@Creality Cloud has recently launched a very competitive free-model program for designers. If you haven’t read Creality’s article introducing their program, I suggest you take a look at it now:

Creality's Article: Three Tips to Turn Your Creativity Into Passive Income 

As a designer who uses Creality Cloud everyday I thought I’d take some time to weigh in on the new program and give some personal insight into my own experience.

In this article we’ll talk about…

• Why is Creality giving away money?

• How does the program compare to competing programs?

• Why would I want Creality’s points when I can sell models for cash?

• How much can I actually earn? And keys to maximizing benefits.

• What kind of models will do best?

• Some personal hopes for the program.

• Overall impressions

Please keep in mind that I do not speak for Creality and all opinions and predictions made in this article are strictly my own.

Video:

Why is Creality giving away money?

Creality Cloud is one of the few online 3D model marketplaces that has a full-fledged 3D printing technology company behind it. Because of their unique position, Creality benefits symbiotically from people downloading models and printing them.

By creating an inviting platform with an abundance of free and accessible models, Creality can bring in new customers as well as strengthen the relationship they already have with their loyal users.

But creating that kind of rich platform doesn’t happen overnight. Creality has made the wise decision to enlist the help of their community. By incentivizing designers to list their models for free, they are much more likely to attract high quality submissions that are extremely accessible and alluring to makers everywhere.

How does Creality’s program compare to competitors?

Most competitors (think Thingiverse, Cults3D, CG Trader) have no incentive program at all for free models. The ONLY way to make any kind of money on these platforms is to put a price tag on your models.

One competitor does offer a similar program for free models, but leans heavily on the idea of exclusivity, which can feel unwelcoming to new designers. On top of that, they force ALL models to be free on their platform, taking away that choice from the designer to earn cash where they see fit.

Spencer Hill has written a great in-depth comparison about this which you can find here:

Comparing MakerWorld vs. Creality Cloud: How Each Platform Rewards 3D Designers 

Not only is Creality offering the incentives for free models, but they are also still maintaining that paid platform infrastructure that allows it to truly be a “marketplace”. I imagine Creality will only continue to improve their program as time goes on, so I predict we will continue to see Creality raise the bar above its competitors.

Why would I want Creality’s points when I can sell my models for cash?

1. People download WAY more free models than paid models.

That’s not to say that people don’t pay for 3D models sometimes. But think about your own habits... How often do you pay for a 3D model vs downloading a free one?

More than 1200 people have downloaded the free model, while only 6 have downloaded the paid model. (And the paid model has been listed for longer.)

2. Designers can maximize their return on investment.

Like most other 3D model marketplaces, Creality allows for the listing of both “paid” and “free” models. Traditionally, designers would list a combination of both free and paid models in their store fronts. Users are far more likely to download free models, so those models were a way to generate traffic in hopes of selling more paid models.

The trouble with this approach is, from a designer’s perspective, you’re always trying to balance what models you want to give away and which you want to sell. It can be a maddening experience because, under this paradigm, the only actual return you get on your investment comes from the paid models.

Creality’s free model program eliminates this problem altogether. Designers can rest easy knowing that every model they post will contribute to their return on investment, and all the while they are reaching a broader audience because there is no longer a paywall between their models and their users.

3. Anyone who posts a model, even beginners, can benefit from the program.

Selling models online can be a difficult thing to do, even for experienced designers. For beginners, the task can seem overwhelming. By listing models free to Creality, even budding designers can start to see a return on their models from day one.

4. Free models create more personal growth.

Without a paywall between you and your users, the downloads can flow freely. And so can the feedback. By giving as many people as possible access to your designs, you’ll garner a wealth of feedback and suggestions. This gives you the opportunity to improve your skills at a much higher rate than if you wait for the small trickle of sales you might receive otherwise.

5. You’d be spending a lot of that money on 3D printing supplies anyway.

If you’re anything like me, most of the money I make from my models goes right back into 3D printing. This way you can still get the things you need and want at a higher rate of return.

How much can you actually earn?

Creality throws a lot of numbers at us in their introductory article. Most notably, they mention a significant amount of passive income. This sounds great, but obviously these are “best-case scenario” numbers. However, I can personally say from experience that the program has a lot to offer, even for part time designers like myself. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of the reward system, and let’s look at some real-life scenarios.

Points Per Download

Creality lays out a table of how points are awarded for free models, but I find it to be a little hard to conceptualize how many points you will actually earn.

Here is the actual “points-per-download” at each tier level. Keep in mind that points are awarded in intervals, not for each individual download.

100 points = $1

If the free toolbox model pictured below had received all of its downloads after Creality started the free model reward program, that model would have earned about 7600 points, or the equivalent of $76. That is in contrast to the $12 I’ve made from the paid model pictured below.

Key to maximizing rewards: Always be creating new models.

Creality uses a system of diminishing returns for awarding points to models. This means that over time the amount of points you end up getting per download decreases. The highest rewards are realized in first thousand downloads of a model. That being said, the amount of points awarded never drops to zero. That means that each model you add will continue to earn points forever. If you just make a habit of adding a model to Creality Cloud each time you create one you'll have a huge stack of earning models before too long.

How do my sales compare to the free-model program?

In the recent months before the new free model reward program began, I would generally “cash out” once a month for about $40-60. Prior to the free model program starting I had around 75 models, roughly half of them paid models.

For the sake of comparison, in just the last 7 days I have made the equivalent of about $44 in rewards points through free model downloads. I’ve also still had some sales that can go toward a cash-out in the future. The screen shot below is a real screen shot taken from my Insights space:

If that rate continues, I can expect to make about 220000 points ($2200) in rewards over the course of a year. That is enough to get myself a new K2 Plus Combo printer and plenty of filament to go with it! Not bad for a part-time hobby.

Other ways to earn:

As Creality states in their intro article, there are a couple of other ways to earn points as well.

Boosts

The boost token system allows for users to support the models they find to be truly impressive.

Each boost results in a 100 point reward. Boost tokens are in short supply by design, so this is one more reason to really take your time with your models and make sure you are putting your best foot forward!

More information here on boosting:

How the Incentive System Works and How to Join?

Print Profiles

Simply by adding print profiles to already existing models you can earn some points as well. This can be a particularly alluring opportunity if you are a designer who has a bunch of old models with no print profiles uploaded.

What kind of models will do best in this program?

Unsurprisingly, this question has a short answer: High quality models.

Take your time in development. Add detail to your model. Think about how you can shape the geometries of your model to eliminate the need for support or create good build plate adhesion. Select the colors for your print carefully and take good pictures in a well-lit space. Develop assembly instructions for your users to follow. All of these things will make your model stand out and generate more downloads.

Screenshot from Creality’s program description:

Overall: Is the free model program a good thing?

Yes! Everyone wins in this scenario!

Designers get to maximize their return on investment and share their work with the largest possible audience.

Users get to experience a rich and extensive platform full of high-quality models at no cost.

Creality gets to grow its business and community so they can keep delivering awesome tech in the 3D printing industry.

Whether you are trying to make it big in the world of 3D printing or just someone who wants to share the occasional model, you have a lot to gain from the simple act of sharing.

Thanks for reading, be sure to check out my profile!

David's IT Garage

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Happy Printing!

 Free Money: An In-depth Look at Creality’s New Free Model Reward Program