Jun 6, 2017 | By Tess
While soccer professionals around the globe hope to one day hold trophies as sought after as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or the esteemed FIFA World Cup Trophy, soccer-loving video gamers can aspire to win something else: the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) World Champion’s Trophy, which is given to the winner of the PES league.
This year, at the PES League World Finals held in Cardiff, England, a 17-year-old Brazilian by the name of GuiFera was crowned champion and received not only a giant cheque worth $200,000, but also a hefty 3D printed trophy.
The 3D printed trophy, which we’re slightly more interested in than the results of the competition, was created by 3DTrophyFactory, the custom trophy arm of Belgian digital manufacturing and 3D customization company Twikit. According to the company, it was brought on to the PES League World Finals project by Konami, the video game developer behind Pro Evolution Soccer.
The video game itself, which is on its 16th installment, has become massively popular as it brings gamers into the world of professional soccer in a way perhaps rivaled only by FIFA’s official video games.
The PES World Final is something quite remarkable as well, as it brings together the top PES players from around the world to compete in a real life setting. (This year’s event was held at the Emirates Stadium in North London, home to Arsenal football club.)
For the 2017 PES League World Champion, Konami commissioned a trophy worthy of the title: a customized 3D printed award featuring a transparent soccer ball atop a silvery mantle. According to 3DTrophyFactory, the award (with dimensions of 75 cm by 20 cm) is the largest 3D printed trophy to date.
The award, now probably exhibited in GuiFera’s home somewhere in Brazil, took quite a bit of careful planning to realize, as Twikit says it had to be printed perfectly on the first run. Twikit 3D printed the trophy parts using stereolithography (SLA), a 3D printing method that uses a photopolymerization process to harden layers of resin until an object is built up.
Once the parts were 3D printed out of photopolymer resins, the Twikit team set to work removing supports, post-processing the parts, assembling them, and finally hand-painting the trophy. According to the Belgian digital manufacturing company, the PES logo (inside the transparent soccer ball) was also 3D printed, and all decorative stickers were put on manually.
Designer Frederik Claessens, who led the trophy project, said: “We’ve been in this business for three years now. We’re strong believers of the new way of making products: tailored for specific events, made-on-demand and digital. This results in more beautiful and better products. Today companies and consumers like simplicity. That’s where we come in.”
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Cardiff is in WALES. NOT England. its CARDIFF, WALES. England is the country next to Wales. Just like Germany is next to France idiot
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