We witness so many 3D printing-related contests being held that it feels like we are ready to take it to the next level and hold a World Cup. Let’s dig into the subject, see why we need it and what can be done.
One of the easiest and the fairest way to organize such a prestigious event with the historical legacy is to group each year the best contests that take place, implement a ranking system and award the winners at the end of the year. Here is a brief example of how it could be done.
Why do we need this?
– Publicity. When there are prestigious, historically acclaimed, internationally recognised titles involved, the attention level to such competitions is higher.
– Economy. Extra income for designers, possible grants from local authorities, sponsors, etc.
– Innovations. For 3D printing, it could give an extra boost for ideas and innovations.
Excample: Point System
Contests: 12 individual competitions, like those hosted by 3D file repositories such us Cults3D, Printables, Thangs, MyMiniFactory, Instructables, or others.
As most of the listed above have their own contest rules and judging processes, certain requirements should be met to take part in a World Cup stage.
For example, the host of a completed individual contest should provide the following information:
the best 10 participants and the number of total participants.
Point System:
Places and points:
1st – 12 points
2nd – 8 points
3rd – 6 points
4th – 4 points
5th – 2 points
6th-10th – 1 point
(subject to optimization)
Final Calculations:
The final count of points after all individual World Cup stages in December each year.
World Cup Prizes
Winner – title and monetary prize – 50% of the prize pot
2nd – monetary prize – 30% of the prize pot
3rd – monetary prize – 20% of the prize pot
(subject to optimization)
Types of Competitions
In the last few years, together with the traditional themed contests, there were a few unique challenges like the 3D Printed Hook Tournament or Design Shuffler contest. Also, it is super easy to participate in the Thangs Weekly Leaderboard contest. And we suspect that there will be more like these as more ideas keep coming.
Possible Obstacles
Very few competitions are held in a form of a tournament and may be lacking a clear metric system. This would make the judging process laborious.
Conclusion
With a huge scope in the contest area, with over 500 various 3D design and 3D printing competitions held in the past five years, there is more than enough ground for the initial warm-up. Let’s start making history with launching Design for 3D Printing World Cup 2022.
