Announcing the Top 3 Winning Designs of the SketchUp 3D Printing Challenge
A few weeks ago, we invited SketchUp users from all over the world to participate in our ‘SketchUp 3D Printed Jewelry Challenge’ and submit their unique jewelry designs. All participants stood a chance of receiving their 3D model printed out in real Sterling Silver, a 100 EUR/110 USD i.materialise voucher, as well as a SketchUp Pro license.
Once again, we were happily surprised to see that so many of you participated and made this design challenge another huge success! We already knew the popular SketchUp 3D modeling program for its geometric design, which is great for architectural models, scale models, interior design items and functional parts. But now you showed us that it can also be used to create stunning geometrical jewelry!
Without any further ado, here are the top three submitted designs, including our lucky winner:
3rd place: Gravitational Waves Earrings by Rui Cabanita
Celebrating the recent discovery of gravitational waves, predicted 100 years ago by Einstein, Rui Cabanita designed a pair of earrings that took the shape of the data released by the LIGO twin observatories. In order to be able to observe gravitational waves passing through the air at the speed of light, the two observatories were placed far apart at Hanford (Washington State) and Livingston (Louisiana), in the US. Representing this, each of the two earrings is based on the data from one of the two observatories:
“We generated the curves using a spreadsheet program and then trimmed, scaled and polished them in a vector-based graphical program and finally exported them to SketchUp Make 2016 where we developed their 3D shape.”
For winning 3rd prize, Rui will receive a 50 EUR/55USD 3D printing voucher for i.materialise.
2nd place: C.A.T. Cocktail Ring by Ariadne Kapelioti
Ariadne Kapelioti’s C.A.T. Cocktail Ring is a brass ring that is built on multiple spheres. According to Ariadne these represent our sun, moon and planets orbiting in a near-circular motion and thus represent “the great themes of life; birth, growth, rebirth, social structure, faith and worship”.
For winning 2nd prize, Ariadne will receive a 75 EUR/82 USD voucher for our website.
1st place: Silver Diamond Pendant by Olivier Eloy
Olivier Eloy designed a beautiful silver pendant in the shape of a brilliant life-sized diamond. It can be worn on either a silver chain or a leather necklace. Olivier told us that he thought it would look best in an antique finish – so that’s what we did!
Olivier, the winner of the SketchUp 3D printing challenge, will receive the 3D print of his diamond pendant in Sterling Silver with an antique finish (you can see this print in the images above). Additionally, Olivier will get a 100 EUR/110 USD voucher to use on i.materialise as well as a SketchUp Pro license!
Congratulations to Olivier, Ariadne, Rui, and all the other participants for their outstanding contributions! Once again we would like to thank you all for being a part of this challenge and for making it such a success. Of course, each and every person who participated in this challenge will receive a 10% discount on their next 3D printed designs with i.materialise.
Stay tuned for our upcoming design contests — we’re going to launch our next 3D printing challenge soon. Learn more about our 3D printing materials, such as Sterling Silver, on our material page. If you can’t wait to see more SketchUp 3D prints, take a look at our list of 10 surprising 3D prints that were designed with SketchUp.
