Slant 3D launched V2 of their Portals system with some very intriguing new capabilities.
The company operates massive 3D print farms, and the business issues in such operations is how do you keep those machines busy? Slant 3D has taken two interesting steps forward.
The first was a service they call “Teleport”. It was an API system that allowed anyone on popular e-commerce sites (like Etsy or Shopify) to directly integrate print services to their online stores. That eliminated the need for a designer to set up their own manufacturing platforms.
But there was still work involved: the designer would still have to sign up on the e-commerce sites and set up all the integrations. While that’s all possible to do, it is probably beyond the capability of some designers, or at least occupies more of their time.
Slant 3D came up with the brilliant idea of cutting out the middleman entirely with a new service they call “Portals”.
Designers can sign up for Portals and then upload a design, select colors, etc., in only minutes. This then creates an entry for that product in their system, and the designer can share a link to that product’s online page — all without using ANY third party e-commerce site. CEO Gabe Bentz explains how it works:
This could be of considerable interest because the e-commerce sites are dangerously close to enshittification — adding numerous fees and complications to benefit the company and not its customers. Some frustrated designers have looked for ways to take their products off these sites because they are no longer willing to battle with “the algorithm” and constantly increasing fees.
But where do they go? Setting up their own site to present products and take orders is complex.
That’s the niche where Portals will provide service. Slant 3D has made an incredibly smooth experience that anyone should be able to handle, and that creates an outlet for those seeking to exit Etsy or Shopify. Even better, there are NO subscription fees: Slant 3D makes their money on the printing, not user fees.
The approach is very interesting, and quite a bit simpler than typical e-commerce setups. As of now, Portals does not have a centralized site where prospective customers can browse all the 3D models. Instead, the concept is that the designer simply gets a link to a product print page that they can use in their own social media channels directly. In other words, instead of linking from, say TikTok to a shopify site, you just link directly to the product in the social media post. Much simpler, and eliminates a big part of the buying process.
That said, we hear hints that Slant 3D may launch some form of
virtual storefronts for designers in the near future.
This past week Slant 3D announced an enhancement to Portals whereby non-printed components can be included in the shipments. Slant 3D explains:
“The V2 release allows portals to support multi-file products and inclusion of additional parts like Night Lights, screws and magnets.”
That’s a big development because it means that products on the Portals platform can be quite a bit more complex than simple one-part designs. Better products mean designers can ask for higher prices and potentially make more profit.
I have a feeling that Slant 3D’s machines will be quite busy.
