SpaceClaim

Timeframe
The SpaceClaim Challenge will run from November 27, 2007 through April 30, 2008.

Winners
SpaceClaim will select winners on January 2, February 1, March 3, April 2, and May 2, 2008.

For each selection date, 3 winners will be selected from the prior month's entries as follows:

• one submission that presents the most challenging successful modification in SpaceClaim
• one submission that presents the most challenging unsuccessful modification in SpaceClaim (stump us, yes we want you to!)
• one submission that we identify as the most entertaining video 

Each of the three monthly winners  will receive a copy of SpaceClaim Professional 2007+ and 3D Data Exchange for a 1 year term and will be promoted on the SpaceClaim website and through other promotional venues.

In addition, we will select one grand prize winner on May 2, 2008 as the most impressive challenge out of all entries submitted (in the case of a tie, the “Entertainment Factor” can only help you!).  The grand prize winner will receive a fully loaded laptop, installed with a one year license of SpaceClaim.

We will contact winners directly via email.  We will also announce the winners on our website, and we may promote contest winners through other means.

Submission Guidelines
The submissions should all be done via a video upload to the Challenge website.  Simply shoot a brief video on your camcorder, in movie mode on your digital camera or cellphone, or capture it with a program like Camtasia Studio.  The video should show the process of importing a model from any CAD system or neutral file format, then show the process of how you (successfully or not) made the changes in SpaceClaim.  Please explain (by talking on the video) why you need to make changes the model (to simplify the model before meshing, for example).  That's it.  For some ideas, check out some of the submissions here  and requirements and suggestions for the video file format here.

One of the prizes each month will be for the most entertaining video, so it's OK to have some fun (after all, life's too short not to have a little fun, right?).

In addition to uploading the video, you must also upload the CAD model or neutral file, so that we can verify the changes on your model, see if we can find a better way to make the changes, or to help make the desired changes in the cases where the changes are unsuccessful.  Submitting your models also helps make SpaceClaim better, by helping us to understand the kinds of changes that we need to enable.  We will never share the model files outside of SpaceClaim without your express written consent.  If you need to simplify the model, or hack off the piece that's relevant and output it to a neutral file to get it outside your firewall, that works fine for us too.  The actual CAD files will not be used for publicity purposes.

Entrants will be judged by a panel of SpaceClaim marketing and client relationship engineering employees.  Criteria for evaluating the submissions include, but may not be limited to:

• Degree of difficulty of the design modifications
• Complexity of the model
• Credibility of the modifications and the use case
• The “entertainment factor” 

Privacy
Any models that are sent to SpaceClaim will not be shared with any parties outside SpaceClaim or otherwise distributed or published outside the company in any manner without the express written consent of the participant.  By submitting an entry, you agree to allow SpaceClaim to promote your participation and agree to the use of the submitted video and graphics in various marketing activities including website postings, news releases and on-line and print media.

Support
SpaceClaim provides tutorials and documentation to help you get started.

If you have additional questions, you can contact us at support@spaceclaim.com and we will make every effort to respond within 24 hours.  If you are having problems making modifications to your model in SpaceClaim, please send it to us with instructions at the above address.

Eligibility
This contest is not open to employees of SpaceClaim.  All others may participate.

Formatting Your Video Submission
Videos should post automatically to the site within a few minutes. If your video does not post, or is "pending," check the following:
Note that if you use Camtasia Studio, you must export the file in either .wmv or .flv format, NOT the default .avi format. 

If you're using Camtasia Studio, save the video file using the following steps:
File -> Produce Video As...
Custom production settings -> Next
Flash (SWF/FLV) - Adobe Flash output -> Next
Template: One Video -> Flash Options...
Format: FLV (good for longer, or high motion videos)
Frame rage: 15
Max bitrate: 300
Bitrate control: Variable 1-pass
Video quality: near middle
Key frame rate: 5 seconds
Ok -> Next -> Next
Enter Name and Finish

We encode all videos into Flash (FLV) files. The full details are:
Bitrate: 300kbps
20 frames per second (fps)
370px wide x 280px high
Codec: on2 vp6 FLV
Audio codec: MP3
Audio bitrate: 40kpbs
Sample rate on the audio: 11.025 mhz
Stereo audio