Updating 3d Model File Is Not Working

Here is the situation: An item's production canceled due some thin wire or wall reason despite the fact exact same item produced before. OK, we all faced this unpleasant situation before - such mishaps may happen for various reasons and this is not the actual problem. The point is that the 3D model file needs to be fixed ASAP and re-uploaded as a better version. Right? Well, that is impossible! Why? Because during the last two months since Shapeways had the bright idea to change everything, it is IMPOSSIBLE to update a previously uploaded 3D model and refresh it with a better "fixed" one. Any attempt results a "new entry" item in catalog instead of updating the older one. Help and advice asked (multiple times) from Shapeways customer support via email messages and so far only received "...we are working on this issue and will be fixed soon..." answer during the last 2 months! Well, since it seems that the bug is present and no Shapeways technician took the time so far to solve the problem, please let us hear your opinions.

So, we need to UPDATE the old 3D models having thin walls / wires resulting production cancelation, with new fixed files. Unfortunatelly during the last 2 months, this cannot happen while using the edit panel. Any idea or advice untill Shapeways finally wake up and decide to deal with the (multiple times) reported bug?

Regards,
Anyuta 3D

Or upload the new model, change all the pointers to the associated model in the product page editor to the new model, and lastly delete the original model if you don’t need it hanging around.

No, this is not an option and surely it is not the correct solution for the problem. Customers already know the exact links for the items and it does not seem right to change links and cause confusion every now and then a Shapeways employee decides to cancel production for items been 3D printed 1, 2, 3, 10 or 1000 times before. The bug need to be fixed - ignoring the problem is not solution.

This solution shouldn’t change any product links the customer sees externally. You would be updating what model the original product is using by changing the pointers next to each activated material. Basically this work around is using a separate model upload instead of a direct update of the old model file.

Of course you could wait for an official fix but if you need a solution right now then that’s the only solution I can think of. I assume it would work but don’t sue me if it doesn’t.

Go to the associated PRODUCT page, mark the item as Not For Sale, and then you should be able to upload a replacement.
Then go back to the Product page and mark it as For Sale again.
Of course, the item will be subject to the new pricing, but you'd have that anyway if it was a recent upload.

@ stonysmith,

Yeah I know what you mean. Always used to follow the procedure you describe, BUT during the last weeks / months since Shapeways decided to make changes... this simply DOES NOT work!

In detail: As you see into following screenshot the item is maked as "Not For Sale" or/and "Not to Display to the public" too (as marked with the green circles). Already tried all possible combinations - no luck.

When I try to edit model by clicking the "Edit attached model" button (in the blue circle), the following screen appears and any attempt to load a new file results a "new entry" in catalog instead of refreshing the product with a new fixed file. Keep in mind that same situation happens with ALL models in shop (more than 1300 public seen items and a lot more hidden) so its not something new. This situation happens during the last couple of months since Shapeways had the 'briliant' idea to make changes on a perfectly working uploading / editing system and try an unstable one that offers new bugs and tons of problems everyday. In other words, it is impossible to edit and refresh ANY model - not just the specific one!

And yes, already tried contact with SW customer support since bug first appeared and they always answer by "...we'll fix it soon" excuse for the last... 2 months! Btw, they are silent during last 24-48 hrs - who knows maybe they closed SW and left for summer vacations.

Waiting for news, ideas, advices and who knows if I am lucky an official answer from Shapeways.

Regards,
Anyuta 3D

Hey hallo there! Anybody home? Should we expect any official answer from Shapeways or everybody left for early summer holidays in some tropical destination? Just in case you haven't noticed, there are serious troubles on SW site and bugs making shop owners & designers life difficult during last weeks. We cannot edit product items, we cannot update 3D models, we cannot operate simple tasks like we used to do. Maybe somebody should take some time and try to solve the reported problems instead of keeping silent and causing lose of income?

Please send our sincere congrats (not!) to Shapeways IT experts. Within a couple of months, they managed to convert a fully operational and easy-to-use platform with millions of happy SW users Worldwide, into a total useless and full-of-bugs chaos where almost nothing works properly and new problems arising everyday.

Looking forward for your answers (as soon as some SW employee wake up and decide to answer).

i just started seeing this yesterday. all current models (old or new pricing model) that i tried to updated were in fact creating NEW model entries and not updating existing models. customer service has been notified.

hey SW, while your at it making fixes and breaking more stuff, can you please bring back model upload history....kthx

It’s been already 5 days (going for the 6th day) since I asked for official help in order to fix a bug - a repeatedly reported bug - that does not let us shop owners to update a 3D model after production cancelation. So far, it seems that nobody from SW customer service team officialy answered (despite the fact that SW employees already read this thread - according to page showing list of all visitors and their browsing activity). May I guess that SW team is planning to keep silent until Friday (tomorrow) to have an additional excuse for not answering until next Monday?

The situation in short:

• Items been canceled (for any reason) from 3D production, cannot be edited & cannot be updated with a new fixed 3D model. Any attempt to update, results a new entry item in catalog, instead of updating the existing one. The problems stands for any canceled production item from catalog - not just one or two.
• The bug is not new! It has been repeatedly reported (via email messages) a number of times during the last two months, but since then, only "...we'll fix it..." promises received from SW employees but nobody seems able or willing to fix it - so far.

I think we are all good-willing and understanding adults here and nobody would like to argue with hard working & friendly SW employees, but you also need to understand that ignoring repeatedly reported bugs which results problems to shop owners, is not a good sign of easy going co-operation. In case you did not notice there are shop owners and designers keep reporting that can't save the edit product page, others reporting that they cannot upload their files, few others saying that checkout cart doen't work properly, a few more arguing that the new website sucks and finaly we mention (and few others also agree) that it is impossible to update a 3D model... and all these, within last week only!

When we started our SW shop 6-7 years ago, we found extremely kind and polite SW employees answering in less than 10 minutes, solving almost any problem appeared. We also found a fully operational, steady and friendly-to-use platform. The situation today is absolutely different and we literally feel lucky if no new bug appear or if we receive an answer to a problem in less than 48hrs. Maybe I am wrong, but IMHO the SW seems to face a major situation: a total bug attack or a badly designed platform - or both! The point is that since SW decided to make changes a couple of months ago, everything seems to go wrong and new bugs and problems arising every day. Unfortunatelly, SW technicians managed to convert a fully operational and easy-to-use platform into a total useless and full-of-bugs chaos. And this situation needs to be fixed fast. Not "soon" or "in few days" as SW employees usualy promise when the same bugs repeatedly reported withing last two months - it needs to be fixed "yesterday" and it needs to be fixed once and for all. Ignoring the problem is not an option and SW employees reading the threads and avoid to answer, seems not good sign too. Just my 2 cents worth opinion.

Regards,
Anyuta 3D

Yep, mentioned that to them as well. "We're working on it". I guess there's a LOT they have to fix. Having my own issue with something else right now.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for sharing your feedback on this topic. We wanted to share what the reason this issue was occurring with Anyuta3D in case anyone else was seeing this on their end. First, whenever a model is rejected from a customer order for your product, the product settings are automatically reset so you have the option to upload a new model which you can link to the product.

However, please keep in mind that when you link a new model to the product, you also need to make sure the model/material option is also visible for the product itself. You can see this on the "Pricing & Model Files" section of the product edit page as "Eye" icons:

Simply select the icon and you should see the model file is visible to the product at that point. From there, simply save changes(along with making the product visible to customers) and you should be able to sell the models again to customers.

I hope this helps!

All the best,