Now this worries and annoys me slightly. One of the main driving forces for the price change is to ensure that we each pay for our own prints rather than some models subsidising the printing of others. Yet here we have an approach that is going to again result in some models subsidising others. Let me explain.
Model A is uploaded and charged at the cheapest orientation. The designer leaves the orientation alone and orders the part. The engineer then examines the model and determines the best orientation is different to cheapest so re-orientates and prints the part.
Model B is uploaded but the designer sets the orientation to give the best printing results and orders the part. The engineer prints the model.
In the first case because it was automatically orientated for the cheapest option, Shapeways have to cover both the time for the engineer to determine the best orientation and the increase in support material (or z axis etc.). Neither of those costs are passed on to the person buying the part.
In the second case the designer has made the orientation decision saving Shapeways time and has paid for the extra support wax.
I'm likely to always fall into the second category as I now have a good idea of which way up my models should be printed to reliably get good prints, and I'm happy to pay for the extra support material necessary. What I'm not so happy about is subsidising the printing of Model A (the cost of the engineers time and the extra support material has to be paid for somehow)
Also, if I did let you choose orientation, how would I know which orientation was actually used? If the part came back with orientation issues how would I know which one to set it to if I didn't know how it was printed?
Personally I'm happy with the general idea of the price change to focus more on each person paying for their own prints, and I'm eager to have print orientation, but I think both approaches need to be consistent. In other words on upload the cheapest option should be determined as the default, and this should not be changed on a whim by the Shapeways engineer. That way we all know exactly which orientation is being used and we are all paying only for our own prints. Anything else is moving away from the focus on each person paying for their own prints and completely negates the point of this new price structure,
Mark