Ideas for a summer contest

[Samo]

"Dead hour" by Mookie. YafaRay summer contest 2009 - Crazy Machines

hi guys !

I would like to know what kind of subject you would like the summer contest to be about. Also I would like to hear your opinion about other questions like contest rules, time span, dates, prizes, etc. Regards.

Prizes Proposal

• Winners will be selected by a jury composed by members of the YafaRay Team.
• The winner will get two items from the Blender e-shop or alternatively two training books or DVDs from Amazon.
• Second and third place winners will get an item from the Blender e-shop or alternatively a CG training book or DVD from Amazon.
• There will be a Special Mention category for high-quality works not included in the first three places. They will get a DVD or book as well from the Blender e-shop.
• All entries reasonably finished and deemed good enough will be included in the Contest Gallery.

Rules Proposal

• Modelling. You can use any 3D package to model your work.
• Post-processing. The final render might consis in a single YafaRay render pass or a post-processing and composition of different YafaRay render and data passes. Compositing against a real background is allowed but it should only contribute sky to the final result. Other effects produced with compositors like glare, motion blur, glow, vignetting, etc. are also allowed. However, volumetric effects in contained spaces and DOF should be achieved with YafaRay. Contenders can use any YafaRay release to render their entry, even experimental ones.
• Resolution. Final render minimun resolution must be 1920×1080p lanscape or 1080 x 1920p portraït, using a lossless format such as PNG.
• Work in Progress. Every contestant must open his/her own work in progress thread in the forum. The last image posted on everyone's thread will be the one considered by the jury for the voting process.
• Midterm evaluation. To be considered and listed for a prize, contestants should have already posted in his/her own WIP thread at least 3 renders or 3D viewport screenshots by the contest midterm, showing significative progress. At that point, the jury would clarify if needed which contestants will qualify for a prize.

Dates proposal

• Starting date: 1 Juliol
• Midterm evaluation: 28 Juliol
• Deadline: 26 August 00:00 h. CEST

[Samo]

dates proposal added to the first post

[povmaniac]

Only a idea:
To promote the use of other exporters, I propose the participation using Wings3D, SketchUp or Softimage.
I am going to try to present a work realized with Softimage, although not between in final competition..
Greetings..

[Rio]

Great news ! Contest is one of the best way to promote render engines. But I guess we should allow to use more compositing tricks such as glare, glow, mist effects,etc...made with the blender node compositor. We keep in mind that main passes are produced with Yafa ( raw render, Ao, color, glossy and shadow passes for example). Don't fool yourself, lot of kicking-ass renderings made with Vray ( to mention it) are heavily enhanced with post-processing and several passes. Raw renderings with biased engines need this kind of tricks to impress !

[oort]

I agree with povmaniac that it would be great to include other exporters in the competition. If this is approved, I can let Wings3D users know about the new contest.

oort

[povmaniac]

I agree with povmaniac that it would be great to include other exporters in the competition. If this is approved, I can let Wings3D users know about the new contest.

oort

Rules Proposal

Modelling. You can use any 3D package to model your work.
Post-processing. The final render may consis in a single YafaRay render pass or a post-processing and composition of different YafaRay render and data passes. Compositing against a real background is allowed but it should contribute only sky to the final result.

...

[Samo]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I have added them to the first message. Besides I have changed prizes structure so the winner will get more stuff than the second and third place. I have also included provisions for all kind of compositing effects like the ones mentioned by Olivier except in two cases, where I have favoured YafaRay capabilities: Volumetric effects in contained spaces and DOF. I am collecting ideas for the subject of the contest, I will do a poll with them when we approach the starting date. Ideas collected so far:

Travel
Steampunk vehicles
Macro photography
Eureka!

[oort]

I will let Wings3d users know about the contest. Hopefully some will be interested. One more question... can YafaRay 0.1.3 Experimental be used to take advantage of SSS???

Thanks,
oort

[Samo]

I will let Wings3d users know about the contest. Hopefully some will be interested. One more question... can YafaRay 0.1.3 Experimental be used to take advantage of SSS???

Thanks,
oort

Yes, you can use any YafaRay release to render your entry. I have clarified that point in the contest rules.

[Arquitecto]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I have added them to the first message. Besides I have changed prizes structure so the winner will get more stuff than the second and third place. I have also included provisions for all kind of compositing effects like the ones mentioned by Olivier except in two cases, where I have favoured YafaRay capabilities: Volumetric effects in contained spaces and DOF. I am collecting ideas for the subject of the contest, I will do a poll with them when we approach the starting date. Ideas collected so far:

Travel
Steampunk vehicles
Macro photography
Eureka!

If you admit a theme like "Vanguardist Architecture" I am sure me and some more people get in the competition too.
And please, please, make a thread on blender artists just talking about the competition to increase the yafaray users base!

And once again, thanks Samo for your hard work on yafaray.

[Samo]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I have added them to the first message. Besides I have changed prizes structure so the winner will get more stuff than the second and third place. I have also included provisions for all kind of compositing effects like the ones mentioned by Olivier except in two cases, where I have favoured YafaRay capabilities: Volumetric effects in contained spaces and DOF. I am collecting ideas for the subject of the contest, I will do a poll with them when we approach the starting date. Ideas collected so far:

Travel
Steampunk vehicles
Macro photography
Eureka!

If you admit a theme like "Vanguardist Architecture" I am sure me and some more people get in the competition too.
And please, please, make a thread on blender artists just talking about the competition to increase the yafaray users base!

And once again, thanks Samo for your hard work on yafaray.

sure ! subjects proposed so far are:

• Travel
• Steampunk vehicles
• Macro photography
• Eureka!
• Vanguardist Architecture

[mookie]

All the topics submitted so far are great, I will definitely participate in the competition!

[bobo]

I totally agree with all the guys above me… I mean, the guys who will beat me once again !

[mookie]

Perhaps there is a way to invite more contestants to this event, we should all spread this news among other forums, in our own nations. Yaf(a)ray is so neglected among Blender users totally without any particular reason.

[Samo]

Hi there

I have updated the first message with a poll to choose the contest topic. It will run till Juny 30. Please vote!