Are you more excited about making art than ordering a robot to make it for you? MyMiniFactory hears your screams.
3D model repository MyMiniFactory has thought a lot about what it means to make art in a post-Gen AI world and has decided that what said world needs is soul. To that end, they’ve made SoulCrafted, an initiative focused on human-centric creations.
In part, this takes the form of a ban on AI-generated models on the site. Recognizing that AI tools enable a firehose of low-quality (even unprintable) models, a blanket ban is one way to help ensure a better experience for users. For people who – in the early days – spent 1,000’s of hours manually printing files to ensure quality, this is a pretty pragmatic move.
While their community has already helped flag 8,000+ AI designs, they don’t want people to have to rely on savvy power-users alone. Enter the SoulCrafted badge, a way for manually vetted creators to identify their work as being 100% human-made. As they explain on their community page:
What is SoulCrafted?
At its core, SoulCrafted is both a philosophy and a practical framework. We’re introducing a digital label system that allows creators to declare their work as authentically human-made – crafted from genuine creative spirit rather than generated through automated processes. Think of it as a quality mark for the digital age, one that signals to audiences they’re experiencing something born from human imagination, skill, and soul.
They recognize that it’s easy to say no to something, but it’s harder to work towards something better. To that end, they’ve identified resin slicers as a particularly painful point for creators and have decided to do something about it.
While FFF printer users have had plenty of free options for years, the SLA world has been far more limited. Fed up with paywalls, mandatory cloud connections, and built-in data harvesting, they’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to develop an AI-free, open source slicer for SLA printers. They’ve even pledged 100k towards a 500k goal to make the slicer real.
Ultimately the goal isn’t one site or app, but a movement. They recognize that so many of the artists who contribute designs find joy in the process of creation, not just cranking out results. They see making art not as a competition, but a way to connect to others, both as artists and beholders. In a sense, the folks at MyMiniFactory see the SoulCrafted label as being for art what Organic is for food. In an environment continually pushing for efficiency, they’re trying to create a safe place for slower, thoughtfully made sculptures with a human touch.
Creators are invited to apply for SoulCrafted certification and to help define how the initiative should grow and evolve.
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