I only use my Glowforge Pro a few times per year, so I discontinued my expensive subscription. I thought I would still have access to my designs, but surprise… not only have I lost access to all the pro features, but I’ve also lost all my designs. Ugh.
Have to say, there is absolutely no way I could ever recommend this device to anyone. Which is sad b/c I’ve been responsible for a sale in the past. This company has a very predatory relationship with their customers. I’ll be sure and mention this to my 50K YT subscribers and my 1K Patreons as well. Pick another machine, save money and save headaches.
You have not lost any pro features, only premium features. Ability to keep all your designs in the dashboard is limited to thirty days (I think). If you don’t use them they go away. Even with premium I keep a copy on my hard drive.
If you are making stuff to sell, premium is cheap, if not then it can get expensive. Every situation has its issues. The company selling my expensive 3D printer has left me with expensive junk. Or try to get your Keurig coffeemaker repaired. The list is long. In the past 7 years I have not had an interaction that was not positive, even beyond the call.
If you are making enough on YT to pay for premium and it is about lasers, then you can show folks how to do very well with a Glowforge with “free” designs, AI design assist, and the array of tools you are complaining of missing could help a lot of folks. Otherwise, Inkscape and Gimp can do everything short of the free designs and AI. And even the Free AI is still available
I believe that the features of the premium subscription are clearly stated.
I am sorry that you chose to give up your subscription without fully understanding what you were getting with the subscription. This, however, is not an example of a predatory company. I understand that you are unhappy and you have every right to lash out. Consider, however, that you may be partly to blame for your situation. A polite letter to Glowforge rather than a rant to other users may be more productive in restoring your files - if that is what you desire.
I’m truly impressed by your memory of all the contract details. I subscribed over 4 years ago when I purchased this machine for $7K+. I’ve used the machine once in the last 18 months.
Sure, I can get the files back for 30 days by purchasing a single month of membership for $50. It certainly is not worth the $240 a year for a day’s worth of laser cutting and engraving. To me, it’s not worth $50 a month. That seems predatory.
Certainly we can agree to disagree on the definition of predatory. $50/month subscription seems to me very predatory.
I’m not sure why a polite letter to support would allow me to access my previous files when for $50 I can have access to them right now for a single month. If on the other hand, that’s how things work at glowforge, then I may ask for a full years free subscription.
According to the forum, you joined in 2022 and have been unhappy since the beginning.
If it is worth $50 to restore your files then pay the money, export your files to your computer (a benefit offered with with the Premium subscription) and carry on.
Supposedly, once deleted, the files aren’t recoverable even by Support staff. I could be wrong but I believe this has been something we’ve seen others go through. Unless paid for, they just don’t want to hold onto your files. Period.
I would have to come back up to speed in Blender, but making a design in full 3D and exporting the image as a height map, has been a favorite thing I wanted to do with a Glowforge, to make a relief carving.
My needs have driven me elsewhere at this time, but something I keep wanting to get back to.
It’s a business model being used by a lot of companies today.
*(Not saying it’s right or wrong, because I’m not wild about subscriptions either, it’s just that it’s the business model many companies have evolved into. We’re paying for a service that we want to use. Telecom companies have done it for decades. Adobe has done it for a while now with all of it’s products. Glowforge has to pay for that storage space, so that cost is just floated through to those who optionally choose to use the service. It does tend to be high because not all people choose to use the service, many design their own files using other programs, and store those files on their own machines. But when new users are first starting to use the machine, (and before they begin to design their own files), there are a lot of people who appreciate being able to readily access a huge pool of content that other people have created, ready made. The customers buying the subscription do not own those files however, they have the use of them, through the optional subscription service. That’s how the designers who actually did create the content are paid. (It’s massively complex, but it makes sure that everyone gets paid for their time and effort in a fair distribution.)
No, not really. It’s an optional subscription service. (Congrats on getting 50 thousand followers by the way, I can’t imagine the burden of keeping up continual content for 50 thousand friends and frenemies.) You may have the ability to influence your followers of course, but doing that will not get you what you want in this situation. It tends to put people off.
The gang has given the absolute best advice here… try contacting Glowforge directly about getting access to your own designs if you were storing them only on their servers, so you can download them to your computer. A few people had to do that when the subscription service was introduced a few years ago. They are genuinely nice people who appreciate their customers and who will try to work with you if you explain the situation. (They may or may not be able to accommodate you depending on whether they still have the records stored though, so good luck with it. I wouldn’t put it off, I have no idea how long they keep them. They might be cleared out automatically after a certain time period.)
Thanks for your thoughtful message. I don’t need the SVGs downloaded. What I need are the SVGs along with the configurations and all the settings.
Perhaps I don’t understand how to access them. But, when I open my projects, there is nothing there.
I was not under the impression I did not own them. I created them, configured them and implemented them. But, it appears I don’t own them-- Glowforge does.
While some would say off topic, there are several AIs now that can generate depth maps from photographs. That is certainly an interesting topic. I wonder how Glowforge manages to carve using a proper grayscale depthmap?
I had successfully done this using 3D printing and the HueForge application. Never thought about trying it on the Glowforge.
I’m working from memory here as well, because I’ve been gone for a few years on other projects, but I think we can download the ones that we created using their program. (You’re going to need to check with one of the other folks here who has done more recent designs though.) I’m behind the times.
You own your files, but Glowforge does not have to store them on their servers for you. Since you created the files and uploaded them to the interface, you had them stored somewhere on your own system before they were added to the Glowforge.
Users that do not subscribe to the premium subscription can store their files, but files not opened for 30 days will be removed. Users with the premium subscription are able to store their files on the Glowforge servers indefinitely. Premium subscribers can export the files they create in the Glowforge interface. No user can export catalog designs.
Glowforge does not own them- they also do not offer free, unlimited storage. You made a simple, forgetful mistake not retaining this not at all hidden detail - by your own admission you don’t use the system much. No point in making a meal out of it by making false and derogatory comments.
I said I have the SVG files. But, there is great value in how they are set up. Those files have material settings, placement, and other settings that are very important and can take much experientation to get correct.
It’s a bit like working in Photoshop and saying “you have the original photos.” But, when you put them in Photoshop and you adjust them and tweak them and modify them, you end up with something different. And, certainly Adobe will get pushback if they claimed ownership of your files beyond the original photo you imported.
Then they should allow us to download the file including the set up settings. As I’ve mentioned, it can take a lot of time and experimentation with material settings and placement to get files just right.
I’m not looking at using any of the fancy features, just being able to reprint stuff I’ve already created. It turns out that you’ll need to spend $50 a month or $240 a year to maintain control over your files and settings.
