Either downloaded to my Teens login when I know it’s something they would want to make, or occasionally I look through them after a big project to find something fun to print, with no math effort. 
But I don’t think I’ve downloaded one in 6 months. So it’s pretty rare, either way.
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i’ve used a few. generally i prefer making my own custom stuff, but every once in a while i’ll look and find something quick and dirty to make when i’m in a hurry.
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Here’s how it is for me. Either I need something that I’m going to spend hours in Fusion 360, or it is dead simple so I whip it out in Inkscape or even the pro interface.
The times in between, I go to the catalog looking and hoping someone has me covered.
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Pretty much zero. I don’t know if I have ever printed a premium design, I’d have to check.
The space shuttle was tempting though. Now I’m not sure I even downloaded it so I think I am out of luck.
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Zero as well. I didn’t use it when it was a free trial, and I still have credits from being a founder that I will never use. I personally have no use for other people’s designs, and have never seen anything that interests me. If I want to create something, I design it myself…
Edited to add - I am not dismissing the effort people put into creating designs to share (I’ve shared a few simple ones here) or those that want to use them. The thread title is “How often do you…” so my answer reflects what works for me.
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I firmly believe that the vast majority of Catalog customers are not active on the forums, so this may not be the best way to determine worthiness of your design efforts.
YMMV, but submitting a new design or two each month over the past 2+ years has more than paid for my GF Premium and Adobe Illustrator subscriptions as well as all of the materials I’ve used in that time. Put another way, Catalog sales have made my retirement hobby self-funding.
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I enjoy looking at the catalog, but I rarely print the designs.
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does that mean “pro?” not sure what that means. does it need the passthrough to complete?
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I had no idea this was a thing.
Well look at that.
I have literally never looked at the catalog before today.
I’m sure I will use my credit now that I have it but it is hard to imagine paying anything for many of these designs. And I hate the “buy one print” option, I would never do that.
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I downloaded a bunch of them. I’ve not printed half as many, but the ones I have are either things like boxes or things with hinges or the like, or fancy art like the spiral clock one.
I do know that really simple ones (keychains, coasters , etc.) sell really well.
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I go through the new designs every couple of weeks, and sometimes I find things I like and print them. I am lazy and don’t want to hand design tabs and figure kerf 
I like things that are useful, not decorative because I have too much stuff anyway ! lol
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I am curious, does glowforge not give you any kind of download count?
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Nope.
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I have downloaded a few but, have made none of them.
Despite that trending toward the majority response here, I suspect I am in the minority of Glowforge users overall.
I do enjoy seeing some of the designs, though. it’s interesting to see how people resolve various design challenges.
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I love getting designs from the catalog (and yes, I grabbed your trophies one). I may not have made many of them, yet, but there are several I have, and I love the fact that I can any time I want. I am not a designer so being able to find useful and fun things is great. There are so many thefts of designs on Etsy, etc., and you hear of people who have designs that are inferior, that I like the catalog because I trust the source of the designer. Does that make sense?
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All the time. If I ever get an SVG from pretty much anywhere I had to inspect it up close to be sure the nodes are efficient or even remotely right. Poorly designed SVGs are the root cause of lots of problems up to and including fires.
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