MyMiniFactory.com, a platform for free 3D printable designs, is hosting its second design contest. The winner will receive a Ultimaker 1 3D printer worth £1,690.

Launched in June 2013, My Mini Factory features a large range of free 3D printable objects that are original and unique, and all designs are test printed by the My Mini Factory team on affordable 3D Printers to ensure their quality.

“MyMiniFactory.com is the world’s 2nd largest platform of 3D printable files,” said Romain Kidd, Chief Marketing Officer, iMakr.com. “Downloads come from around the world. The designer base – both in-house and external – is in the several hundred, and very multinational as well.”

Looking to tap into this talented base, My Mini Factory has launched a Christmas Design Contest, calling on the worldwide community of 3D designers to upload their designs. Beautiful and functional printable objects will then be exposed to the large audience of enthusiasts who visit MyMiniFactory.com, and designers will can soon start earning money from downloads of their objects.

This is the site’s second design competition. We spoke with Romain Kidd, CMO iMakr.com about the results of the first contest.

“The Autumn contest was very successful,” Kidd told us in an interview. “We had close to 50 successful entrants. XYZ workshop (Australia) won first place with their ‘Micro Planter Chess Set‘, and the first place runner up was Billy Sides (USA) with his ‘Minion Chess Set‘. We are targeting more entrants this Christmas and the same quality of designs.”

The Autumn contest winner received an UP! Mini 3D Printer.

MyMiniFactory.com is owned by UK-based iMakr.VC, the same group that owns iMakr, the world’s largest 3D printing store. As a 3D printing value added re-seller, iMakr is solving the problem of “what should I 3D print?” with MyMiniFactory.com, similar to the relationship between MakerBot and Thingiverse.com.

Related: Video: iMakr 3D Printing Store Grand Opening in London

Christmas Design Contest Details

To enter the Christmas design contest applicants need to 3D model and upload a design to either (or both) of the submission design categories -

• Category 1 -  a 3D printable decorative object with an ‘endangered species’ theme
• Category 2 – a 3D printable object for use during the seasonal festivities / with a seasonal theme

My Mini Factory will be accepting entries until November 20, after which entries will be posted on the website for a 3 week voting period.

The competition is open to applicants worldwide, they simply register with My Mini Factory and submit an entry through the upload system.

All the entries will be 3D printed by the company to assess their printably and functionality. If it successfully passes this print test it will be entered into the contest. Designers will be provided with feedback if there are any problems with their file/design.

During the voting period each entry will have it’s own personal page to receive downloads from.

The design with the most downloads will be the grand prize winner, and will receive an Ultimaker 1 3D printer worth £1,690 in time for Christmas!

3D Printing Design Competition Will Award Solidoodle 3D Printer to the Winner

To celebrate the launch of the Home Factory at this year’s 100% Design, the UK’s largest contemporary design event, the organizers are teaming up with iMakr, the world’s largest 3D print store, to offer 5 lucky creatives the chance to have their designs printed in 3D and displayed at the event.

Competition Ends June 30 – Win an Ultimaker 3D Printer from CGTrader

As we reported in may, 3D model marketplace CGTrader is hosting a 3D printing competition, looking for innovative 3D printable models. Winning submissions will receive great prizes, including two Ultimaker 3D printers, 3D prints, gift cards from Sculpteo, Filaco, Stash, as well as an opportunity to sell designs in 3D printing store iMakr in London

In order to participate, designers need to create 3D printable models in .STL format and upload them for sale or download to CGTrader. Further information on the competition is available here: http://www.cgtrader.com/challenges-and-competitions/3d-printing-competition-2013.

The competition ends June 30, so submit your designs in the next 3 days!

Want to learn more? Read our full interview with the CGTrader team published in May 2013.

3D Printing Competition at CGTrader

3D model marketplace CGTrader is hosting a 3D printing competition. The company is looking for innovative 3D printable models and are giving away great prizes, including two Ultimaker 3D printers, 3D prints, gift cards from Sculpteo, Filaco, Stash, as well as an opportunity to sell designs in 3D printing store iMakr in London.

In order to participate, designers need to create 3D printable models in .STL format and upload them for sale or download to CGTrader. Further information on the competition is available here: http://www.cgtrader.com/challenges-and-competitions/3d-printing-competition-2013.

We talked with CGTrader’s Dalia Lasaite about the competition and the marketplace.

On 3D Printing: What is CGTrader and why are you running this competition?

Dalia Lasaite: CGTrader is a designer-friendly 3D model marketplace for artists and designers. We aim to offer the best conditions for both sellers and buyers of 3D models – the authors on our marketplace receive over 90% of royalties, and can interact directly with the buyers, thereby landing additional jobs or establishing relationships. On the other side, the buyers enjoy direct contact with the sellers, low prices, as well as high quality of the models. Our aim is to make sure that talented designers can make a living off creating and selling professional-level, high-quality 3D models. The 3D models traded on CGTrader are used in a variety of fields, including games, visualizations, ads, architecture, simulations – and now, increasingly, in 3D printing.

The 3D printing industry is rapidly developing, and we noticed increasing interest in this technology from both buyers and sellers on our marketplace. In order to encourage our designer community to step into this exciting field, we decided to start this competition and challenge them to create 3D printable models. While majority of 3D designers have primarily worked in digital domains, they typically have very strong 3D modeling skills and unlimited creativity, but may have not tried using a 3D printer or designing for 3D printing – so this competition was a natural step and had a very positive reception.

On 3D Printing: We’re not quite halfway through the competition yet. Are you seeing any submissions that excite you yet?

Dalia Lasaite: We’re always amazed by the creativity of the 3D designer community! The submissions started rolling in recently, but we’ve already seen a whole spectrum of models from useful to beautiful to crazy. Steampunk-based alphabet letters, parts for coffee machines, Escher sculptures, graffiti spray gun, cars, characters, toys – you name it! And of course, there is the Robohand, whereby you can actually print the whole prosthetic hand – definitely changing the world for the better. There are a few submissions representing the first 3D printable model of designers – and it is great to see how willing they are to learn and pick up this technology.

On 3D Printing: You’re giving away an Ultimaker 3D printer. Why that 3D printer?

Dalia Lasaite: Yes, and not one – but two 3D printers! We’re very excited to work with Ultimaker for this competition. Ultimaker printer is one of the best printers on the market right now. It has a large build volume, is very fast, and delivers high-quality prints. When organizing the competition we discussed it with several experts, and all recommendations pointed to Ultimaker – so it was fairly easy to choose.

We also have other awesome sponsors – including 3D Print UK, iMakr, Sculpteo, Filaco, Stash – the winners of this challenge will be very lucky!

On 3D Printing: What’s the future hold for CGTrader?

Dalia Lasaite: CGTrader aims to be the largest 3D model marketplace for professional level, high-quality 3D models. It is hard to say how the 3D printing industry will develop during the coming years – but our goal is to help designers monetize their creations, and provide the buyers with a wide selection of 3D models directly from designers. At the same time, we hope to contribute to the growth of the industry by providing a place to trade 3D models and encourage more designers to try their hand in this field.

Thanks to CGTrader for this interview!

Enter the CGTrader competition before June 30th to qualify.

3D Printing News

A roundup of the top 3D printing news from May 1 to May 4:

Wednesday, May 1

• $200 MakiBox 3D Printer Competes at the Low End Market

Friday, May 3

• A Guide to Guest Posts for On 3D Printing

Saturday, May 4

• Video: iMakr 3D Printing Store Grand Opening in London