Ahead of the Curve — imaterialise Announces its Christmas Ornament Design Challenge

Halloween is barely over, el Día de los muertos has barely just begun and already stores are beginning to play Christmas crooners and sell animatronic Santas. 3D printing retailers are no different, it turns out, as imaterialise turns thoughts to the holiday season early by announcing  its Christmas Challenge.

After the success of last year’s ornament design contest, the company has decided to go annual and is accepting submissions for this year’s competition. From now until November 24th, you can upload your ornament design in a variety of file formats, for a chance to win a print of your design, plus a 50€ ($69 or 6,714 JPY) i.materialise printing voucher, an Autodesk Premium Membership and an Instructables Pro Membership. The ornament must be designed for polyamide and 10 x 10 x 10 cm or smaller.

The imaterialise people are saying, “Think reindeers, christmas trees, christmas balls or think about anything you want to give someone with Christmas.” I say you should go literary and design an intricate Ebenezer Scrooge. Or go cinematic and upload Bill Murray from the movie Scrooged. Or Scrooge McDuck!  If that’s getting too cranky for you, you could go traditional and make a detailed rendering of Santa Claus. If that’s too traditional, try being avant garde and make it Santa Klaus Nomi! You might not win over the i.materialise and Autodesk judges, but you’ll win me over!