WoodMarvels 2009 Year in Review

Believe it or not, I started WoodMarvels a little over two years ago but wow has it changed and grown! I’m very proud at what I’ve managed to do in such a short amount of time, I use to be happy when I’d get an order once a week but now, I get them daily. Traffic is up and even better… my ability to design has shot-up dramatically though with the associated rendering slowdown as things got more involved.

So, what were some milestones that WoodMarvels has achieved over the past year?

• my goal is to design around 50 new models a year, in 2009, I managed to create 26 new designs and updated 13 of them! This excludes downsizing and up-sizing models. I also got 8 designers to add their designs to my site as well as writing 19 articles.
• I got some press in magazines such as Inc. and the Globe and Mail (a national Canadian newspaper) including being blogged about from Japan to Germany and New Zealand to North America! I counted a total of 10 that I’m aware of.
• I published WoodMarvels.com Volume I and II which are available at Amazon and digitally at my site.
• moved WoodMarvels to a much faster server which made visiting the site a much more enjoyable experience as well as numerous site upgrades.
• resolutions have increased across the board, I’m now rendering all animations at 1280 x 720 in full HD (before they were at 320 x 240) and static shots went from about 390 x 390 pixels to now, 1000 x 1000!
• primary animation streaming went from Revver to Blip and now to YouTube where I believe I’ll be staying
• got a major hardware upgrade with software following suit in the coming months

I think if there was one way to sum things up for the past year, it was upgrades… upgrading PDF files, upgrading EPS files, upgrading assembly animations to HD, upgrading hardware and upgrading software. I’m happy to have much of that behind me, it’s tedious work!

Goals for 2010

• My next goal is to render everything in full HD 3D so if you have special glasses, you can actually see the model constructed in 3D on your monitor or television, similar to what Hollywood is started to do with its movies. Although the technology has existed for years, the quality I’m looking for hasn’t made its way yet onto the desktop yet (including video streaming sites), I’m guessing in about 6-10 months, it will. I’ll probably take advantage of the situation and re-render past projects at an even higher resolution as well like 2560 x 1440. It’s funny, I got a new computer for faster rendering times and instead, up the resolution so things take even longer to render!
• I would like to hit the 1 000 000 streamed video mark, right now, I’m more than a third of the way there still hitting a consistent total monthly growth of 7% total views 🙂
• I would like to release a WoodMarvels Volume III, I’m debating doing a printed version as the digital version sells far more copies, we will see. I have a 200 page limit to contend with regarding a physical print that doesn’t exist for digital versions.
• I would like to produce an animated short, lasting 3-5 minutes of a story involving the models I created for WoodMarvels.com and improve on making a small story at the end of each assembly animation as well… the rendering time is a pain but I really enjoy doing it.
• I would like to establish partnerships with other companies
• Due to my traveling ways, I’ll be opening-up a design testers program where a person with a laser cutter can get free designs of my stuff in return for some photographs of the finished work. Digital blueprint sales are great and growing but I think there can be a lot more improvement on the physical kit side of things. Photography is one aspect of this.
• I would like to begin selling 4mm and 10mm physical kits again, consistent plywood quality is the biggest issue as to why only 6mm kits are available at WoodMarvels, I hope our suppliers find something next year to solve this ongoing issue.

I want to personally thank all of you who have helped me to make WoodMarvels.com what it is today, from the designers who trust me with their designs to the customers who buy thing. I look forward to producing even better and cooler stuff in the coming year! I would like to especially thank Ponoko which has helped me tremendously grow as a designer over the past year, they are an incredible company run by incredible people!

Upcoming product release: Mega Onager Siege Weapon!