Would you like to contribute Ideas for the next challenges?

Headwax

Greetings!

Well we are almost finished out second Carrara challenge and if all goes well we will have a new host for Carrara Challenge number three!

As you may or may not know the Host gets to choose both the topic and choose the rules.

So I thought I would get the ball rolling and ask if people had any ideas that they would like to see.
Just so the next Host has a general idea of what people are interested in doing - and what people are not interested in.

For example,

1) do you want an animation challenge?
Or do you think that would be too time consuming not to mention awkward considering the forum has no ability to host direct imbedding of Youtube/Vimeo links. Would it scare too many people away.

2) Would you like a Topic but a "no rules: challenge? Just that an image must be rendered in Carrara?

3) Or the opposite extreme - would you like a challenge where EVERYTHING has to be done in Carrara?

4) Or do you think the Challenges are a waste of time?

Thanks for any ideas you would like to throw in the ring :)

WendyLuvsCatz

I would like to see a real life/CGI challenge where a real photo (or video) is used and CGI elements added
this is also something Carrara can do easily without jumpimg through hoops unlike studio, at least with animation, studio can do still images due to animated textures
even the non-animators could manage a still figure like a space craft flying through say a shopping mall videoed with their phone
but still renders could be more challenging to get realistic as there is less to distract.

you could even just dress yourself in Daz clothes (using a shadowcatcher shader on Genesis or M4 & V4)
poor examples as my webcam pretty crap andswas too cold to get naked outside

ManStan

err ummm :ohh:

Sockratease

Animations could be hosted here if we make it an animated gif challenge!

Technical difficulties with my webby connection caused me to miss this round - couldn't get here to enter :(

So I guess the idea of an All Cow Challenge will have to wait for the one after next (assuming I win the next one!).

ManStan

Teens and cars?

Headwax

thank you for the input :) nice renders Wendy!

evilproducer

For my part, I think the minimal requirement is that any image submitted must be rendered in Carrara. It doesn't matter to me if there's postwork or not.

Content is also not a big issue for me. Carrara can do so much more than Poser and Studio in many respects and it can use Poser/DAZ content, so why exclude it from all the challenges?

As to the subject of the contest, it may be fun to experiment with some of the effects Carrara has such as the fire and fog primitives. It could also be fun to use some of the more obscure modelers such as the Spline of Metaball modelers. Maybe even a terrain.

Another possible contest is coming up with images utilizing volumetric clouds in new or interesting ways as a main focus.

Of course, I'm always up for sci-fi or fantasy themes as well....

Headwax

Thanks for the well considered and intelligent response Evil. :)

evilproducer

head wax said:

Thanks for the well considered and intelligent response Evil. :)

You take that back! :P

Garstor had the nerve to call me a gentleman recently! Imagine! :ahhh:

WendyLuvsCatz

and nobody would mistake me for a lady TG

Headwax

wendy I consider you a lady.
I mean you've never said the word 'bum' or anything like that on the forum :)

evil I take that back.. I meant to say a very well considered response :)

evilproducer

head wax said:

wendy I consider you a lady.
I mean you've never said the word 'bum' or anything like that on the forum :)

evil I take that back.. I meant to say a very well considered response :)

Just so long as we don't have any of that gentleman crap....

I didn't go through eight years of Evil Producing classes at Scrue U. to be called a "gentleman" or to have well considered ideas... Harrumph!!

Chohole

Just a quick opinion. Your Challenge is new, but it is billed as a challenge. I used to regularly take part in a Bryce challenge on another forum, and have borrowed a couple of things from that challenge for the Bryce challenge here. One is that the winner of the previous contest selects the subject for the next challenge, and the other rule is that rules are variable, so the person setting the challenge can alter the rules. So you can have one challenge that allows imports, and the next will say no imports, use only native content. We have even had challenges which concentrated on a specific thing that was part of the things that Bryce can do, I remember one challenge when we had to include at least one example of the intersect boolean feature in the resulting render, for example, and deomonstarte how we had used the feature.

Challenges are just that, challenging people to use all and every option going.

JoeMamma2000

Oooo, I've got an idea for a challenge that's absolutely guaranteed to generate ZERO interest.... :)

It's a learning challenge....

For those who are interested in generating "realistic" renders, the one thing that is NEVER discussed here is attempting to duplicate an actual photo. Heck, if you want realism, there's no better way than using realism as your guideline, right? :)

So I'm suggesting we start with a simple photograph of an actual thing, and try to duplicate that photo in your Carrara render. And I'll even donate a photograph of a very simple thing that anyone can duplicate.....

Here is my suggestion on how to proceed if anyone wants to learn about realism:

1. Study the photo. Bring it into Photoshop, and study the colors and textures and shadows. If you aren't good with colors use the color picker to figure out what all the colors are. Is the color gray, or is there a hint of blue? And if so, where does the blue come from? Study the shadows. How crisp are they? How black are they? Where are the lights coming from? Are there reflections from the ground, and the sky, and the object itself? Study the textures of the object and its surroundings. Study the details. If you were to model the scene without seeing the photo, what would you have forgotten to include?

2. Now model the object and the ground. Try to duplicate the textures and colors and bump exactly.

3. Now add some lights. Use ONLY spotlights and a single sunlight. NO GI, or ambient or anything fancy. And see if you can do it with less than 5 lights.

Now the challenge is to see who can generate the photo as closely as possible as a Carrara render, using as few lights as possible. And the only prize is that you learn something, so cheating ain't gonna get you anything.... :)

Diomede

An entry in July's challenge (the car crash) inspired the following idea. We could have a challenge that requires Non-photorealistic renders (and non-toon). If you wanted to follow Joemomma's train of thought, one could find an image found on ancient Greek pottery, or an oil painting, or and advertising illustration, or... and ask people to try to reproduce it. But, I'd prefer to require the nonphotorealistic renderer and let people go wild.

Anyway, I like allowing the previous month winner to pick the theme and the rules.

WendyLuvsCatz

I do not find photos of bollards particularly arousing either :roll:

mind you some bollards are totally cool!

Dartanbeck

chohole said:

Just a quick opinion. Your Challenge is new, but it is billed as a challenge. I used to regularly take part in a Bryce challenge on another forum, and have borrowed a couple of things from that challenge for the Bryce challenge here. One is that the winner of the previous contest selects the subject for the next challenge, and the other rule is that rules are variable, so the person setting the challenge can alter the rules. So you can have one challenge that allows imports, and the next will say no imports, use only native content. We have even had challenges which concentrated on a specific thing that was part of the things that Bryce can do, I remember one challenge when we had to include at least one example of the intersect boolean feature in the resulting render, for example, and deomonstarte how we had used the feature.

Challenges are just that, challenging people to use all and every option going.

Yes! That's how Head Wax set this one up:
Winner choses the challenge, and may make the rules surrounding the challenge. Very cool, I think.

WendyLuvsCatz

well it is a damn good thing JM2K did not post an entry
we would have all voted for it because it would be so awesome
and
then next month
be stuck with rendering bollards on concrete paths
(I would add a cattle dog weeing to give a nod to the moolenium cow with metaball fluids!)

Chohole

wendy♥catz said:

well it is a damn good thing JM2K did not post an entry
we would have all voted for it because it would be so awesome
and
then next month
be stuck with rendering bollards on concrete paths
(I would add a cattle dog weeing to give a nod to the moolenium cow with metaball fluids!)

I used trekkiegrrrrrls morphing puddle for the dog on the splash page of my site

Dartanbeck

chohole said:

wendy♥catz said:

well it is a damn good thing JM2K did not post an entry
we would have all voted for it because it would be so awesome
and
then next month
be stuck with rendering bollards on concrete paths
(I would add a cattle dog weeing to give a nod to the moolenium cow with metaball fluids!)

I used trekkiegrrrrrls morphing puddle for the dog on the splash page of my siteLO freaking L!!!

Headwax

Great ideas thank you everyone. I'm off to grab Treckie's puddle before he/she run's out. ;)

0oseven

My thoughts are - Should this be a challenge to show off the skill of the artIST or a to show off the a'power" of Carrara.?

The former would allow all sorts of post processing the latter rely totally on the features of Carrara and of course the skill of an artist using them.

I'm all for the latter so that subjects for a challenge would stretch our ability with Carrara's tools and encourage experimenting in areas where previously we had feared to tread.

So my suggestion would be that winners still choose the challenge but within certain parameters.

All Carrara. No post procesising. Any content or use of plugin IS allowed

The definition of the challenge could be anything someone wants to make it. - for example.

HAIR AND FIRE. - who knows what someone would come up with for this ?

COLLISION and DEFORMERS - collapsing buildings, explosions ?

REALISTIC SKY someone might want to add lightening. ?

STORMY SEA. someone might want to add a lighthouse or ship ?

AT THE CIRCUS

It could be anything as long as the interpretation is created with Carrara.

here endeth my thoughts

evilproducer

JoeMamma2000 said:

Oooo, I've got an idea for a challenge that's absolutely guaranteed to generate ZERO interest.... :)

It's a learning challenge....

For those who are interested in generating "realistic" renders, the one thing that is NEVER discussed here is attempting to duplicate an actual photo. Heck, if you want realism, there's no better way than using realism as your guideline, right? :)

So I'm suggesting we start with a simple photograph of an actual thing, and try to duplicate that photo in your Carrara render. And I'll even donate a photograph of a very simple thing that anyone can duplicate.....

Here is my suggestion on how to proceed if anyone wants to learn about realism:

1. Study the photo. Bring it into Photoshop, and study the colors and textures and shadows. If you aren't good with colors use the color picker to figure out what all the colors are. Is the color gray, or is there a hint of blue? And if so, where does the blue come from? Study the shadows. How crisp are they? How black are they? Where are the lights coming from? Are there reflections from the ground, and the sky, and the object itself? Study the textures of the object and its surroundings. Study the details. If you were to model the scene without seeing the photo, what would you have forgotten to include?

2. Now model the object and the ground. Try to duplicate the textures and colors and bump exactly.

3. Now add some lights. Use ONLY spotlights and a single sunlight. NO GI, or ambient or anything fancy. And see if you can do it with less than 5 lights.

Now the challenge is to see who can generate the photo as closely as possible as a Carrara render, using as few lights as possible. And the only prize is that you learn something, so cheating ain't gonna get you anything.... :)

So you're saying in the other challenges nothing was learned? I seem to recall in the WIP thread, there was discussion on post-work, rigging and some other stuff that escapes me now.

evilproducer

0oseven said:

My thoughts are - Should this be a challenge to show off the skill of the artIST or a to show off the a'power" of Carrara.?

The former would allow all sorts of post processing the latter rely totally on the features of Carrara and of course the skill of an artist using them.

I'm all for the latter so that subjects for a challenge would stretch our ability with Carrara's tools and encourage experimenting in areas where previously we had feared to tread.

So my suggestion would be that winners still choose the challenge but within certain parameters.

All Carrara. No post procesising. Any content or use of plugin IS allowed

The definition of the challenge could be anything someone wants to make it. - for example.

HAIR AND FIRE. - who knows what someone would come up with for this ?

COLLISION and DEFORMERS - collapsing buildings, explosions ?

REALISTIC SKY someone might want to add lightening. ?

STORMY SEA. someone might want to add a lighthouse or ship ?

AT THE CIRCUS

It could be anything as long as the interpretation is created with Carrara.

here endeth my thoughts

Just so long as the contest doesn't require a plugin to generate the image. Well, maybe the exception would be if it was a free and readily available plugin that had versions that worked with multiple versions of Carrara, such as C6, C7 or C8.x

Headwax

Double O Seven :)

Great ideas, I like most of them with the exception of course about no post work ;)

Evil wroteth:

Just so long as the contest doesn’t require a plugin to generate the image. Well, maybe the exception would be if it was a free and readily available plugin that had versions that worked with multiple versions of Carrara, such as C6, C7 or C8.x

Yes, that is very important. It must be a level playing field.

But:

I've just had a very enlightening "conversation" with some one in the know and I have had my eyes opened to what will make Carrara's future more viable. More later hopefully.

Here are my ideas for future challenges:

So far we have two challenges where the rules have swayed against the use of content in the belief that we should show off what Carrara can do by herself. So possibly we should go in the other direction for a few challenges.

When asked what I was aiming at in starting the challenges this was my response :

My general idea is to get more people back posting great work they have done with Carrara.
I think showing what Carrara can do will to get more people interested in using Carrara.
More people using Carrara means more people buying plugins/addons for Carrara.
More people buying addons/plugins for Carrara ,means more plugins/addons being made.
Also I hope to get a little more exposure for our sponsors - so that people know what they have, but also people will feel friendly towards them and want to support them.

I realise now that the way to get Daz to develop Carrara is by giving them an economic reason to develop Carrara. The way to do this is not by showing what Carrara users can do by ourselves, but to show how wonderfully Carrara can use Content, PlugIns, etc etc.

I must stress that this isn't my idea but someone elses that I thoroughly agree with.

With this in mind I think we should have a few challenges that showcase content, but not in a way which has been done to death Eg Dragons and Warrior Maids ;), etc etc (no offence Dartanbeck! Your renders are high above what I have seen before!!)

I think to showcase Carrara we have to try something Unique.

As to what that UNIQUE THING is, I have no idea. (yet)

evilproducer

Uh oh! You've been conversing with Dart too much! Your posts are getting more verbose!

Headwax speweth forth: ;-)

I think to showcase Carrara we have to try something Unique.

As to what that UNIQUE THING is, I have no idea. (yet)

We had a joke thread in the old forums prior to C8's release, where we poked fun at DAZ's penchant for scantily clad V4s in barely TOS compliant fantasy clothes.

Maybe a similar, though less tongue-in-cheek contest would be good. The idea would to be for the artist to design cover art they would envision on a Carrara box (if it were to be sold as boxed software). Something that would show off Carrara's unique abilities- including content, if the artist wished.

Headwax

Headwax Spewith Forth ... heh, that had me laughing out loud. Oh Dart's posts? I never read them, far too long for me ;)

Yes that;'s a great idea about the cover art. I like it because it works on a few levels. The top level, the bottom level, and the mid....

But seriously, I think it is a very good idea and attacks one aspect of the problem. How to Sell Carrara to the Masses. And to remind DAZ what a gem of a program Carrara really is - and one that has a lot of future potential as well.

evilproducer

head wax said:

Headwax Spewith Forth ... heh, that had me laughing out loud. Oh Dart's posts? I never read them, far too long for me ;)

Yes that;'s a great idea about the cover art. I like it because it works on a few levels. The top level, the bottom level, and the mid....

But seriously, I think it is a very good idea and attacks one aspect of the problem. How to Sell Carrara to the Masses. And to remind DAZ what a gem of a program Carrara really is - and one that has a lot of future potential as well.

Plus, there's the potential for postwork if you present the render on a box as Dart did for his very cool Enviro-Kit promo images!

Headwax

Oh yes :) The render would be on a box for sure. I might even print it out and make a box from it and put it on my shelf and pretend I have a real live copy of Carrara :0 and not a digital downloaded one. ! Ahh the smell of fresh software, the heavy feel of a shiny new dvd in your hands, the romantic wirr of a floppy disc drive, the tangled cord of a corded mouse.

Now they were the days. :)

WendyLuvsCatz

head wax said:

Oh yes :) The render would be on a box for sure. I might even print it out and make a box from it and put it on my shelf and pretend I have a real live copy of Carrara :0 and not a digital downloaded one. ! Ahh the smell of fresh software, the heavy feel of a shiny new dvd in your hands, the romantic wirr of a floppy disc drive, the tangled cord of a corded mouse.

Now they were the days. :)

you could even burn it onto a DVD, stamp a cover and print out the manual!

ManStan

10 second minimum animation, teens and cars?

"I never read them, far too long for me ;-) " head wax

Oh you don't know what you're missing. I often wonder where he gets the extra strength happy pills; I could sure use some some times.
:-P