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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Alright...let's get the ball rolling with some challenges!
Use this thread to post your ideas for future contest topics
Animation:
-lip sync animation to a dialogue clip from a movie (ala 10secondclub)
-animate a character waiting for a bus
-animate a character in his/her last breath (ie...romanticized death scene)
Lighting/Rendering/Texturing:
-Everyone gets the same scene...and must compete for best lighting/texture setup
-Atmosphere challenges...ie...best foggy scene...best night scene...best rainy scene etc.
Post your ideas!
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Cameron 2,374 posts
-Everyone gets the same scene...and must compete for best lighting/texture setup
I'm a fan of that one, so many good things could come up from it and it's something I could go well in.
Here are some of my suggestions:
For animation:
-Swordfight
-Character getting shot, then dying
-Building collapse
-Octopus fighting a shark
-Slow motion bullet going through a can, tomato, banana, finger e.t.c
-Rollercoaster
-Electricuted
-Cutting off own finger
-Falling off a chair down a cliff into a field of mines
-Girly pillowfight
-Accident Prone
-Taking a ride in an office chair tied behind a truck/sports-car/cab
-Bird Hunting
-The Skydiver (Ha, that'd be cool whabba whabba whabba)
I could come up with more, but I think there's enough there for the first choice.
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Todd 84 posts
I challenge thee to bring me a cup of tea!
But seriously im also a fan of the same scene but differant lighting/texturing setup contest. Makes the starting level even for those who aren't as confident with their skills.
Down the track perhaps as the forum matures i think a contest based purely on a word or phrase would increase the diversity of content of the forum. The word/phrase could be an emotion, object or even a sentence like age like 'Age of Sail'
Cheers.
~Todd
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Cameron 2,374 posts
Yeah, thats going to be more the idea for the major contests.
These mini challenges need to be more specific and tighter so that they can be done quicker (like in the space of a week or two) yet still be available to people using different software.
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Todd 84 posts
Fair enough, my bad.
Would help if i actually read 'mini challenge' instead of just 'challenge'
Cheers,
~Todd.
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Global 1,589 posts
Some good ideas already.
As I suck at materials and lighting I think it'd be quite a novel challenge for me to take up, I'm game!
As for the animation challenges, I want to do them all! I've been really lacking in inspiration for quite a while and things like a swordfight, girlie pillow fight (or even a girlie sword fight lol) all sound like fun!
I really like the detail you put in some of your suggestions Cam - "Falling off a chair down a cliff into a field of mines" - exploding YaYness! Um, but an Octupus fighting a shark doesn't sound like a mini challenge to me!
Hmm... no real suggestions from me (see above re. inspiration...) I have been toying with an idea involving a kite - or how about a running machine. (wow, there you go that's two from me - it only took me 43.28 seconds to think of them - yay!)
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ar LutiK 455 posts
I really like the idea of everybody gets the same scene and we all do our own lighting and...
That be really great
Cam great Forum
and Tyson thanx for inviting me on it.
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Cameron 2,374 posts
Looks like we're all fairly keen for this thing.
Shall we vote on a theme and get a start date happening?
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Todd 84 posts
Sounds good to me, im on my holidays at the moment so it works for me!
Although im still working on 'Ass end Charlie' im not stressed out.
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i gotta few ideas
-happy snaps
-best costumed character
-drive thru order
-super hero
-break dancing grandpa
-most random character or situation
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
I like "most random character and situation"
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Me thinks that the rocket should of been a mini challenge
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BColbourn 2,323 posts
I'd like to start up mini-challenge #2
what do u guys think of the topic of computers? can range from one i nthe 70's to a hi -tech one of today. 1 week, scene including table, desklamp, etc are a must. also texturing and lighting are a must as well. tell me if this might be too much for 1 week.
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Cameron 2,374 posts
It's not a bad idea ridestowe.
But, I think for this mini challenge it would be better to make it an animation challenge. The last challenge was a scene creation one, might as well make this one different. It means that John can enter as well.
All the max users can use the Lowmax rig/model, (I think lowmax was inspired by a maya model, so you guys who are learning maya can use the maya version if you dont want to make your own)
- John can go nuts with his own crazy models.
I think we should vote on an animation topic. If we dont have a definate one by the time Tyson gets back, then he can lay one down for us.
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Global 1,589 posts
Hmm... I guess we could run two challenges at the same time? A compromise to generate a little more interest perhaps? You could enter one or both mini challenges.
Just an idea to throw in.
I like the idea of an animation challenge, but I wouldn't want it to be limiting to others. I guess we could try some basic animation techniques (not just character animation as that can get quite complex). Maybe take a look at some of the principles of animation and focus on a particular thing (squash/stretch... weight and timing etc) so that those who are new to animation get to learn from it.
That's kind of the way I see these challenges, as a good learning tool, an aide to those that may not be particularly strong in certain areas of CG. Take the last one for example. I learnt quite a bit from that, lighting is not so strong for me though I used a technique similar to the 'omni ring' setup discussed a while back on this forum.
And guess what?... I WON!!
WooOoOOOOOOOoooOoT!
(ahem... sorry about that, I've never won anything for CG stuff before)
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I noticed Father's Day is coming up.
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Ok...since it's time to move on....would anybody be up for this type of "gradual" challenge?
Basically...the challenge is separated into 5 weeks:
week 1) modelling part. You find a character concept (or make one)...post it....and model it (staying as true to the original concept as possible)
week 2) texturing part. You (and the other entrants) spend this week properly texturing your newly modelled character
week 3) rigging part. This week is spent doing rigging and character setup. This week will cover everything from bone setup to skinning to facial rigging etc
week 4 & 5) This is the final week, where you are to animate your character in some sort of animation (theme of your choice)
Overall....there will be "milestone" voting periods each week where the best entry for each particular area is chosen (ie...best texturing, best rig setup, best animation etc)...and at the end there will be a vote for a grandprize winner (don't know if there'll actually be any prizes...but at least you'll own the title)
What do you guys think? It's the kind of thing where you'd have to be in it from the start (to ensure fairness etc)...so I need people to tell me if they're interested now!
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Cameron 2,374 posts
I'm definately keen. It's sort of a speed challenge for all of us without much time
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Hehe...yes.....but you can do as simple a character as you want. No reason to get too ambitious...in the end it's all about showing emotion through action....even if your chacter is a bouncing lamp or something...oh wait....I think Pixar beat us to it on that front...
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Holy Sh!T... sounds crazy... but I guess it's a great way to practice your skills... I guess I'm for it?
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Cameron 2,374 posts
You Better Be!!!!
*Shakes Fist*
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Global 1,589 posts
That's a fantastic idea bud!
Sadly I don't think I can find the time or energy to spend on something with this much depth...
just maybe though... ack, but I'm sure that a 'maybe' is not what you want to hear.
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
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g3org3 355 posts
I would like to do that but I am not that good at animating so can i do all that just kind of skip the rigging and animating? so like each part is judged. or something im rambling because school just let out and i have to go catch my bus
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Yeah as I said....we'll have a "milestone" vote for each section...that way even if you don't get the most votes for your overall entry, you could still win for best texturing or modelling or something
Look at this more like a workshop than a competition though
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awsome idea
thats a project ill be interested in getting in, hope i can find time for it! now im goind to spend the week outside home, so maybe ill have more time.... or maybe not
but i swear ill try!
thanx tyson
for ur inspiration and support
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Hey no probs...I'm here for you guys!
...
Ok. My apologies...that was a bit too sappy
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g3org3 355 posts
OK i will probaly be able to find time for this... hopefully. Well for overall im just wondering because i can't really animate but i can basically rig can the last part be like a pose/animation part or something along those lines?
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
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Richard 1,943 posts
i rally love the "gradual" challenge idea, can we do it after the movie parody contest please?
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
LOL....the "movie parody" challenge is actual the last stage of the progressive challenge that we just had. You missed it
If you search through the mini-challenge forum you can see all of the other stages and how they went.
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Richard 1,943 posts
loooooooooooooooool a bit late i am ... can we do an other one then? btw i have some update on mine, nothing spectacular but hey ...
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quinn paynter 356 posts
I know its way late and were all doing our Movie Parodies, but for maybe a future mini challenge I like the idea of Best Fall. Like Homer Simpson falling down a canyon after trying to jump it on a skateboard. People falling is just plain funny ^^
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g3org3 355 posts
Heres a quick idea.
You only get to use a sphere (or any primitive shape that we choose) and you are not alowed to modify at all except with materials. So you can have Displacement, SSS, etc.
This is not really a challenge but more of a workshop. Plus with the simplicity of this workshop it could be either a one week or so workshop or an on going workshop.
Another idea is to create a model with a scene with only primitive objects, no mesh modelling or anything.
On last Idea is to have a tutorial contest. So you have to choose a subject and create something like a scene, car, house, etc. and write a small tutorial or walkthrough of how you completed everything. THe judging could be based on the writen part and then the final image.
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Global 1,589 posts
Can we limit the file size guys?
Thing is I'm really busy right now, I've had no time to enter the competition myself, but... I'd love to be able to crit your work. The thing is, when I have to wait an age to download a 5-10 second animation that is 15 Meg Then wait another age for the 15 Meg tweaked update the very next day I kinda get a little put off. We're not looking for quality of render and THX approved Dobly 7.1 sound... so a 5 second anim really should be no more than 600 to 800Kb
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marktsang 47 posts
totally agree with global
mark
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ivanisavich 4,196 posts
Good point global.
I'll try to remember to put that in the rules next time.
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hype 2,964 posts
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quinn paynter 356 posts
Just wondering if its possible to do another one of those month long compititions? Like 1 week modeling, 1 week rigging, 1 week animating, 1 week finalising ect. Cause I know for me and alot of other people, its cool we get practise with smaller comps, but also wanna make something pretty for our Showreels. So any chance of another longer durationed comp?
Cheers guys.
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Richard 1,943 posts
i would really like an other special effect challenge like to tornado one... would that be possible?
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Cameron 2,374 posts
Hey guys, I don't think we'll do a full month long comp with different stages and all that again just yet. The last one was a bit drawn out and had few people entering. Will wait till the action picks up before doing that again I think.
Another fx one would be cool but I don't know what Tyson has planned. Will have a chat and see what we come up with.
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g3org3 355 posts
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flashmasterfong 238 posts
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
I also like the sound of the month long challenge, but it would be awsome to do another VFX shot.
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Cameron 2,374 posts
I just had a thought, how about we combine the month long challenge with the VFX challenge.
Each week is a different challenge where you have to handle one of the four elements.
Week1: Air
Week2: Fire
Week3: Earth
Week4: Water
You can do anything VFX based as long as it's theme is based on the respective week's element.
For example you could do:
Week1: Clouds forming over an island or some such, or a windmill, or wind affecting things, or a hurricane
Week2: An Explosion, or Volcano, or Stovetop
Week3: Mudslide, or an Earthquake, or some Quicksand, or somebody falling off a roof and getting smacked by the ground
Week4: Water sim, or tsunami, or water in a cup
Wouldn't be as grand an idea as the build a character, rig a character, texture a character and animate a character because it wont flow on from each week, but it would be a good challenge in my eyes.
Not this week though, but if you're all keen we could try something like that out in the next challenge, or the one after.
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Jake 212 posts
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quinn paynter 356 posts
hmm hope we get an animation comp after this ^_^
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iest_rob 1,671 posts
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ALi 608 posts
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Richard 1,943 posts
