REINVENTING SUSTAINABLE CITIES
MINECRAFT (FRANCE)
MIMAKI 3DUJ-553
Mimaki Europe partnered with Minecraft, to deliver a nationwide competition, “Crée ta ville et ton territoire de demain avec Minecraft”, in conjunction with government organisation, “Ministère de la Cohésion des territoires”, which aimed to raise awareness of social and environmental issues amongst young people. Having seen over 1200 entrants vying to create the ultimate sustainable town using Minecraft’s video game platform – some as young as thirteen – Mimaki’s 3DUJ-553 full-colour 3D printer enabled the winning design to be brought to life in vivid detail in an intricate 3D printed model gifted to competition victor – Louis Varin, aged 16 – in October 2019, marking a year since the competition originally began.
Whilst aiming to inspire creativity and ingenuity through its focus on design, artistic quality and originality, the competition primarily called for participants to imagine innovative solutions for an array of pertinent social and environmental issues. The complex entry criteria for each virtual town included fostering biodiversity, optimising water and energy management, improving quality of life and providing solutions to combat climate change.
With a full 3D printed model of the winning virtual map set to be delivered as part of the grand prize, a painstaking process ensued following the competition to translate the detailed design from a virtual video game format to a workable 3D print model – a process which took over 19 hours. Thankfully, Mimaki’s 3DUJ-553 full-colour 3D printer, capable of faithfully replicating more than 10 million colours, meant that every intricacy of the design could be 3D printed in full-colour and accurate detail, due to the impressive print quality and water-soluble support material, which prevents small detailed parts from breaking during the finishing process. Even the most fragile design elements comprised in the virtual town, such as wind turbines, were able to be 3D printed, enabling Mimaki to create a final model which was entirely true to the creator’s original designs.
View the full article: Mimaki teams with Microsoft’s Minecraft in gamer challenge to invent sustainable cities
PRINTED BY MIMAKI FRANCE • https://www.mimaki.fr/
