ZW3D Design Challenge – Holiday Edition

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Design Christmas gifts for your friends and family with ZW3D.

Christmas is just around the corner! The standard tradition is to share gifts – but share designs? That’s the idea behind this Design Challenge. ZW3D wants you to come up with the ideal Christmas Gift. Don’t just make a model of Santa Claus – think of something unique and original. A mechanical Reindeer? A Christmas Tree Star made completely of gears? And for all of your ideas, you will receive a 3DConnexion Mouse and a little prize money to buy those real gifts. Or perhaps get your design 3D printed instead?

Prizes will be judged on a variety of criteria, including quality (of course) but also creativity, popularity and ease of manufacturing.

ZW3D CAD/CAM can be downloaded for a free 30-day trial at http://www.zwsoft.com/en/products/zw3d.html

Please check out also the video http://youtu.be/7WcK0Wwbp74

Rules

The design software is ZW3D.
Participant should submit both .z3 and jpg files of the finished design.
The competition is open to everyone.
One engineer can submit several entries, but no more than one will win a prize.
The design must be original. Any plagiarism will be disqualified.
The contest sponsor has the right to promote the winning entries.
Only entries uploaded to GrabCAD library will participate in the competition.
Tag your model with “christmasgift”. Only entries with valid tag will participate!
Winners will be announced within 1 month after the end of competition but not before two weeks on this Challenge site.
Free 3D printing from Ponoko is up to $150.

Prizes

1st Prize: $700 + 3D print + 3Dconnexion SpacePilot Pro 3D Mouse
2nd Prize: $500 + 3D print + 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse Pro 3D Mouse
3rd Prize: $200 + 3D print + 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse
The Most Creative Design: $100 + 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse
The Most Popular Design chosen by number of likes by GrabCAD community: $100 + 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse
The Most Pragmatic Design: $100 + 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse

About the jury?

The winners will be chosen by both ZW3D and GrabCAD based on the quality of the models

About The Sponsors

ZWSOFT is a world-reowned CAD/CAM solutions provider for the AEC and MCAD industries, with over 320,000 clients in 80 countries. ZWSOFT's products, ZWCAD and ZW3D, have satisfied the needs of 2D and 3D designers for over a decade. For more info, please refer to www.zwsoft.com

Ponoko is an online service for manufacturing. People can distribute, download and customize and manufacture product designs by using its making system.

3Dconnexion offers the ultimate selection of 3D mice for navigation and motion control in CAD applications, compatible with more than 100 software programs.

49 comments

Fateh MERRAD 7 months ago

Wow Great competition ! :))

Fateh MERRAD has uploaded 76 CAD models & has left 619 comments.
luis amaya 7 months ago

Agreed, kind of kool

luis amaya has uploaded 180 CAD models & has left 1897 comments.
khorbh 7 months ago

nice prizes . . . 3D mice ! . . . interesting . . .

khorbh has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
John B 7 months ago

quick question, if this has to do somewhat with 3d printing, wouldn't it be a good idea to include a .stl file?

John B has uploaded 25 CAD models & has left 328 comments.
Barbarian 7 months ago

how are people supposed to design with a software they have never used before?

Barbarian has uploaded 74 CAD models & has left 328 comments.
Primož 7 months ago

i have some questions:
-what are maximum and minimum dimensions that can be made on 3D printer?
- what kind of material?
-is it transparent (see-through) or colored material?
-can it be assembly with electric components (LED lights, speakers,itd) or just 3D printed part?

Primož has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 7 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hello John B! Thanks for your question. Participants can submit the .stl file to the 3D printing service provider when they win the first, second or third prize. And while doing 3D printing, there will be some details to be confirmed between the provider and winners. So they don't need to do it at this moment.

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hello lekaimadh! Thanks for your question. ZW3D is an easy-to-use 3D CAD software. It has built-in Show-n-Tell tutorials to shorten users' learning time. And you can find other tutorial videos, tips & tricks on the official website: http://www.zwsoft.com/Service_Support/ser_zw3d/

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hello reza allahyari. Have you ever installed ZW3D on your computer?

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hello reza allahyari. If you installed the trial version before and you didn't purchase a licence within 30 days, it would show this message. But don't worry about that. I'll apply a licence for you so that you can use for another month. And for those who have encountered this problem, please leave a comment here. I'll try to help you solve it.

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
reza 7 months ago

thanks ben

reza has uploaded 90 CAD models & has left 1064 comments.
Steve Desrosiers 7 months ago

Wow!,.. nice challenge

Steve Desrosiers has uploaded 35 CAD models & has left 68 comments.
Eddwin rodriguez 7 months ago

Yeah! I´m gonna give a try ..

Eddwin rodriguez has uploaded 32 CAD models & has left 128 comments.
Dan 7 months ago

@Primož
The materials available will be anything in the Ponoko catalog - http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/materials/ponoko-united-states?kind=3D+Printed&mode=materials

Maximum and minimum sizes differ for each material so you'll need to look at each material page for that info.

The maximum value for the printed part is $150 so you may want to limit your design to fit within a ~100mm cube.

Any assembly with electronics would need to be done by you.

Dan has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
Dave ten Have 7 months ago

Every entry will also get a $10 Ponoko voucher for future 3D printing work.

Dave ten Have has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
emre 7 months ago

I could not manage to open this software on Win8. Would you help about the situation?

emre has uploaded 3 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
Ajay Agrawal 7 months ago

7SL8-9892-UMA3-AZGY-8989-89S8 key is not working for me..!

Ajay Agrawal has uploaded 15 CAD models & has left 58 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hello Ajay Agrawal!
Please send me a message and describe the problem in details. Thanks.

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hello emre! Regarding your problem, please follow these steps:
1) Right click the short-cut of ZW3D
2) Choose Properties
3) Set it to Windows7 compatiblity.

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Ben Hong 7 months ago

Hi, everybody. If you encountered the problem that files can't be saved or can't activate the software, please send a message to me.

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
consp 7 months ago

i'm in ;)

consp has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
renyanpeng 6 months ago

try.

renyanpeng has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
Tobias Mattsson 6 months ago

Just noticed after installing the software that i cant run it, i tihnk its because i used a 30 day trial at the last challenge ZW3D had also.. If this cant be fixed i cant join the challenge sadly.

Tobias Mattsson has uploaded 74 CAD models & has left 978 comments.
riyo 6 months ago

Great competition..

riyo has uploaded 32 CAD models & has left 73 comments.
Alibaba Iskenderov 6 months ago

What's about PonasM question?

Alibaba Iskenderov has uploaded 2 CAD models & has left 3 comments.
Santiago Ti 6 months ago

about ponasm question:
I think that it will be quite unfair if the jury considers as valid all those models created with another software and then transfered to ZW3D.

Santiago Ti has uploaded 5 CAD models & has left 8 comments.
Tomas 6 months ago

The answer to this question: download ZW3D software, then open models of this challenge, and you will see everything.
CAD software does not show imported (different extension file) as own. You will see a different icon, no modeling steps by steps...

Tomas has uploaded 40 CAD models & has left 727 comments.
Ben Hong 6 months ago

Hello Guys.

Every participant should use ZW3D to design his/her entriy. If someone just imports a model which was made with other software into ZW3D and save as .z3 file, the entry would not be considered as valid. Otherwise, like Santiago Ti said, it would be unfair to those who use ZW3D to design their models.

Best Regad

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Babanatsas Theoharis (Teo) 6 months ago

Last 7 days of valid license of ZW3D :((((
I like this soft because is very simply for use.
For me are the first time when i use ZW3D and I hope for others challanges from ZW3D.
I see some models that are created in other programs and exported in ZW3D.

Babanatsas Theoharis (Teo) has uploaded 46 CAD models & has left 69 comments.
Cody Taylor 6 months ago

I'm new to grabcad thought this sounded like a cool challenge. I and uploaded my model last night withours to go on the clockzand tagged it with "christmasgift" but I don't see it in the officiazzentries. Not sure why, but please do count it if you can. Thanks! http://grabcad.com/library/geoveirtneh 3

Cody Taylor has uploaded 2 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
Alexei Kositsin 6 months ago

Results will come within one month from now?
From now

Alexei Kositsin has uploaded 6 CAD models & has left 67 comments.
Sara Sigel 6 months ago

@Cody and all participants, I have fixed the challenge so that entries uploaded within the last few hours are now visible. Please let me know if you don't see yours. Best of luck to all!

Sara Sigel has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 435 comments.
Sara Sigel 6 months ago

@Alexei It usually takes about one month for judges to select winners. I will post here if the timeline is different than that.

Sara Sigel has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 435 comments.
Sara Sigel 6 months ago

For any participants that wanted the most liked prize, we counted likes ending yesterday, Dec 4th. This gave you 4 days to collect likes after the end of the Challenge.

Sara Sigel has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 435 comments.
Ben Hong 6 months ago

Hello folks,

I know you're waiting for the results of this challenge. We're working on it now. But before the results comes out, we'd like to invite you to do a little survey about ZW3D. We'll do a lucky draw from people who help us 100% complete it and you may have a chance to win an Amazon gift card worth 100 USD! Here's the link to the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RFJ2VWP

Thank you and Good luck!

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Tomas 5 months ago

Congratulation to all the winners :)

Tomas has uploaded 40 CAD models & has left 727 comments.
reza 5 months ago

Congratulation to all the winners

reza has uploaded 90 CAD models & has left 1064 comments.
Alexei Kositsin 5 months ago

Congs to all winners. Special one to Igor (its your second for last challenges)
To grab cad. I'm not talking about me, but i have no idea how do you judge. Just dont see any logic.
I thought it was a was for most "chistmas" and most creative (with most using a program) challenge. but i think i got this wrong.
once more, Congs to all! and good lucktoo bad. i dont see a reason to make a new design to any new challenge.

Alexei Kositsin has uploaded 6 CAD models & has left 67 comments.
Solarwind 5 months ago

Congratulations to all the winners, and at the same time, this is also a regrettable game. The result of the game disappointing.

Solarwind has uploaded 2 CAD models & has left 9 comments.
Ben Hong 5 months ago

Hello folks!
Thanks for paying attention to the results of this contest. And congratulation to all the winners!
As you may have doubt about the results, I'd better do some explaination here.
All the entries were evaluated from three apsects - general quality, creativity and practicability. Finnal scores of each entry were the mean value of those three scores. So the champion (Flying Toy Train) was the one that got the highest. The Most Creative Design was given to the one that got the highest score in creativity. The Most Pragmatic Design was given to the one that got the highest score in practicability. Later you'll comments from the judges for each of the winning entries.

Another thing I need to tell is that some participants just imported models which was created with other software and exported .z3 files to submit. "The design software is ZW3D", that's rule NO.1 for this challenge. So this kind of entries were not valid. It was unfair to participants who really used ZW3D to do their design.

Best regard

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Solarwind 5 months ago

If feel model is imported by other software, and the author consultation, to upload new files, feel it is not a problem. The result that person accident, also lose the level.

Solarwind has uploaded 2 CAD models & has left 9 comments.
lsfdww 5 months ago

If feel model is imported by other software, and the author consultation, to upload new files, feel it is not a problem. The result that person accident, also lose the level.

I agree with Solarwind very much.This is an arbitrary conclusion.

lsfdww has uploaded 3 CAD models & has left 3 comments.
Sudhir Gill 5 months ago

Guys, We should not doubt the jury decision. The decision is final and I totally agree with the results. There is no doubt on the selection of winners while keeping the creativity, popularity & manufacturing in mind.

Sudhir Gill has uploaded 330 CAD models & has left 1367 comments.
Alexei Kositsin 5 months ago

I agree that people that was banned for any reason should be noted as if there time, we can do something.
as for me, i dont know if i was banned, since i have imported dxf file from drawing program (i used drawing pen). but all other things i made in the program. i do this for other programs as well. coz no cad program are good with drawings.
i still dont understand how it was jaged. but its me.
its not complaining but the way i'm trying to understand how to procced in next time.
may be rules wasnt clear? may be ...
Ok. That real life. Congs to winners once more. And thats to letting us "fight" for winning.

Alexei Kositsin has uploaded 6 CAD models & has left 67 comments.
Ben Hong 5 months ago

Hello guys! Last week we conducted a little online survey among the participants of this contest. In total we got 39 responses. As I mentioned before, we would do a lucky draw among those who finished the survey. So we did a lucky draw today, and the lucky dog is.....

Santiago Ti ! Congratulation!

Ben Hong has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 18 comments.
Santiago Ti 5 months ago

Congratulations to all the winners for their great designs. (I do have to say that the flying train was a good & easy to manufacture design , good job : )
Aand many thanks to ZW3D´s team & GrabCad´s team for giving all of us this great opportunity

Santiago Ti has uploaded 5 CAD models & has left 8 comments.