Thank you so much for being part of our all new, fully-functional You3Dit Beta platform–a marketplace of designers & fabricators that transform client napkin sketches into real physical parts. Starting first with IoT and Industrial Prototyping clients.
Eventually, this will become the new You3Dit.com. However it’s currently in “Beta Test” mode which Google defines as: “a trial of machinery, software, or other products, in the final stages of its development.” Running a Beta Test allows product developers to quickly find the rough spots in a product so that they can be resolved.
This article intends to help you get through the most common roadblocks on your way to developing your new part, product or prototype.
These are in order of importance (as measured by the frequency and pain observed in beta clients using the platform):
- The avatar (for new projects, new quotes, iterations)
- No email notifications?
- Can’t login
- Can’t edit my project
- Can’t edit my quote
- Where are my design files?
The Avatar
Every new project, new design / fabrication quote, new design / fabrication image, etc. all require the user to select an “avatar” for the project, quote or iteration. This is because we need the user to tell us which of the photos / files they’re uploading, are most relevant to the viewer. Here’s where most people get stuck:
New Projects
You’re a corporate innovator, product developer, engineer or professional inventor and you need help from a 3D Designer and Fabricator to bring your napkin sketch idea to life. You register for You3Dit and you begin to create your brand new, “Design & Fabrication” project. You start the easy and intuitive Turbo-Tax-like new project wizard and get to the “Choose a Primary Display Photo” section and this is where everything comes crashing down on you. “Error choose an avatar”. Here’s how you solve this issue.
In the above example (Figure 1), we have 7 gibberish images that will be uploaded into a new project. I have the option of also including PDF files, CAD files, movie files, etc…whatever materials I believe will be useful to the designer or fabricator when executing on my project deliverables. This is where our users encounter their first roadblock:
ROADBLOCK #01: CHOOSE A PRIMARY DISPLAY PHOTO – AKA “AN AVATAR”
Choosing a primary photo–or as the error describes it…an “avatar”–is just that. Simply use your mouse to select one of the smaller icons above which represent each file you will be uploading to your project for reference. THIS HAS TO BE AN IMAGE FILE: png, gif, jpeg, etc.
If you don’t have any images (png, jpg, gif, etc.) in the list of files you’re uploading, you won’t be able to select an avatar because you don’t have any files that are avatar compatible, and your primary display photo will be the word “Project” which is hardly useful to any designer / fabricator submitting quotes.
ROADBLOCK #01: SOLUTION and your success
ROADBLOCK #02: YOU HAVE NO SUPPORTING IMAGE FILES FOR YOUR PROJECT
You’ve found You3Dit and you’re all ready to upload your Excel spreadsheet BOM, your PDF documentation of all your recently-fired engineer’s 2D CAD drawings, all the IGES files and everything else, gcode, etc., but you have no images. Here’s what your screen will look like:
It will display on our browse page as a very painfully generic “Project” image as in Figure 1.
ROADBLOCK #02: SOLUTION take a screenshot of anything that is relevant to your project and add it to your supporting files.
It’s that simple folks. Open up the PDF you attached and take a screenshot. Sketch out on a piece of paper what you want, snap with your phone, share to your computer and upload to your supporting files. Then simply choose that photo on the next page.
New Quotes
This is for the designers and fabricators in our You3Dit network. Similar to what has happened above with our clients, you’ve likely encountered something similar when submitting a quote. Typically not much by way of technical files is expected of you in the quoting phase, but images are important as they’re the way you show relevant work experience to the client.
If you still for some reason can’t get this to work, please e-mail Chris at chris at you3dit dot com.
Iterations
Not to beat a dead horse, but just like the avatar issue in both new projects and quotes, you have avatar selection when submitting an iteration as a designer or fabricator in the project Workshop.
We added in the capability for our clients (the “Makers”) to upload content too so that the designers & fabricators could see visual references and other content the client had to add to their project. This is still referred to as an “iteration” according to the platform, but it is not.
One day soon we’ll have ways for our users to classify their content uploads as iterations, supporting file(s) and other relevant classifications so that the project can make progress effectively and efficiently.
No E-mail Notifications?
Yes this is true. There are currently no e-mail notifications yet. This will obviously change. Today, the best way to get updates about your project is to log back into the beta platform and look for the little red number by your profile picture.
Can’t login?
There are several potential causes for this…some common to all login / password systems. And some specific to our You3Dit ecosystem.
You3Dit specific login issues
You need a new account to access Beta Features
There are two You3Dit sites currently active today: 1) Our Alpha (https://www.you3dit.com) and 2) our Beta (https://beta.you3dit.com).
Today, the databases required to access and manage your passwords do not communicate. Therefore, any username and password you created in Alpha, will not work on Beta. You have to create a new account on You3Dit Beta. However, if of course you’ve simply created a new account on Beta with the exact same username and password, then the login credentials you created will work for both sites. Does that make sense? Good! Hope that resolves your issue!
Some pages on Beta require you to login, but there is no login page prompted for you
If you run into this situation, simply:
- Go to https://beta.you3dit.com
- Login (or create a new account)
- Once logged in, go back to the link you received and click that link.
If that doesn’t work, let us know at chris at you3dit dot com
General login issues
This includes but is not limited to:
- You never created an account on Beta (your original You3Dit account created at You3Dit.com will not work for you on Beta)
- You have forgotten your password. We have a password reset feature so give that a whirl.
- You have forgotten your username / email. This is a pity and we’d simply prefer that you create a new account for the time being. If you’d rather not do this, you can contact me and I’ll help you out: chris at you3dit dot com
- You’re trying to utilize your http://www.you3dit.com login credentials at beta.you3dit.com. This won’t work. You’ll need to create a new account on Beta. This can be the same e-mail and password you utilized for http://www.you3dit.com if you wish.
Can’t edit my project
Today, after you’ve posted your project, you can not edit your project. Why you might ask? Well there are a lot of reasons which would likely bore you so we’re simply going to say that some day soon, we’ll give you limited ability to edit your project.
Until then, work arounds on your project details include:
- Update project details in the public chat area on your project
- Once a designer / fabricator is chosen, simply negotiate changes in the Workshop chat feature
If neither of those solutions work for you, let me know and we’ll find a way to update your project: chris at you3dit dot com
Can’t edit my quote
Today, after you’ve posted your quote, you can not edit your quote. Why you might ask? Well there are a lot of reasons which would likely bore you so we’re simply going to say that some day soon, we’ll give you limited ability to edit your quote.
Until then, work arounds on updating your quotes include:
- Submitting a new quote and letting the prospective client in the public chat, that you have an update to your quote and to choose the 2nd quote, 3rd quote, etc. that you’ve posted.
- If it’s not a grave error and the prospective client chooses and pays for your quote, it’s possible you can work out these details in the Workshop chat section of the process.
If neither of those solutions work for you, let me know and we’ll find a way to update your project: chris at you3dit dot com
Where are my design files?
There are two places design files can live: the Project Files area and the “Final Design” area of your project Workshop. Let me take a minute to describe the two types of files:
Project Files – these are files you uploaded when creating your project to support the designer / fabricator in bringing your project to life. These are your files or reference files to your project used by other designers and fabricators in our network to conduct work.
Project files are typically Images, PDFs, reference CAD files or other project-related files that will help the designer.
Final Design Files – these are the 3D Design files created for you by a You3Dit designer or fabricator that you’ve agreed to pay for. These are the files that are uploaded as an “iteration” by your designer / fabricator that you finally chose as meeting all of your specific project criteria. These are the files a fabricator will use to produce your part(s), product(s), prototypes.
Final design files – are typically the native CAD file(s) and the generic STL / IGES / STEP file(s) required by the fabricator to quote and eventually produce your part(s), product(s), prototype(s).
Upgrades to Beta are coming
Have no fear, we are working on developments that resolve all of these issues and more. Stay tuned and let me know if you have any questions whatsoever! Thanks for trying out our new Beta platform! chris at you3dit dot com
You3Dit.com Blog 
One thought on “Common pitfalls and workarounds on You3Dit Beta”