Creative Juices Flowing During the Holidays? Show Off Your 3D Printer at Work in the colorFabb 2015 Time-Lapse Contest

What do you enjoy most during the holidays? Whether your favorite things are jingle bells jingling, holiday confections, shopping mayhem, skiing the powdery slopes, or just taking an opportunity to sleep deliciously late, one thing is for certain–this is the one time of the year where everyone thinks about relaxing just a little and having some fun before the serious goals of 2016 set in. And for us, that includes following and getting a kick out of all the winter contests and challenges, meant to amp up the excitement a little with a healthy dose of yuletide competition–and prizes.

This year, colorFabb is bringing back their Time Lapse Contest. With something like this technique, designers have nearly an infinite amount of options to show off their creativity, and delight everyone else in the process as they capture time frame by frame, layer by layer. And the colorFabb directive is simple:

“The rules are pretty basic: switch on the printer, print something cool and make a time lapse of it.”

Leaving a lot open for interpretation, those who enter colorFabb’s challenge have a multitude of options open to them in showing us the 3D printer at work. Capturing moments with such a hyper-realistic style can be absolutely mesmerizing and may involve any number of mediums, but 3D printing is perfect for translation with this technique.

The judges are looking for originality, complexity and functionality. And as colorFabb points out, there’s absolutely no need to feel any pressure, as the judges ultimately will only be…everybody! That’s right–the whole world will be invited to pick the top three videos.

You can 3D print anything you want, using any type of 3D printer and material. The only major rules are that you must be showing a 3D printer in motion, and you cannot use an old entry. Once you have completed your project, just upload it to YouTube and let colorFabb know so they can display it in their YouTube playlist. All entries that are posted on Twitter and Facebook (#colorFabbtimelapse) will be re-posted for the world to see. Note that if you are using someone else’s original design, you must give them credit. Other requirements are as follows:

• Include printer settings and slicer settings so other people can learn from your approach.
• Do not forget to acknowledge the original designer of the model you’re printing, if possible link to his work, portfolio, or website.
• State the material that you’re printing with.
• Upload the video to YouTube with the following tag: “colorfabb timelapse.”
• include “colorFabb” in the title of your YouTube video when uploading.
• The video must be uploaded between December 24^th, 2015 and January 8^th, 2016.
• The colorFabb tag must be visible in your time-lapse.

You have until January 18^th  to enter your project, after which a jury of three from colorFabb will choose ten entries. The public, however, will decide on the ultimate winner. Rewards for the best of the best will be as follows:

• First prize is a year-long supply of colorFabb filaments of choice. Every month you will receive four spools of your choice to keep on printing, resulting in a total of 48 spools–also to include the materials to be released in 2016!
• Second prize consists of two value packs with the filaments of your choice, totaling 32 spools.
• Third prize consists of one value pack with the filaments of your choice, totaling 16 spools.
• Each eligible contestant can also look forward to taking home a sample pack of colorFabb materials.

You may want to check out some of the entries from last year for inspiration, and remember to add some music for extra pizzazz. While time-lapse is fascinating in itself, the style is even more so here, showing off the whole printing process–interesting and aesthetically pleasing to all, and especially informative for novices who may be watching as well.

Multiple entries are welcome. See the videos below from last year’s winning entries (first and second place) to get an idea of what other designers came up with for success.  Have you entered this contest?  Let us know in the 3D Printer Time Lapse forum thread on 3DPB.com.