Our VP of Engineering Josh Levine shares what’s in store for Shapeways this weekend and moving forward:
Last month, we announced that we have taken on a seemingly impossible task: to rebuild the architecture of Shapeways.com. Over the past few months, all of us at Shapeways have contributed to this massive undertaking and through hard work, determination, and a lot of listening to our customers, the time has come to reveal the fruits of our labor!
Notice the little man standing next to this massive 200 ton stone in the
temple Baalbek. This stone is a metaphor for ~60% of our current
software architecture. Most of what you’d like us to build involves moving
the “little” stones (several tons each!) laid neatly beneath the 200
ton monster.
Tonight we are rolling out a major milestone for Shapeways – internally this project is called Inshape 2.0. Tonight, we’re moving the 200 ton monster.
Inshape 2.0 completely replaces our back-end systems for Order Placement and Order Fulfillment systems with up-to-date, state-of-the-art technology and processes. In the past, we have had to hold off on so many great ideas from the community – 99% of that is washed away with this release. We anticipate faster turnaround times on orders, and on improvements to our systems.
You may not notice at first, but we’ve done our best to extend goodness to you guys right away.
Store Credit
With Store Credit, we take care of all your coupon codes and pack them
neatly into an available balance on your account so you do not have to
rummage through your email to find codes. This will surely improve your experience, especially for folks
who have purchased or received Shapeways Gift Cards.
Faster Model Processing
All uploads will be processed faster and the feedback you will get as a
designer will include more appropriate and helpful content so you can
get your designs ready to print. We haven’t lifted any of the size
limits just yet as we break in our new systems, but we are quickly
moving towards many upload experience improvements that were not
possible with our previous infrastructure.
Improved Order Tracking and Visibility
We have taken an audit of every email our system sends during the Order
Placement and Fulfillment process and improved them all. We are hoping
that you find your new order updates and sales updates informative and
timely, and we welcome any and all feedback on how to provide a higher
level of service, especially when models cannot be printed and get
rejected.
A Personal Note from Christian Arca, Senior Product Manager at Shapeways
There are moments in life when you feel proud about the work you have
accomplished. To say that every one of us who have worked on Inshape 2.0
are proud of the work we’ve done would be an understatement. Without
exaggerating even a little bit, it’s safe to say that with Inshape 2.0
we’re making history. This milestone is not just store credit, faster
model processing, or improved order tracking and visibility. It’s a
promise to you, our customers, community, colleagues, and friends and
family that we will continuously work to make Shapeways the best service
we possibly can. Inshape 2.0 has revealed how every one of our
departments interacts with each other and ultimately ends with a better
experience for you. We love you and what you have helped us to become.
Goodluck guys!
Go Shapeways, Go!
Yahoo! (oh, damn, can’t say that anymore – it’s trademarked!). Anyway, great news…. All tested I hope 😉
Well I don’t know…
I uploaded a model at about 6:30 on Sunday, Aug. 19. It’s now about 7:30 and after an hour I have not received an e-mail nor has the model shown up in “My Models”. Maybe I’m an anomaly?
TT
@TT – Thanks for the head’s up! We’ll look into it ASAP. So sorry for the inconvenience!
Always feel free to email us at service@shapeways.com if you have any issues.
Got the same issue. Model not showing up in “My Models”, though I did get email.
@Bo – Thanks for the note — all feedback is welcome. You should be able to upload right now, and we’re addressing My Models as we speak. Thanks again for your patience!
Me three 🙂 I uploaded two models (one during afternoon PST, the other, night PST (9:30PM)) – no emails at all re. processing/availability, plus, like for the others, the models aren’t showing up under ‘My Models’. Was starting to get worried.
Shapeways is a *great* idea/site/service, looking fwd to the 2.0 version!
Cheers,
Saty [http://www.shapeways.com/shops/satysfactory]
Hi! This has been fixed, it should be fine to order now!
Hi everyone, we wanted to share a quick update after the epic release of our new back-end systems.
First, thank you for your patience with us! We’ve done an incredible amount of testing, but some bugs are inevitable when rewriting a full system. We are currently attacking issues with the full force of our brilliant development team — prioritizing the things that matter the most to you!
Namely, we’re making sure that key website functionality (uploading, ordering etc) and 3D printing are running smoothly. As always, if you see anything or have any issues, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Things are improving by the minute, and you should have a seamless experience very soon!
Thank you from the whole team!
Fyi, payment still appears to be down:
Clicking the NExt: Payment button on
http://www.shapeways.com/checkout/confirm
goes to
http://www.shapeways.com/checkout/payment?paymentMethod=2
which is a blank page.
8-20, 11:28am CST
I trust this will be fixed soon.
Congratulations on the updates !
Knut
Hi Knut!
It should re-direct you to paypal at that stage of payment.
Can you confirm which browser you are using so I can investigate further? It works for me on chrome.
This is still happening, both on OSX / Mountain Lion / Safari and Windows Vista / Firefox.
Regards,
Knut
Hi Knut,
Checkout is a key component of the site and we have tested it a lot to make sure it is working correctly.
We have seen many orders go through, so it might be that it is something related to your user account specifically.
Can you tell me what your username is please? Then I can solve the mystery! Feel free to email me directly at natalia@shapeways.com.
Hello Natalia,
I sent you an email with my account name. Thank you for following up !
Knut
Can we reinstate the option of paying in either USD or Euros as it was previously, especially when products are sent to countries outside these currencies
thanks
Models often not appearing in “My Models” after upload, and when they do, they default to an incorrect size – looks like inches instead of millimeters.