World of Houses design challenge by i.materialise

i.materialise · 19 Apr 2010, 12:21

Dear SketchUcation community,

Today i.materialise is happy to announce our first challenge for the SketchUcation community ! The challenge is simple: design any house using Google SketchUp and utilizing the i.materialise Google SketchUp plugin.

3 winners will be selected by the i.materialise team and will get their houses 3D printed for free. This is a great opportunity for all architects, model makers, designers and SketchUp enthusiasts to get a free 3D printed copy of their designs (shipping charges are also covered). You are very welcome to take a look at the models that we have already produced on our Facebook page.

Please visit our blog for more information on the challenge or go straight to the challenge page.

We are looking forward to seeing many of your designs and can’t wait to 3D print the best models.

The i.materialise team

tim · 21 Apr 2010, 02:10

Sadly, since there is no OS X version of the plugin, I can't enter.

leedeetee · 21 Apr 2010, 10:39

May I just ask a couple of questions ....

*Is this challenge to design a new house as opposed to modeling a house already in existence?

*Many SketchUp users aren't architects and so maybe won't have the desired knowledge to build an accurate 'real world' house - so, if the house just has basic structural and functional integrity, will these models be accpeted?

Thanks.

i.materialise · 21 Apr 2010, 10:56

@tim said:

Sadly, since there is no OS X version of the plugin, I can't enter.

Dear Tim,
We are currently working on your problem. Since there's no plugin for OS X, and you would like to take part in this challenge, we will create a brief manual for OS X users, so you and other Mac users could take part in our challenge. We hope it will work for you.

@leedeetee said:

*Is this challenge to design a new house as opposed to modeling a house already in existence?

*Many SketchUp users aren't architects and so maybe won't have the desired knowledge to build an accurate 'real world' house - so, if the house just has basic structural and functional integrity, will these models be accpeted?

Dear leedeetee,
You are welcome to model a new house or the one already in existence, it is completely up to you. The only requirement is that you need to be an author of the model.

You do not need to design an accurate 'real world" model. Just make sure there are no floating in the air bits in your design, and as long as the model is a house I don't see any problems accepting it.

Alex

jaxcoffee · 21 Apr 2010, 12:59

When you say "House" does that exclude any commercial building, like say a library?

jaxcoffee · 21 Apr 2010, 13:51

@i.materialise said:

@jaxcoffee said:

When you say "House" does that exclude any commercial building, like say a library?

yes

So residential dwellings are the only buildings that qualify for this contest? Just wanting to be clear on this. Is it because there are limitations to the program? Feel free to explain better. Please!

i.materialise · 21 Apr 2010, 13:57

@jaxcoffee said:

@i.materialise said:

@jaxcoffee said:

When you say "House" does that exclude any commercial building, like say a library?

yes

So residential dwellings are the only buildings that qualify for this contest? Just wanting to be clear on this. Is it because there are limitations to the program? Feel free to explain better. Please!

You wrote "exclude" and I read "include." Sorry about that. You are welcome to design and submit any type of building commercial or non commercial, airports, libraries, churches, really anything as long as your submission resembles a building.

i.materialise · 21 Apr 2010, 13:58

@jaxcoffee said:

When you say "House" does that exclude any commercial building, like say a library?

no it does not... sorry about the misunderstanding.

jaxcoffee · 21 Apr 2010, 14:05

@i.materialise said:

@jaxcoffee said:

@i.materialise said:

@jaxcoffee said:

When you say "House" does that exclude any commercial building, like say a library?

yes

So residential dwellings are the only buildings that qualify for this contest? Just wanting to be clear on this. Is it because there are limitations to the program? Feel free to explain better. Please!

You wrote "exclude" and I read "include." Sorry about that. You are welcome to design and submit any type of building commercial or non commercial, airports, libraries, churches, really anything as long as your submission resembles a building.

Got it! Crystal clear. Thank you so much for your response.

KXI System · 21 Apr 2010, 22:14

May I ask a hint for the 3D "surprise"?

tim · 22 Apr 2010, 01:01

@i.materialise said:

@tim said:

Sadly, since there is no OS X version of the plugin, I can't enter.

Dear Tim,
We are currently working on your problem. Since there's no plugin for OS X, and you would like to take part in this challenge, we will create a brief manual for OS X users, so you and other Mac users could take part in our challenge. We hope it will work for you.

Jolly decent of you - I look forward to giving it a go.

idraft · 22 Apr 2010, 03:01

Hi,

Could you please expand on your tips and tricks.
EG: Should we..with our models do the following;
a) explode all groups,
b) remove section planes & delete hidden lines,
c) unhide all and delete unwanted,
d) remove all trees, people and models and import only those in the 3D warehouse ' iMaterials link'??

Purhaps you could add or remove as necessary.
Thanks

i.materialise · 22 Apr 2010, 08:30

@idraft said:

Hi,

Could you please expand on your tips and tricks.
EG: Should we..with our models do the following;
a) explode all groups,
b) remove section planes & delete hidden lines,
c) unhide all and delete unwanted,
d) remove all trees, people and models and import only those in the 3D warehouse ' iMaterials link'??

Purhaps you could add or remove as necessary.
Thanks

idraft,

a, b, c are all optional, it is up to you. We do not ask you guys to make any specific changes to your models, except using our plugin to get customization and dimensions right.

regarding the "d," the models in our 3D warehouse are all 3D printer ready, meaning that if you are to use them, they will be 3D printed exactly as they appear in SketchUp. If you decide to use your own models, and should your entry win, we will be preparing the file to 3D printing and some alterations might be necessary to the parts of the model. For example in case the part is too thin. Regarding your question, feel free to use any model and don't limit yourself to our 3D warehouse.

i.materialise · 23 Apr 2010, 12:49

@kxi system said:

May I ask a hint for the 3D "surprise"?

If I were to tell you, it would spoil the surprise part

pugz1983 · 29 Apr 2010, 15:07

Hi Guys From I Materialise,

I have a question. I've been working on a model of a house and Its nearly finnished. I was thinking about sending this model as a contribution to the challenge. Iwas just wondering if there are any limitations. The design consists of a boxed shape design, but the walls are covered with woodstrips( 5cm/5cm ) with a spacing of about 4/5 cm between them. The strips are all connected so there are no floating geometry. But I think the woodstrips may be to small for 3d printing.

Greetz,

Twan

i.materialise · 30 Apr 2010, 07:14

@pugz1983 said:

Hi Guys From I Materialise,

I have a question. I've been working on a model of a house and Its nearly finnished. I was thinking about sending this model as a contribution to the challenge. Iwas just wondering if there are any limitations. The design consists of a boxed shape design, but the walls are covered with woodstrips( 5cm/5cm ) with a spacing of about 4/5 cm between them. The strips are all connected so there are no floating geometry. But I think the woodstrips may be to small for 3d printing.

Greetz,

Twan

Hello Twan,

It might be the case that some of the parts of your design might be too small for 3D printing. Objects smaller then 1mmx1mm are normally too small. You can use our plugin to scale your model and then check the sizes of smaller elements of your model.

Good luck on the challenge. If you have any additional questions, feel free to leave a reply, we'll be happy to help.

i.materialise team

i.materialise · 30 Apr 2010, 11:43

Guys, a small announcement:

We decided to extend the deadline for the model submission stage of our challenge until May 24th. The manual for Mac users is also on the way and will be available in the beginning of the next week.

i.materialise team

arjunmax09 · 30 Apr 2010, 16:53

thanks sir/madam!!!
was it because of my exams if i'm not wrong??

i.materialise · 3 May 2010, 13:56

For Mac users the manual is available here .

tim · 5 May 2010, 02:34

@i.materialise said:

For Mac users the manual is available here .

Small problem - that document refers me to a manual which seems to be included only in the Windows based wizard….