I have hand sculpted an art piece that I have had digitally scanned would like to have printed for replication. Unfortunately, shapeways has decided my work is "explicit" and will not print my sculptures. I am extremely disappointed. I think this company is providing a wonderful service, and I'm surprised that a community that so strongly values creativity and ingenuity would refuse to print my work. I hope other makers and artists find shapeways to be more supportive than I have.
The government of the Netherlands has rather restrictive laws that Shapeways is bound to. Don't blame them for following the law.
Explicit? The Netherlands? In Europe? What law is that? Quick, need to visit museums before they damage all the Greek or Renaissance works. Not long ago, just over the frontier, some explicit things were printed... and put in expos all over Europe, including NL, motherland of the creator (those that have followed 3d have enough clues to figure which sculptures). About weapons, probably as guns are very controlled, but about other things it sounds like self restriction. Please, no blaming the law if the law is not involved.
Silly me -- here I thought nobody was printing porn because you were all sissies! Welp, if Shapeways doesn't want this market, there's money lying on the ground here for the next entrepreneur to pick up.
The last time this came up, I got some insight into how deciding explicitness works. There are manufactures that will print what ever you send them, and even feature some unsettling stuff on their site. Shapeways has partners for a lot of their printing. If the object makes the partner uncomfortable, they won't print it. A little nudity isn't the problem usually. I don't know what your object is, but in order for it to be deemed explicit, it had to make someone uncomfortable with printing it.
To clarify, subjectivity rules what someone deems acceptable or explicit. Shapeways has a varied audience, from kids to adults and we have to draw a line somewhere. As such, we have written our content policy keeping in mind our audience and our role as a 3D printing community and marketplace, not just a printing service. We can't be everything to everyone. What is stated in our content policy : We ask that content which could be interpreted by others as inappropriate for a general audience would be kept 'private'. In case of doubt, choose to keep your model "private". Some examples of content that is prohibited and will be removed (private or public): Content that contains nudity that is not artistic in nature; Content that exploits images or the likeness of minors More information can be found here: https://www.shapeways.com/legal/content_policy
Shop around, Shapeways isn't the only store on this block. Look at competitive service, i.competitive service, ponoko, kraftwurx, and so on. There's lots of other providers if Shapeways refuses your money.