Suggestions for improving the Cad Crowd community

I agree with handsketcher the buyer and the designers shouldn't be communicating at all unless the buyer has hired the designer. At the end of the contest, the buyer should select the design that best represents their idea period. What you have now is 30 or 40 designers rounding around like chickens with their heads cut off, because the buyer telling each designer to make changes, after changes, after changes to their designs and when guys/girls don't win they get pissed. 

I agree too ,

Cadcrowd has to put a system (each change and paying) example 20 or 40 $ if you ask a designer to change in his creation ... and like that it is winner/winner

I'm fed up, change, change changes but the winner is known in advance including by myself

Hi everyone 

#1 (hidden contest)
for me if the administration could not make "blind contest"  by default 
the only solution is to show the winner design after the contest "adding a winners interface in the website " for that will be great
if there is any copying from other designs , we have the right to claim the design, if it's approuved from administration a 35 % of the price will go to the first designer .

#2(is there any probleme with my country)
sometimes i think that when buyers see that i'm from morocco , they just don't feel having a winner from this country 
why i'm saying that ,because,sometimes i send a lot of designs , and no rating or comments to improve or declain my design (it's like pouring water in the sand) 
i'll send  pict asap  of plastic parts and  molds that have been manufactured, if that's helping earn buyers trust

Have a good day 

Hi,
Good idea Nabil,
I agree Yes the winners must show their inspirations too!
But from there to send molds !! Wow it's huge for me anyway you'll win every time with these prices you would almost have no competitors;)
good for you ! Go on man.

regards

REDA

Hi Lucian,

Good to hear that you are considering to make all contests "Blind" by default. As mentioned earlier by Nabil, you can unmask it after selecting winner. And may add a time period for disputes. 

Same as CadGeek mentioned here, that is one of the biggest issue. Some buyers requesting changes from everyone for each and every submission. But at the end they select someone else. Since we have two alternative ways to communicate which is in the "main contest clarification forum" and directly under "designer entry", I don't see any communication disruption here. I'm asking to stop transferring attachment files back and forth using e-mail.

I'm not against minor changes. Then it should be requested to those potential winners only. And others may get feedback with star rates or some comments. So that it doesn't waste everyone's time.

Hey everyone,

We are listening all of your suggestions and we will brainstorm some of them with our team (and with our programmer), to see which are feasible or not.

But we can't make this from a day to another, so it will take some time.

Lucian

Hi everyone,

Due to designer concerns about plagiarism by other users, any prepaid contests are set to "Blind" status by default.

Note that we delete design submissions that don't show visible designs (includes blurring/image distortion). This prevents buyer project fraud (ie. buyer makes fake account and then awards prize money to the fake account to avoid fees).

If a contest is "blind" just the buyer can see the designs/screenshots, so there is no need to worry about the confidentiality or plagiarism. Even if the buyer will make the contest "non-blind", you need to submit a visible design. 

So.. all the designs needs to be visible!

If you violate this rule for maximum 3 times, your account may be suspended for a limited period of time.
Thanks,

Lucian

Are there any plans to give the designers full control over "OUR" designs and profiles? Just because we upload a design to a contest shouldn't make it automatical Cadcrowds. Why can we delete our entries or profiles if we want to? 

Hi Jason,

I don't think that will be possible to delete entries, due to IP/Intellectual Property. We need to discuss about this with our attorney, in the next coming weeks.

As for deleting profiles, they can't be deleted (technically), because of the past entries (and winning contests), that are strictly connected with that.

But on request, we can made the accounts inactive, which is almost the same thing, the profile will not be visiible anymore. 

Thanks,
Lucian

Hi Lucian,
What do you think of the idea of making  Cadcrowd special Rates  "like a vito" in each contest you made a choice one or two! design  it does not bind to the final choice ...??

I would like to see a list of invited projects that are running - does not need to go into detail but just give idea of type of project and value.

If a designer is not at a level to be invited, what gives him the incentive to work towards that goal. The contests are great, but understandably attract a vast variation in talent. To engage professional designers and really get the platform buzzing they need to know that there is more than just a few low paid contests to aim for.

There needs to be more interaction in the forums both from designers and Cad Crowd.

Not sure if this has been suggested before, but why not run some competitions to assess designer skills - no prize value, but points for ranking. Start with simple challenges such as show image of a machined part and ask for it to be designed for manufacture as a plastic moulding etc etc.

Adam wrote:Adding script to the website that allows the buiyer to view uploaded files in 3d would be great.

I get a lot of buyers asking for links to freeware that can open STEP or IGES files.

If the buyer had a choice to view the model in 3d right on this website, they would be happy campers.

I save a 3D PDF if someone wants to view a model and do not have CAD - it can be opened with a standard Acrobat Reader.

This option has been in CREO for a while but not sure about the other packages out there.

DesignAssist wrote:

Adam wrote:Adding script to the website that allows the buiyer to view uploaded files in 3d would be great.

I get a lot of buyers asking for links to freeware that can open STEP or IGES files.

If the buyer had a choice to view the model in 3d right on this website, they would be happy campers.

I save a 3D PDF if someone wants to view a model and do not have CAD - it can be opened with a standard Acrobat Reader.

This option has been in CREO for a while but not sure about the other packages out there.

But having said that I am not Sure CAD Crowd allow PDF?

DesignAssist wrote:I would like to see a list of invited projects that are running - does not need to go into detail but just give idea of type of project and value.

Unfortunately this isn't possible. Most of the buyers don't want to see their profiles or nicknames associated with a project, I'm referring at "Invite-only" projects. That's why they are visible just for the buyer and for the invited designers.

However, you can see the number of "Invite-Only" projects a designer has worked on, from his profile.

But having said that I am not Sure CAD Crowd allow PDF?

f course that a PDF is allowed. Any type of file, if the buyer asks for that.

DesignAssist wrote:Not sure if this has been suggested before, but why not run some competitions to assess designer skills - no prize value, but points for ranking. Start with simple challenges such as show image of a machined part and ask for it to be designed for manufacture as a plastic moulding etc etc.

That's a good suggestion. I don't know if can be implemented, but I will talk with my colleagues about that.

Hi Lucian

PDF cannot be used in portfolio as I tried to upload some drawing examples and then had to change them to jpeg.

I understand about confidentiality on invite projects but would it not just be possible to indicate how many are running at any one time? 

It would also be useful to know how invites are given out - who chooses the customer or cad crowd?

DesignAssist wrote:PDF cannot be used in portfolio as I tried to upload some drawing examples and then had to change them to jpeg.

So you are referring at portfolio, not at entries. You're right then. We don't allow other formats because of spamming & scamming. We had issues in the past where some users submitted suspicious and infected files.

DesignAssist wrote:It would also be useful to know how invites are given out - who chooses the customer or cad crowd?

For "Invite-only" projects, the buyer choose whom to invite to the project, usually based on portfolio, skills, etc.  Also, most of the buyers who posted a public contest, they invite the winners to new projects (Invite-only). Hope it makes sense.

All clear now Thanks..