Cadchallenge

Submission open until November 30, 2012

Description of Contest

Objectives

Create the best 3D design in NCLab using PLaSM, NCLab‘s free web browser based CAD tool. Usage of PLaSM is very simple as you will find in this tutorial. The contest is not limited to the U.S. but the official language is English. PLaSM is a new addition to NCLab so all competitors have equal starting conditions. Once more - everything takes place directly in the web browser, no purchasing or installation of any software is needed. NOTE: This year's contest is closed. See the winning designs here.

Evaluation criteria

Evaluated will be the physical fidelity, complexity, and elaboration level of the design. A model of any existing 3D object such as a building, machine, car, train, plane, ship, etc. is acceptable. See bottom of page for sample project ideas.

Prizes

First place: NCLab Full Version for one year (see details), an iPad 3, and Certificate of Award.

Second place: NCLab Full Version for one year (see details) and Certificate of Award.

Dates

The competition will close on November 30, 2012 and winning designs will be announced on 15 December 2012, and displayed on this web page along with their authors.

Eligibility

Every participant must be currently enrolled in a high school, middle school, elementary school, or equivalently home-schooled. Proof will be required. Participants who do not meet this eligibility criterion are welcome to submit their designs as well. The best design from this group will be awarded with NCLab Full Version for one year (see details) and Certificate of Award.

Registration

Registration will be open through September and October 2012. Every participant needs to register. Registration is done by sending an email titled „NCLab CAD Challenge 2012“ to events-at-nclab-dot-com. The email must contain your NCLab username (create a free account here if you do not have one yet). If you are attending a high school, add the address of your school. If home schooled, add your home address. Include 1 - 3 photos of the object that you are going to model. The model cannot be changed after registration.

Requirements

Every participant needs to have a free account in NCLab. Your web browser needs to support WebGL. See here for troubleshooting hints.

Mailing list

Subscribe to the NCLab News mailing list if you would like to receive updates regarding this and other exciting NCLab events.

Webinars and Recordings

First webinar on Solid Modeling with PLaSM was given on September 5, 2012 at 5 pm PCT. Click here to see video recording. Based on discussions with instructors, the second webinar that took place on Wednesday September 26 at 5 pm PCT was a Q&A Session. Thank you for attending and good luck with PLaSM! No other webinars are scheduled at this time. To attend the webinar, simply access the Webinar URL. You will be required to run a Setup Wizard. Allow some time to troubleshoot your cookies, Java, etc. If you miss the webinar, do not worry - all webinars will be recorded and links will be available here.

Sample project ideas

We believe that a great idea is to model a model that you can hold in your hands, view from any angle, and measure as much as you like.

Evaluators

All designs will be evaluated by an international jury composed of renowned CAD experts:

Alberto Paoluzzi, University of Rome, Italy

Chandrajit Bajaj, University of Texas at Austin, USA

Rafael Bidarra, TU Delft, Netherlands

Wim Bronsvoort, TU Delft, Netherlands

Antonio DiCarlo, University of Rome, Italy

Ralph Martin, Cardiff University, UK

Valerio Pascucci, University of Utah, USA

Vadim Shapiro, University of Wisconsin, USA

Ernesto Staffetti, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain