This is going to save you tons of time: we now support Zipped uploads for all file formats! I just tried this with a 63MB VRML file. Before, it would take me almost 10 minutes to upload this. Now, I can zip it to about 8MB and it uploads in about 1.5 minutes. Hallelujah!
Image by p_c_w
Outstanding! Thanks so much for this feature.
Is this just standard .zip format? or does this include .7zip, .rar, any others?
Just standard .zip as far as I know.
Very helpful. A great next step would be to support multiple files within the Zip. This would drastically increase productivity. Image hosting sites have had that feature for years, and they sometimes even charge for it.
Binary STL is already compressed, so I’m assuming it won’t speed that up?
I ran a few tests on binary STLs and these compressed up to 80% as well. I’m guessing that although they’re binary (and therefore already a little more compact than ASCII), they’re not compressed yet.
You’re right. I wrote an exporter for binary STL for Maya (which works great with Shapeways) and yes, the space savings using binary over ASCII STL come merely from the fact that you don’t have any comments in it and coordinates are using much less space in binary form.
Hi Bart,
Here is another suggestion for saving Shapeways bandwidth and server space: support composite models! My twisty puzzles sometimes have ten or more of the same piece,and ten or more of another piece. It would be much more convenient if I could just have a model that is 12x piece A and 15x piece B. Composite models would also be a nice way for artist to give discount: buy this set and get 10% off.
Oskar
Hi Oscar,
thanks for the suggestion – I’ll pass that along!
Cheers,
Bart