[INTERVIEW] Thingiverse Reboot Targets Creator Pay Tools and Tighter AI Controls after MyMiniFactory Acquisition

Thingiverse, one of the oldest and most visited libraries of downloadable 3D-print files, is being repositioned around creator monetisation, human-led curation and stricter handling of AI-generated uploads after its acquisition by MyMiniFactory (MMF).

Romain Kidd, the newly appointed chief executive of Thingiverse and former MMF CEO, said the platform remains large by any consumer internet measure: “8 million plus users”, “over 6 million” uploaded objects and roughly “70 plus million page views per month”. 

A vast library, little momentum

Thingiverse, founded in 2008, built its scale as a default index for printable objects during the early growth of desktop fused-filament fabrication. Yet creators and users have complained for years about weak search, inconsistent discovery and limited progress under successive owners. Ultimaker, which bought the property from MakerBot, operated Thingiverse as a separate business in the Netherlands prior to the sale. Kidd said the acquisition closed on January 30, with a relaunch tied to a February 12 announcement and a community AMA scheduled for February 17.

Kidd is running Thingiverse with a lean team and a distributed footprint. He said a three-person leadership group is joining from MyMiniFactory, alongside a ten-person Netherlands-based team focused on technology and marketing. “HQ is indeed on Rivington Street,” he said, describing a London base for leadership and a remote-first operating model. The company expects a strong US orientation in user attention, reflecting the geographic concentration of hobbyist FDM printing.

The strategic logic for the deal rests on a gap between hardware adoption and content economics. Kidd pointed to rapid expansion in low-cost FDM hardware, singling out Bambu Lab as an example of innovation that has pushed volumes higher. He cited an industry run-rate of about 5mn machines sold per year, then argued that the “content side” has not kept pace for FDM users. MyMiniFactory has focused on resin printing and tabletop gaming. Thingiverse is intended to push into broader creator segments, with engineering and functional-print categories positioned as the initial centre of gravity.

Discovery first: search, categories and human curation

Discovery is the first operational priority. Rees Calder, Thingiverse’s new chief marketing officer, said the existing tools “just don’t work”, attributing poor outcomes to weak category structure and limited human intervention in what users see. He said the new team plans to rebuild category pages and introduce curation methods that lift high-quality work and reduce the odds that low-effort uploads sit on the front page for weeks. The objective is to surface relevant designs by community, rather than forcing users through a single, blunt search bar.

That discovery work is now tied to a firmer line on automated and low-quality AI-generated content. Kidd said the “share of AI-generated content” had risen prior to the acquisition and will be targeted immediately. The first visible change is a homepage reset intended to reduce what he called “cheap, low-quality content” from automated pipelines. “We’re removing the AI content from the homepage,” he said, describing it as a change that can be executed within the first week. Calder said the company expects to combine manual review with community reporting, and to focus enforcement on accounts rather than individual files, using behavioural signals such as mass uploads in short time windows.

AI uploads: tagging, filtering and a homepage reset

In follow-up replies, the company set out a more concrete mechanism. Creators will tag uploads at submission, and visitors will be able to filter AI-tagged content while browsing. AI-tagged designs will still exist on the site, but the removal from the homepage is meant to set the direction for discovery and promotion. The company said it does not rely on automated detection for 3D models because robust classification remains difficult at the mesh level and false positives would carry high costs for legitimate creators.

The harder question is where the AI boundary sits for engineering workflows. Calder said MyMiniFactory’s creator community has historically preferred a strict policy in art-heavy segments, including restrictions on AI-generated descriptions and imagery. He suggested the position could evolve at Thingiverse if engineering users want AI as a design tool. Kidd also left the door open to category-specific policy, noting that open-source printer and robotics communities may have different expectations than toy designers.

Monetisation without retroactive paywalls

Monetisation is the other core shift, but the company is resisting premature commitments on product design. Kidd said new features will be added for creators who choose to monetise, while trying to avoid retroactive changes that would upset users and designers who uploaded under a free-sharing norm. “We’re not putting a price tag on every single object,” he said. “We’re not changing any kind of T’s and C’s.”

Kidd connected the monetisation push to MyMiniFactory’s existing payout history, citing “$100m+” earned by creators on that platform. In follow-up answers, the company listed several possible models: direct file sales, premium features tied to verified profiles, subscriptions similar to MyMiniFactory’s Tribes product, crowdfunding campaigns, sponsorship arrangements with brands, and an ad-free tier. It did not identify which will ship first. “We cannot jump the gun and assume we know,” Kidd said, arguing that monetisation mechanics will differ by community.

Category focus by summer, business model later

This reluctance to name a first product is deliberate, but it leaves investors and creators with limited near-term clarity on how Thingiverse will balance traffic scale with creator earnings. The company’s working plan is to select five to ten categories by summer, then build features and a business plan around those segments. Criteria will include existing usage signals such as downloads, likes and makes, alongside market-size estimates and direct creator interviews.

Asked why Thingiverse needs to exist as a standalone entity if it adopts MyMiniFactory’s monetisation toolkit, Kidd drew a clear line between communities rather than brands. MyMiniFactory remains centred on tabletop and miniature gaming, where creators often sell bundles, subscription drops and adjacent digital assets. Thingiverse, he said, will focus on broader functional and engineering audiences that have historically used FDM systems and mechanical CAD. He expects the brands to remain separate, though he acknowledged that backend systems could be reused where it makes sense.

Kidd declined to comment on why Ultimaker chose to divest, saying that was “a question for Ultimaker”, and he did not disclose the purchase price. He also resisted KPI-driven claims at this stage. For the first phase, he said he is watching qualitative reaction to the acquisition and the AI stance across forums, Thingiverse groups and the February AMA. Quantitative targets are expected to follow once categories are set and feature work begins.

In the follow-up email, Kidd set a narrow definition of success: clearly identified categories, a defined roadmap and new features starting to roll out. That is a modest bar for a platform with tens of millions of monthly page views, but it reflects a strategy built around sequencing and risk control, with AI moderation and discovery overhaul used as early proof points before the harder work of creator economics lands.

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