Let’s face it: 2020 isn’t the greatest year. So let’s make our own fun with a new 3D design competition.
SelfCAD and MyMiniFactory have teamed up to host a friendly competition welcoming designs that fit a few themes: Musical Instruments, Interior Design, Holidays.
The two entities are conveniently oriented to encourage 3D design, as one offers the ability to simply and easily model in three dimensions and the other is a home to 3D models.
When we think “3D design” — especially when that 3D is translatable into 3D printing — we rarely think “easy”. More often we’re concerned with advanced concepts like DfAM (design for additive manufacturing), a discipline requiring skill and thorough understanding of the entire additive manufacturing workflow. Maybe not the skill set of a home 3D printing hobbyist or a newbie to the space. But that’s where easy-to-learn software comes in, and we’ve put SelfCAD to that test: it actually is that easy to use.
For its part, MyMiniFactory is home to more than 100,000 3D designs, available both free of chage and with snazzy designs for purchase. And they know what they’re doing: the designs at MMF are guaranteed 3D printable, and also fall into handy categories such as support-free and customizable. They also know what they’re doing when it comes to competitions, having now hosted 153 of them — with a total of 12,976 entries and a whopping $112,434 in prizes having already been awarded.
So now that we know the 3D modeling can be easy and the competition well-run, let’s check out this competition. SelfCAD explains:
“Hey 3D design community! SelfCAD here, we wanted to liven things up during your quarantine with a 3D design competition that gives you the chance to test out our software completely free AND potentially win a brand new 3D printer to bring all your hobbyist needs to life!
This competition has three themes so you can choose any one! Are you an architect? Go for interiors! A prototype designer? Try something musical! Love to design for fun? Help us gear up for the upcoming holidays! SelfCAD cloud-based mesh modeler is intuitive meaning even if you’ve never used it before, it’s got a simple learning curve and an arsenal of technical modeling tools at your fingertips.
SelfCAD offers you the space to render and model professional designs at any stage of learning. Hobbyists trying for the basics or professionals who want to tweak an STL without technical hoops and overly complicated softwares. There’s even a host of editing tools that work directly on the mesh – so rather than hours, mesh operations take only seconds! Pro Tip: Try out our ‘Magic Fix’ tool while you’re 3D designing, to prep your object for 3D printability as you model — no slicing software needed to export your model either!
By entering into this competition, you’ll even receive a FREE two month licence to SelfCAD’s premium software so you can enjoy all-in-one 3D modeling from any computer.”
To submit designs, all you have to do is log in at SelfCAD and export directly to MyMiniFactory. Boom, simple.
And the prizes? Pretty nice — we’re talking “new 3D printer” nice. First place will win a Cetus Mk3 Standard 3D printer (FFF), while second place takes home a Longer Orange 30 3D printer (SLA):
Stuck for inspiration? SelfCAD points to some videos “by an educator stuck at home in quarantine, this video playlist really gets into the basics of 3D modeling and SelfCAD’s easy to use software.” The playlist starts here:
Entries are already rolling in, so go on, make your own fun this quarantine, and maybe take home a 3D printer for your efforts. The contest is open through August 28.
Via MyMiniFactory
