Ultimaker’s Senior VP of Product Management Paul Heiden had this to say: “This number of Marketplace downloads happening less than a year after launch is a real validation of the project and evidence that professional users are always looking for ways to accelerate their 3D printing workflow.”
Ultimaker Marketplace hits 1 million downloads
We’re much more than just a hardware company. We’re on a mission to accelerate digital manufacturing workflows all over the world. And it looks like it’s paying off: The Ultimaker Marketplace, our digital distribution platform, has just hit a major milestone of 1 million downloads for plugins and print profiles combined.
Removing barriers
Thanks to the Marketplace, Ultimaker has the largest compatible material choice in the entire 3D printing market. It’s now easier than ever to 3D print composites with glass and carbon fibers, flame-retardant materials for ESD applications, materials that are resistant to chemicals, UV and wear, and materials to achieve extreme stiffness or flexibility.
But how did the Marketplace begin?
Software plugins are a powerful way to shape and adapt software features to suit a specific 3D printing workflow. For example, a plugin can integrate CAD software with Ultimaker Cura so that engineers and designers can push designs directly into the slicing environment, without wasting time with exchange file formats. The result? A streamlined workflow with less frustration, and more time to develop innovative concepts.
Discovering, downloading, and installing plugins was the hard part for users, so we developed a single, unified distribution platform within Ultimaker Cura to make it easy. Here, users can browse available plugins, install them, and contribute their own.
Plugins in the Ultimaker Marketplace
We recognized the potential of digital distribution for material compatibility, too. Our open filament system means that any 2.85 mm filament is compatible with Ultimaker hardware, but the correct slicing settings are still needed to guarantee a high print success rate. So we started working with third-party material manufacturers who developed and signed print profiles that work with our hardware.
The launch of the Ultimaker Marketplace coincided with Formnext 2018. Flagship profiles included print profiles from Owens Corning, a global producer of industrial composites, as well as DSM, BASF, Dupont, and Clariant, all leading manufacturers of industry-grade materials. Less than one year later, The Ultimaker Marketplace has contributions from over 30 well-known vendors and manufacturers of high-quality 3D printer filaments, and more than 80 different material types.
Help others innovate and succeed – contribute today
The success of the Ultimaker Marketplace depends on its contributors. By developing a plugin or print profile, catapult your brand by giving it exposure to millions of Ultimaker Cura users all over the world.
Help others turn a great idea into a great success. Material manufacturers can contribute print profiles for high-performance 3D printing filament. Enterprise users of Ultimaker Cura can develop plugins to align the functionality of our software to specific business needs, such as opening specific file formats, integrating third-party software, and more.
With a cloud platform and a single account to access everything, it’s easier than ever to streamline your 3D printing workflow.
Discover the Ultimaker Marketplace today. All you need is an Ultimaker account.