Start Painting Your Digital Easter Eggs Now to Win 3D Prints in Shapeways/Sketchfab Annual Easter Contest

Digital design and 3D printing are currently — and swiftly — revolutionizing the way individuals are able to produce multitudinous designs and prototypes, from making household items, artwork, and jewelry, to our own 3D printers — not to mention completely transforming manufacturing and making powerful impacts on many important sectors worldwide.

While it’s obvious many processes will never be same thanks to digital design and 3D printing, never before would we have envisioned all the new creations makers can produce on their own for each and every holiday.  And now, it’s time to blow the Easter Bunny’s mind — again.

Surely many of you are engaged in the year after year habit of hard-boiling many fresh, white eggs and then dipping them in dissolved dye, one after the other. Sometimes we add a few embellishments like the old crayon trick on the eggs before the dye or other traditional ‘hacks’ and ornamentation, but for the most part we’ve got an audience under ten ready to make a big mess and we keep it pretty simple and boring on an annual basis, right?

How about a fun way to get everyone — of all ages — involved in 3D design at the computer station with no muss and no fuss? We certainly approve, and if last year’s results are any indication, we can’t wait to see what happens as Shapeways and Sketchfab call on everyone again to join their annual Easter Egg 3D Design Contest, using their online, innovative tools, and also doing lots of sharing on social media to better chances of winning.

Once you’ve put the little bowls and cups of dye aside for the moment, and entered the contemporary world of digital design to paint your egg, it’s easy as Easter Sunday morning. ‘Painters’ of all age ranges and level of design experience with love for the Easter egg decoration process can enter, paint, and share, share, share.

The Sketchfab Egg Painter App is a simple tool that allows you to paint complex designs by using the mouse to paint on the egg and then right-clicking to reach other areas, as well as view the egg. The app offers you an array of brush sizes, many colors, and a variety of options.

The process is so streamlined that all you need to do is paint your egg with personalized pizazz, save your painted egg to your Sketchfab account (creating one if necessary), and then begin blasting your design out, covering as much social media ground on Facebook and Twitter as possible — with the hashtag #Easter2015. The goal is to get as many likes, comments, and shares as possible to up your chances of winning a 3D print of your Easter egg design. You can enter and post as many times as you like.

Last year’s contest was very popular with over 200 quite impressive entries from humorous political themes to delicate, lovely artistic pieces. The contest is open now, and ends on April 8^th at noon. Winners are to be announced on April 9^th. That’s a fairly short window, so everyone needs to hop on over to Shapeways and check out the incredibly fun Sketchfab Egg Painter app to start painting virtual eggs, without the tablets, dye, or mess, for the timebeing.

Are you planning on entering this contest? Share with us at in Shapeways/Sketchfab Annual 3D Design Easter Contest forum thread over at 3DPB.com. Below are some of last year’s designs.