The winners of the 2020 CSD 3D Print Contest
This year we hosted the 5th edition of the CCDC Annual 3D Print Contest. Due to the pandemic, we held the competition later than in the previous years, running for two months from September 16th to November 16th. Despite the difficulties of getting to the labs this year, we got some beautiful entries for the 2020 edition. In this blog we will announce you the winner and hear the story of the winning structure. And don’t forget: the 3D print file had to be prepared in Mercury! And without further ado, we are delighted to announce that the winner is…
Shinsuke Segawa for ARchemisT (@ARchemisT2020) with the “Grubbs Rice Bowl”! Congratulations! The winner will receive a $50 gift card to Shapeways.
The winning entry: “Grubbs Rice Bowl”
Let’s hear from the creator how they designed and prepared this entry:
“For this competition and for other our works, we need to prepare the 3D models of many compounds and proteins. After trying several software, we found the Mercury was the best option for preparing xyz file which is applicable to 3D modeling, especially because it can convert almost any molecular structure files like cif, mol to xyz.
We are always trying to make non-chemistry background people enjoy chemistry through art and fun, and this creation “Grubbs Rice Bowl” was one of the attempts. To catch non-chemistry background people’s attention, we printed out the famous Nobel-prize related molecule and displayed it on rice, which we believe can give a strong impression even if you do not have any chemistry knowledge. We wish this “tasty” sushi bowl from Japan can depict the beauty of chemical structures!!”
The judges did indeed appreciate the fun of this entry and the idea of bringing together a Nobel Prize molecule with a rice bowl. The engagement on social media was also very positive.
But you made this decision quite tough as all the entries submitted via Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #CSD3DPrint were great, showing not only how beautiful chemistry and crystallography are, but also how helpful and important it is to visualise structures in 3D. Thank you!
The 2020 #CSD3DPrint Contest entries.
We hope you enjoyed the 2020 CSD 3D Print Contest! And if it inspired you to explore 3D printing of structures for your work, presentations, teaching, or art, don’t forget this feature is available in the free Mercury and you can see how to prepare the files in our visualisation workshop in the CSD-Community workshops area.
We are looking forward to seeing your creations!
How to make 3D print files in Mercury, from the #CSDTopTipTuesday series