Star Wars superfans can now design their own droid

To celebrate Star Wars May on May 4th Day Autodesk has teamed-up with Disney and Lucasfilm for a unique artistic challenge that will have fans of the movies opening Maya, 3ds Max or Fusion and excitedly noodling new droid designs.

The challenge launched today by Autodesk is simple: design a droid. Autodesk has a long history of working with Lucasfilm, and Autodesk software was used to design and make the new Star Wars droid that will appear in Disney+ TV show The Acolyte, streaming June 4, so this contest feels perfectly on brand (see our pick of the best Star Wars posters and the best Lego Star Wars Day deals for more May the 4th goodness).

This competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 and will last the entire month of May, and you can submit your droid designs by going to autodesk.com/droid. Winners can scoop some impressive prizes too; the winner of the Mechanical Grand Prize having their design made real and displayed at Lucasfilm and get a VIP tour of the studio and meet a Lucasfilm exec (leave your portfolio everywhere); while the winner of the Animated Grand Prize will have their droid digitally showcased at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, as well as a VIP tour and have their design professionally 3D-printed to keep.

The serious bit: the Autodesk Star Wars droid design contest closes on June 4 at 11:59pm ET. Winners will be announced on June 18. Visit the contest landing page for more information to submit an entry today.

If you need more inspiration, take a look at our 3ds Max tutorials and Maya tutorials, and maybe upgrade your kit with one of the best drawing tablets and the best laptops for 3D modelling.