It can matter in 2 ways. Both have to do with the bounding box (the length width and height shapeways gives you for your item). WSF has a density discount so the smaller you can get your bounding box to be the cheaper your item could be (look at the WSF description for more details on the density discount). And 2 is the maximum size for materials. The software doesn't think "oh this would fit if I rotate the model 90 degrees" it says max length is x and you model is too long. So a little rotating can save you money and mean the difference between printable and not printable.
I don't understand. The bounding box is the same no matter what direction in faces. If it's right side up or turned on it's side the bounding box would be the same size.
The area would be the same (if you only rotate in multiples of 90 such as y up z up exc.), but for example, say your object is laying on its side giving it a width of 40cm. WSF has a max bounding box of 70x38x58 so it wouldn't be available in WSF as it exceeds the 38 for the width. But if you stand the model upright it will now have a height of 40 which is under the max height of 58. Any clearer?
Yeah my object is pretty small, about 3x3x1 inches 1" being the height. So All I needed to know was what I asked, if Y or Z up is required.
I haven't tested that, but if that is how it works it should really be changed. At print time, the model packing algorithm automatically rotates the model in increments of 90 degrees to find the best fit, which is why we can't define print orientation. So, testing each axis would not make sense.
Thank you, at least it looks like Z-up is required for the preview render so I'll have to remember to rotate all of my models before uploading them.
Ah if your talking about just the render, yes Z up is required. Aeron- I believe I had this issue in the past, I may be mistaken. Well not really an issue, just an item I was testing, and it was too big to print so had to make it fit. I'll have to run a test. Ran a test, it appears I was wrong about orientation making an object unprintable, but for some reason the one that I was expecting to not be available in wsf is cheaper. 40 wide 10 long 10 high (11 cents cheaper) https://www.shapeways.com/model/360513/wsf_test.html?gid=ug 10 wide 10 long 40 high https://www.shapeways.com/model/360515/wsf_test2.html?gid=ug 10 wide 40 long 10 high https://www.shapeways.com/model/360516/wsf_test3.html?gid=ug