Polish Up Your Spaceship Design Skills for a New 3D Design Challenge from CGTrader and MakePrintable

A few months ago, CGTrader hit a major milestone when it officially became the largest 3D model marketplace in the world. An impressive feat indeed, considering how many online 3D marketplaces are out there, but CGTrader has always been a favorite for many reasons. One of those reasons is the contests they offer. Most 3D printing platforms and marketplaces offer design challenges from time to time, and it’s always a delight to see the creativity they bring out of their users. CGTrader in particular likes to encourage their users to explore areas of 3D printing that they may not have explored before, such as in their 3D printed fashion challenge at the beginning of the year.

It’s been a while since they’ve presented a new challenge, but CGTrader is now back with a new one, co-sponsored by MakePrintable. It’s a good challenge for the summer blockbuster season – 3D printable sci-fi spaceships! Like CGTrader’s other competitions, this one challenges participants to stretch a bit out of their comfort zone, as a spaceship requires a lot of  meticulous craft and detail. It’s also a great opportunity, however, to check out MakePrintable’s automated file repair service.

“We’ve all relish having sci-fi ships around our workspaces, and they are an enticing and challenging model for 3D artists to put their skills to the test,” Michael Makdah, Marketing Manger for MakePrintable, told 3DPrint.com. “3D printing them is challenging since they will have many thin areas that will require thickening before Printing. MakePrintable is a great solution to prepare sci-fi ships or models similar ships since its pretty much all automated and handles wall thickness adjustments, nonmanifold’s, boundary edges, overlapping, and water tightness in a very simple online platform.”

The contest is running from now until October 10, so you’ll have some time to really perfect your design – or designs, as there’s no limit to the number of entries you can submit. Entries must be fully original – no creative variations of the Enterprise, however fun that may be. When uploading your entry, make sure to check the “Sci-Fi Ships Challenge” box, and don’t upload it to the gallery; all entries must be prepared and uploaded using MakePrintable.

Thanks to challenge partners FormFutura and New Matter, some attractive prizes are on offer: the grand prize winner will receive a MOD-t 3D printer from New Matter, while the first runner up will get two spools of filament from FormFutura in MetalFil Ancient Bronze and MetalFil Classic Copper. The second runner-up will receive a 3D print of his or her own ship from MakePrintable.

Entries will be judged on model and design quality, clear and attractive presentation, and uniqueness and innovation. If you want to include a rendering of your design, that’s optional, but it will be taken into consideration by the judges.

“From our point of view, we haven’t had a 3D Printing challenge in a while, and the opportunity to have one with MakePrintable was both unexpected and an attractive one,” CGTrader’s Marketing Project Manager Eduardas Jucys told us. “Making Sci-fi ships is probably not the most common practice in 3D printing, so it’s intriguing to see what kind of work our designers can come up with!

“Because of MakePrintable’s convenience, our 3D designers can also compete in this challenge, as well as make their own designs in both 3D and 3D printing formats. It’s a great way for them to expand their portfolio, too! MakePrintable supports over 20 formats, including 3ds Max(.3ds) or Lightwave (.lwo) which are often used in our community, so most of our 3D designers shouldn’t have a problem of uploading the design to MakePrintable’s platform for a quick ‘repair.'”

Contests like this one often build lasting partnerships between companies; this isn’t the first collaboration between CGTrader and FormFutura, which recently sponsored CGTrader’s Kitchen and Dining Accessories Challenge. It’s the first time they’ve worked with MakePrintable, but both companies agree that it probably won’t be the last.

“3D design and 3D printing are now married. Creating a new stream of skills for artists to bring virtual models, into becoming physical objects. We couldn’t resist this opportunity to reach out to a great community of 3D artists and invite them to explore our 3D printing mesh repair solution,” Makdah told us. “CGTrader’s online community has a great network of talent that work collaboratively to improve 3D design through tutorials, discussion, and challenges. ‘It’s like one mega 3D design cerebrum.’…MakePrintable plans to have more challenges with CGTrader and other communities to excite 3D artists to learn about 3D printing.”

What are your thoughts on the scope of this challenge? Discuss further in the CGTrader/MakePrintable 3D Design Challenge forum over at 3DPB.com.