API Update: Introducing our new testing platform

Posted By Felix Nadin on Mar 1, 2016 | 0 comments

Did you know that Sculpteo provides more than 15 different APIs to easily integrate 3D Printing in your business? We have revamped our API documentation and are offering you a brand new test platform with many examples. You have never been closer to starting your own 3D printing business.

What exactly are we talking about?

You may not be familiar with our API solutions that allow you to integrate our services directly through your own website, not only can it add to your current offerings but it can also boost your business. If you don’t feel confident with the concept of APIs or if you think “only a developer can understand that kind of stuff”, we’d like to say, think again. It is easier than it sounds, thanks to our brand new API testing platform. Let’s take a look at it!

API, Another Powerful Idea

To begin, we’d like to introduce you to our Cloud Engine; the idea behind our cloud engine is to allow you with the opportunity to integrate each feature of Sculpteo’s website onto your website. Those who choose to integrate our APIs come from vastly different parts of the 3D printing eco-system, for example: Designers, Businesses, Marketplaces or 3D printing user groups. There’s more than one way, or reason, to utilize our API functionality.

Let’s say that you’ve invented a 3D scanning or 3D modeling app, and you’d like all the designs you created to be directly uploaded on your Sculpteo’s account. We have an API for that; use our “Upload API” it has two different modes, namely the direct upload and the web to web upload.
If you’ve created your own marketplace and you’d like to integrate galleries and 3D previews of the designs in your library, we have an API for that, our “Display APIs” were created for this purpose.
Yet another example is if you’re selling 3D-printed models and you wish you could automatically receive the price of a design. Use our “Get Price API” that estimates the cost of a design printed in one specific material.
If you are an entrepreneur that needs 3D-printed parts in your production process and you’d like to have the parts produced automatically each time a customer makes an order? No problem, there is the “Order API” for that.
Let’s say you’re lazy, and you’d like to have an API that displays both the design, its price and that also allows the user to chose the material and order the piece. Well, guess what: there is also an API for that as well!

What’s new then?

Now that you see what our APIs can do, we’re sure that you want to integrate our APIs into your website, but you’re probably wondering how. Many of you may be trying to use our sacred API documentation right now, and some of you might be a bit confused; and while there are pictures in the API documentation, probably prefer to see the API working right away as fast as possible.

Well you’re not dreaming, because starting today it’s possible to copy the programming code you need and then watch your API get to work. This is all made possible thanks to our new online test platform! No need to be an expert programer, you can copy-paste the code displayed on the test platform into your own html page code. This is the same idea with request to servers for Upload or Order APIs except that you also need to contact us in order to set up your account as Design provider (Upload API) or Partner (Order API).
And the best part is, it’s all free! All you have to do is to visit our page and proceed to all the test you want!

The testing platform is not only a tool to make your integration easier but it’s a real representation of what the API really makes. As you can see for each API, a certain number of fields are displayed: they correspond to the input of the API, the data with which the API needs to work. Some of them have a red star to indicate that they’re necessary, the others may be let empty and a default value will be used as explained in the API documentation. If you don’t inform the material, the white plastic will automatically be chosen.

Once you’ve filled the fields, you can launch the simulation that will use our API to display the result. Depending on the API you’re testing, several responses may be displayed. The Upload, Get Price and Order APIs for example, will display on the “Response tab” the answer you get once your design has been uploaded. You can easily use this response to get the data (the uuid typically) you need. On the “Request tab” you’ll find the request you required to get this response. The Display APIs simply display the iframe as it would appear on your website and the iframe code just above which you can simply copy/paste to obtain the same result.

Let’s boost your business right now

Now you know in practice how you can test and integrate our APIs, let me give you a few last arguments to convince you definitively.

By coupling a display API with our affiliation program you’ll earn 5% of sales on our website coming from your website.

By becoming our partner and using our Order API, you’ll be able to generate your own customized packing slip to ship the parcels directly to the customer reducing the shipping costs. You’ll also save time because order will be automatically made and as far as you generate a high-volume of sales, you can save money up to 20% of sales price.

Whether your idea is, we’ll always find a dedicated solution together as Sculpteo already did for many other 3D-printing users like you. Each problem has its solution and the whole Sculpteo’s team is ready to find it and to make your project become real as fast and easily as it can be. So don’t worry, be API!