All models uploaded through the Sketchfab website will initially be in Draft Mode, making them invisible to other users. While in Draft Mode, you can edit and re-upload as usual.
You can upload unlimited Draft models. They do not count against your view-only credits until you publish them.
If you do not publish your 3D model after 30 days in Draft Mode, it will be automatically deleted. You can check the date that your Draft models will be deleted from the Uploads tab of your account page.
When you’re satisfied with how your model looks in Draft Mode, you can Save & Publish from a number of locations, including the model page, 3D Settings, your profile's Uploads tab, or the dropdown menu on the model card in your profile's Models page.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Once published, a model cannot be unpublished or go back to Draft Mode.
- Re-uploading doesn’t change the draft state (published stays published, draft stays draft).
- By default, models uploaded via the API are published automatically.
- Publishing a model will alert your followers and make the model appear at the top of the newsfeed and other lists of recent models.
- Draft models cannot be embedded, viewed in VR Mode, viewed in the mobile app, downloaded, shared, or seen by anyone except the author.
- Don't confuse draft models with private models; setting a private model to public will not alert your followers or send it back to the top of the newsfeed.
Comments
5 comments
"If you do not publish your 3D model after 30 days in Draft Mode, it will be automatically deleted."
Despite this post being marked as 4 years old, this is a new rule (15 Dec 2020). And may I say, it is a very mean spirited rule. The previous policy in this regard boasted that you could upload as many draft models as you wished!
I often upload a model and do time consuming work on it and then await the time when I can publish it. I have a number of models lined up in draft mode that I spent quite a bit of time working on. I was awaiting publishing credits to publish them. Now due to this new rule they will be deleted in roughly 3 weeks from now; before I can publish any of them via the one credit per month free option.
My models are all non-commercial and focused on cultural heritage. They are meant to foster an appreciation of cultural heritage. As an individual doing this voluntarily, I can't afford to be paying monthly fees to keep my models online as a Governmental Heritage Department or Museum could. I also don't want to allow my models to be downloaded freely so that others can take advantage and download them, minimally "tweak" them, and then re-upload them and sell them as their own work on your platform - as I have seen happen here often. I guess a big company like Sketchfab, despite its frequent use of the word "Community" can not appreciate or understand the true meaning of words like "community" or "culture", nor that some forms of culture can not be harnessed for profit! Some things are not part of the commercial world, and they are usually the most important things!
This new rule is just the latest of a cycle of ever decreasing functionality for free users. Typical of a company that has cornered the market and now feels free to do what it likes and chooses to degrade the functionality of free users to focus ever more on pure profit making by attempting to push everyone to subscribe monthly! it is very disappointing and unsatisfactory!
Τhere are models that require a lot of work and testing before publication. An amateur may not have the time to complete a model within a month. it is a pity to lose all the settings and restart from scratch. it's not fun and will probably affect negatively the quality of the model as well. perhaps it would be better to have a limit on the number of draft models rather than on time . So one could complete the model without stress and be happy to contribute to this wonderful community.
Hi sakis259106 - Thanks for the feedback! We thought about this exact issue a lot when deciding to make it 30 days (instead of, say, 90 days). I believe the data support the decision: 99.1% of models published in the past six months were published within 30 days of uploading. In fact, 92.6% were published the same day they were uploaded. So, I suspect in the case of drafts older than 30 days, the author probably has no intention of publishing them, or already uploaded and published a different version.
Τhe data is ruthless.
Τhanks for the clarification.
Data can't clarify people's intent! Considering your statistics it appears that I must be in that 0.9% of people who had models sitting for more than 30 days and yet had every intent of publishing them - once the one model per-month allowed me to do so. I find it unconvincing that I am in such a tiny minority considering that with a free account you can only post one model per-month anyway. As I stated in the first comment that you chose not to reply to, I "had" a number of models completed and processed awaiting a time when I could publish them (with every intent of publishing them) when the 30 day - one model allowance of a free account allowed me to do so. I find it hard to believe that I am so outside the norm in that regard.
A limit on the number of drafts, even a low number, coupled with a longer period before deletion would have considerably reduced the amount of dormant draft models and the associated cost to you for storage. It would have kept a lot more users happy, I suspect!
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