Honing your Modeling Skills with The Pumpkin Jam

 

To get right to the point: I made the Pumpkin Jam to allow less experienced 3D modelers to improve their 3D modeling skills, and more experienced modelers to challenge themselves and have an opportunity to show off their skills and increase their models' exposure.

 

More practically speaking, it runs a lot like Maker World's model contests--the main differences being that the Theme of the contest is emailed directly to you, you only have an intentionally short 48 hours to complete your model, and every participant's model gets printed out and given constructive feedback by the judges. 

 

The next one, at the time of this writing, starts the morning of Friday the 18th--although, you can find information on when the next Pumpkin Jam is (and also where the signup is) right here: https://www.carlthepumpkinman.com/pumpkin-jam

 

Now, if you're really interested in the specifics, well, time for me to start yappin'! Although, for reference, you can find essentially all of this information (mostly verbatim) in the link to the signup in the paragraph above.

 

The Pumpkin Jam is designed around these three pillars:

 

Education

 

As a teacher, my number one priority is for participants to leave the event feeling like they learned something. Each Jam starts out with an educational video that explains how to design a model that fits with the Theme, and the judges leave constructive feedback on all models submitted.

Motivation

 

Often 3D designers run into a couple of problems--either they have a lack of inspiration on what to make next, or they have too many ideas and face decision paralysis. These ideas may be opposite, but they have the same effect:

No models produced.

The Pumpkin Jam provides you with a Theme to get you inspired and a limited time limit to motivate you to pick an idea and stick with it.

Connection

 

As someone who lives on a remote island, I often feel isolated from the 3D printing community at large. I also understand what it's like to make something cool and have absolutely no one see it. 

I wanted to make this event in order to let people meet other members of the community and make something that is guaranteed to be seen and printed.

Participants are also encouraged to livestream their modeling process, and check out other participants' work.

 

~Rules~

 

Now, to get in the less fun but very much important part, the actual specific rules.

The Pumpkin Jam is an online event that tests your ability to create 3D Printable models from start to finish in a very limited time frame, based on a specific theme that is revealed when the event begins. In other words, it covers the entire design process–from the point someone asks you to make a model, to the point you finish uploading it to a model hosting site. 

Here’s how it all shakes out:

 

1. Register. Fill out the Google Form found at the top of this article, and declare your intent to participate! More instructions/info on there.
2. Wait. I know you may be excited, but don’t jump the gun! You can try and brainstorm ideas, but there’s no guarantee any preparation you do will be useful, so…
3. Model! Once it’s time to begin, Carl will announce the Theme via email. Read the instructions carefully–you have 48 hours to make and upload your model, and not a second more!
4. Upload. Upload your model to any and all of the allowed sites (Cults3D, MakerWorld, Printables, Thangs, Thingiverse), and make sure you tag it with #PumpkinJam ! Then email Carl with the links to the models.
5. Wait. Again?! Yeah, it takes the judges some time to print out and examine all the submissions. But once they do, you’ll get some sweet, sweet feedback, and you might even find out you won a prize!
6. Grow! Keep the advice in mind, and keep modeling! Hone your skills for the next time–and while you’re busy growing, maybe share your experience with your friends so that the Pumpkin Jam can grow, too!

 

But Carl, I can hear you saying. I really wanna participate, but I don’t feel confident in my abilities!

And to that, I say, dear friend, not to worry! The Pumpkin Jam is all about getting more people into and better at 3D modeling! Every Theme comes with a tutorial video on how to make an entry from a beginner level. So even if you’re a complete n00b, you still have a chance to compete!

And if you’re not a beginner, there are still things in it for you! In addition to the experience you gain and the potential for prizes, you also can gain exposure for your craft. I will be keeping a document of all the participants and their socials, and if you livestream yourself making your 3D model, I will advertise that fact too!

 

~Specific Rules~

 

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I just want to say that as this is a small, online event with no designated space nor a huge management staff or referees, I am asking everyone to stick to the honor system. While there may be prizes involved, I intend for them just to be a talking point to get more eyes on the event and to reward folks for participating, and nothing more.

 

So! These are the general rules for the Pumpkin Jam; however, the Theme itself (when revealed) may have rules that conflict with these–those take preference.

 

The Jam will start at 8 AM on a Saturday morning Japan time (generally Friday night America time) with the revealing of the Theme via email, and will end 48 hours later at 8 AM Monday morning. Participants must declare their participation via the google form found at the top of this page, must NOT begin modeling until after the start, and MUST upload their models before the end.

Model entries must:

• Be entirely the participant’s own creation–while outside advice is allowed, the actual executive decisions and creation of the model must be the participant’s. No remixes.
• Be entirely devoid of generative AI. Not in the modeling, nor the thumbnail generation, nor the description of the model. Surrendering the creative process to a machine would entirely defeat the purpose of this whole thing.
• Be uploaded to one or more of the following sites: MakerWorld, Printables, Thingiverse, Cults3D, Thangs. It must be free to download, at the very least until the final results are released.
• Have a #PumpkinJam hashtag attached to them. I wanna be able to locate them easily, after all!
• Fit the theme. Irrelevant models will be removed from consideration.
• Be SFW. I want to keep this open for all ages.

Additionally, while you’re more than welcome to have a standard copyright license on your files, you do agree for other people to feature them in videos/other content, provided they give proper credit. (Essentially, I want to give myself and others the ability to make videos, etc about their time with the event, which most likely would include models that were uploaded by other participants.)

 

Some other rules to keep in mind:

• Be kind/courteous to everyone in the Jam. Don’t be mean, discouraging, disparaging, or anything else to negatively impact others’ experiences.
• Please bring any complaints/concerns to the judges respectfully, and respect their final decisions. This is for fun/learning, after all.