Shapeways Makes Changes to Material Names and Drops Other materials

Well, Shapeways have done it again!

They have today renamed a number of their materials, no doubt for marketing reasons or trying to make it simpler for new customers.

Anyway, for the the main materials I use on my Signals Branch shop White Strong and Flexible is now called White Versatile Plastic and Fine Ultra Detail is now called Smooth Fine Detail Plastic.

The various web pages have been modified as well and some things have moved.

Also they have dropped a number of materials from the available line, none that worry me but I am sure there will be an outcry from those who use them in their shops. 

I will have to go through the text descriptions of some of my models and change any references to the old material names.

What a pain!

Here is the announcement from Shapeways from their Forum:

We are so excited to announce the release of updates to our materials portfolio. Available, starting today are:

• Silver: Antique Finish
  • A unique finish that gives a rugged personality to your pieces
• Full Color Sandstone: Matte Finish
  • A smooth and matte finish for even bolder colors
• Steel: Matte Bronzed-Steel Finish
  • A subtly rustic finish for industrial chic pieces
• Professional Plastic (previously known as HP Nylon Plastic) is available to sell in your Shapeways shops

To make for a simpler, more user-friendly creation process, we have also updated our Materials Hub. Along with lovely new end-product photography, we have now broken our materials in to benefit driven categories which will help guide you to the right materials for your projects. The new categories are:

• Strength & Value
• Professional Finishes
• Industrial Strength
• Scale Replicas

We’ve done some renaming of our materials, more details on that can be found here in our updated Materials Naming Guide. We’ve also begun updating our Model Upload and Checkout flow to make it easier to pick your materials and finishes.

You may also notice some changes to the material offerings; as part of this refresh process, we decided to say goodbye to some of our less popular materials including:

• High Definition Acrylate (instead try our Black HP Nylon plastic or Frosted Ultra Detail Plastic)
• Acrylic Plastic (instead try our Frosted Ultra Detail plastic)
• PLA (instead try our Strong & Flexible plastic)
• Metallic Plastic (instead try our Gray HP Nylon plastic)
• Elasto Plastic (instead try our Strong & Flexible plastic)
• Castable Wax
• Matte Gold Steel (instead try our Polished Gold Steel)
• Matte Bronze Steel (instead try out Polished Bronze Steel)
• Porcelain

If you have purchased or sold any these materials in the last 6 months, you should have been notified via e-mail. If you have any of these materials enabled in your shop, your products will no longer be offered for sale in these materials. If your product was only enabled in one of these materials, it will now be listed as public, but not for sale.

Shapeways is ever-evolving, and we will continue to focus on providing the right material solutions for your projects.

We can’t wait to see what you create with this updated experience!