2014 Holiday Season Carrara Challenge (#14) - WINNERS ANNOUNCED - WIP Thread

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  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 2014

    Bunyip02 said:

    As Noobie is panel judged, The Fox gets the 4th place.
    Chickenmans work was still excellent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I am sorry, Bunyip02, it must nor be my day for clarity,, because I don't seem to be making my point clear. I'll try again:

    The idea is this: the vote from the public should be category-independent to give ALL participants a chance to win the regular prizes. Just because an entry is entered in the newcomer category doesn't mean that it's not in the running for the regular prizes!

    So please only weigh your own preference and appreciation of the image when deciding on your votes.

    Bunyip02, I'm not suggestion you should change your vote, I just want to make sure that others know not to treat the categories differently.

    The 4 votes should be chosen out of all the 20 entries.

    Post edited by Antara on
  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,579
    edited December 1969

    Antara said:
    Bunyip02 said:

    As Noobie is panel judged, The Fox gets the 4th place.
    Chickenmans work was still excellent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I am sorry, Bunyip02, it must nor be my day for clarity,, because I don't seem to be making my point clear. I'll try again:

    The idea is this: the vote from the public should be category-independent to give ALL participants a chance to win the regular prizes. Just because an entry is entered in the newcomer category doesn't mean that it's not in the running for the regular prizes!

    So please only weigh your own preference and appreciation of the image when deciding on your votes.

    Bunyip02, I'm not suggestion you should change your vote, I just want to make sure that others know not to treat the categories differently.

    The 4 votes should be chosen out of all the 20 entries.

    Hello Antara

    My apologies for the OOOOOOPS, but when I voted it was very early in the morning my local time !!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Have not had much good sleep over the last few days as well.

    The four that I have chosen are the ones that I could pick out of the 20 entries (and I love all of the other entries)
    Chickenman got an extra thumbs up as I loved his concept, layout, and his interpretation of the Challenge.

    I have updated my vote again, just in case someone else gets the wrong idea from how I had it worded.

    My fault for the OOOOOOOPS.
    Future Challenge hosts might need to add to the posts the voting rules again to clarify when the Challenge switches over from entries to votes, especially for the people who don't sleep well like me.

    Regards, Bunyip

  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 1969

    Bunyip02 said:
    Hello Antara

    My apologies for the OOOOOOPS, but when I voted it was very early in the morning my local time !!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Have not had much good sleep over the last few days as well.

    The four that I have chosen are the ones that I could pick out of the 20 entries (and I love all of the other entries)
    Chickenman got an extra thumbs up as I loved his concept, layout, and his interpretation of the Challenge.

    I have updated my vote again, just in case someone else gets the wrong idea from how I had it worded.

    My fault for the OOOOOOOPS.
    Future Challenge hosts might need to add to the posts the voting rules again to clarify when the Challenge switches over from entries to votes, especially for the people who don't sleep well like me.

    Regards, Bunyip

    Thank you!!! And please don't worry about it. Well it could have been lack of sleep for us both :) - I stayed up until after 3AM to close the challenge and write up the rules, but still woke up early, so I'm not in my best metal shape today. :)

    Thank you! I think it's all cleared up now.

    Merry Christmas! :)

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 1969

    thanks. yeah, i ended up with tris on the convert. :)

    it wouldn't let me marquee select the edges?

    i'm used to wings3d. is there a quick cut edge/connect vert command?


    haz a 4-day weekend to practice :)

    Hi Misty,

    Just a couple of thoughts regarding the vertex modeler.
    - if you are comfortable with Wings (or whatever), you can continue with that for most things. Some people still use Hexagon, for example.
    - there are a couple of reasons to get familiar with Carrara's vertex modeler even if you use something else when you model from scratch.
    ** vertex modeling in the assembly room - becomes very easy to "fit" things in your scene (even raise ground to feet).
    ** vertex modeling in the posed position - the vertex modeler has an animation mode (upper right) in which the object will adopt its posed position and it is still possible to move polygons and edit bone influences. Great for correcting joints an fixing poke through. Works well for gen 4 and earlier figures, but Daz protected the geometry of Genesis and Genesis 2 figures (aaargh!)
    ** direct editing of a figure's underlying mesh - if you are going to be using a character entirely within Carrara, you can customize it by highlighting the model level of the instance, and editing the mesh. Again, works better for gen 4 and earlier, plus it can't be exported back to Studio as a duf file.

    So I am attaching a couple of screenshots with Aiko3 in which I...
    - use the vertex modeler directly on the model level of the Aiko3 group without using the traditional load "morph" approach.
    - show where the vertex modeler "edit in posed position" (animation mode) is.

    Heads up - to use the "model in posed position" function, the mesh needs to have at last one morph first.

    5b_morph_in_posed_position.jpg
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    4_posed_aiko.JPG
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    3_aiko_3_face.JPG
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    1b_aiko3_highlight_model.jpg
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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 1969

    And here is a quick note on some basic functions in Carrara's vertex modeler. If you prefer the box/extrude modeling method, you will want to start with a vertex basic shape from the upper left of the vertex modeler. I did not use the word "primitive" because people get confused with the primitives in the upper left of the assemble room, which are not vertex models (I think the others are based on formula).

    1) to model from reference images, you can go to the global tab (middle right) and check the boxes to load images to the front/back, sides, and top/bottom. The reference mages will not show in the directors camera, so switch camera to front, left, or whatever.

    2) you can start with a box, sphere, grid, or whatever from the vertex primitive tab (used that primitive word, aaargh), and then use the extrude tool to expand, shape, and extend. Note, there is a symmetry option that only appears if at least one vertex is selected.

    3) To add detail, the "add vertex" tool can be used to place a new vertex on a line, and will automatically link if the next vertex is placed on another edge of the same polygon.

    4) Another way to add detail, is to select edge or edges and use the "extract along" tool. Note this tool is in the menu that includes edge tools for beveling, etc.

    5) Yet another way, and I don't necessarily advocate this way, is to use the Boolean cut tool. For this tool, you have your polymesh that you are working on, you then use the polyline tool to draw on the drawing plane behind it, and then the Boolean cut can be used to create about 10-12 different results, such as creating two polymeshes separated by that line, or just half, or half and filled, etc. It has its uses, but it does not seem to have a good default weld (happy to be corrected).

    6) And naturally you will want to get comfortable with the select tools. Some of the select tools can be found in the leftside menu. These are traditional box, lasso, and paintbrush. Others are found in the upper right. They can be used to select anything, or just polygons, or just edges, or just vertices. There are also options for loop. ring, between, invert, etc.

    9b_selection_tools.jpg
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    8b_vertex_tools.jpg
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    6b_global_tab_to_load_reference_pics.jpg
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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2014

    And sometimes you might prefer to use some form of ruled surfaces or lofting or something similar. Here is one way using the menu that has ruled surfaces, Gordon, etc. (Note to people who stumble upon the thread, this is the pro version).

    You can use the polyline menu to create an oval, copy and paste and then move the second around, maybe draw a square and copy and paste a second square, etc. Then you can use the ruled surfaces tool to have Carrara create the mesh around the polylines. The explanations for the surfaces tools will be written in the right side.

    Furthermore, don't forget the other modelers. For example, the metaball modeler can be very useful to create something dripping. And Evilproducer does amazing things with the spline modeler. I've even had cause to use the formula modeler (which is an amazing memory saver in some situations).

    Welcome aboard. Hope some of that helps you get started. Again, if you are comfortable with Wings and can create, uvmap, texture, etc. quickly there (or another program), don't feel like you have to reinvent the wheel. However, there are several Carrara functions, like vertex modeling in the assembly room, in which being familiar with the vertex modeler can be very convenient.

    11b_ruled_surfaces.jpg
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    10b_polylines.jpg
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 1969

    Obviously, there are plenty of tools I didn't mention and I only briefly touched on the ones I did. While PhilW and MarkBremmer have formal tutorial series for Carrara as a whole (everything including rigging figures, using the plant modeler, etc.), MMoir has a tutorial that is focused entirely on the vertex modeler. If you choose to dive in the vertex modeler, I'd recommend the Mmoir tutorial.

    77_mmoir_tutorial.JPG
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  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 1969

    Misty, thank you for updating the text for your entry! :)

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    edited December 1969

    I sorta kinda participated this time, even though I didn't really.

    Meaning I misread the rules and made a non G-rated render for an entry. In fact, apparently too racy to post on the forums here. I realized my mistake early on, but still I'm stubborn and obsessive (and of course sick and twisted) so I decided to go with my first thought anyway. So just for fun, I posted it over at Rendo, as a weird way to 'show solidarity' for the many great challenges that are run here, even if I didn't really participate this time.

    Now fair warning, there is no nudity or sexual content in the image, but it's still saucy enough that it's not allowed to be posted here, so I guess I would be judicious in deciding whether to view it.

    Here's the link:

    http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2587446&section_id=6&genre;_id=&np;

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Jonstark said:
    I sorta kinda participated this time, even though I didn't really.

    Meaning I misread the rules and made a non G-rated render for an entry. In fact, apparently too racy to post on the forums here. I realized my mistake early on, but still I'm stubborn and obsessive (and of course sick and twisted) so I decided to go with my first thought anyway. So just for fun, I posted it over at Rendo, as a weird way to 'show solidarity' for the many great challenges that are run here, even if I didn't really participate this time.

    Now fair warning, there is no nudity or sexual content in the image, but it's still saucy enough that it's not allowed to be posted here, so I guess I would be judicious in deciding whether to view it.

    Here's the link:

    http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2587446&section_id=6&genre;_id=&np;

    I'm going to guess that the irony for this is that the skankware was probably bought here. ;-)

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited December 1969

    Pinochoaiko :lol:

    i'm excited the carrara modeling says real world measurements. should make making a 1/2 " slab be easy.

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,579
    edited December 1969

    Another concept render, still got heaps to do on the Dragon Ice Boat but this is part of where It's heading, although a bit colder environment.
    Similar style details, and with a storm instead of sun, all modeled in Carrara.

    Model in this DAZ3D render is the Real Wind Zeppelin created by Sergiy Dobrovolskyy (Rendo Username: "1971s")

    Real_Wind_Zeppelin_3_x1950.jpg
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  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Bunyip02 said:
    Another concept render, still got heaps to do on the Dragon Ice Boat but this is part of where It's heading, although a bit colder environment.
    Similar style details, and with a storm instead of sun, all modeled in Carrara.

    Model in this DAZ3D render is the Real Wind Zeppelin created by Sergiy Dobrovolskyy (Rendo Username: "1971s")

    That is really cool looking! So sorry you couldn't get further in the Challenge this time!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986
    edited December 1969

    Bunyip02 said:
    Another concept render, still got heaps to do on the Dragon Ice Boat but this is part of where It's heading, although a bit colder environment.
    Similar style details, and with a storm instead of sun, all modeled in Carrara.

    Model in this DAZ3D render is the Real Wind Zeppelin created by Sergiy Dobrovolskyy (Rendo Username: "1971s")

    Great render, agree with evil! Looks like an album cover !

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,579
    edited December 1969

    EP and headwax

    Many thank-yous for the positive comments, was initially wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew.

    Still chewing on this one, end result will be worth it though !!!!!!

    Regards, Bunyip

  • DarwinsMishapDarwinsMishap Posts: 4,087
    edited December 1969

    diomede64 said:
    I voted. It is always difficult to vote in these challenges. There are so many worthy images. In opening the challenge this month, Antara framed it in terms of the NYC subway. My impression for ads in subways is that the DC ads tend to be political (we should keep or get rid of some class of navy aircraft, for example), which is not what I see when I visit other cities. When I was in Philly, the ads that I saw were for accident lawyers, for example. So when I looked at the images, I did a first cut based on my completely subjective impression of what would be the basis for an ad or public service campaign in the NYC subway cars. I tried to think of a few tag lines and imagine the render on the wall of the subway car with people sitting around it. My second cut was based on the suggestion that the image have an initial impact, and also invite additional exploration. That is why I strongly recommend that people view the images at full size. Despite those cuts, it was still very difficult to pick only 4 images. But I figured it wouldn't get easier if I waited. So I voted for

    - Entry #: 6, MDO2010, (That Crazy) Winter Jogger Is Coming
    - Entry # 11, Varsel, - Winter Queen is Coming
    - Entry #: 18, stringtheory9, Winter Powder is Here
    - Entry # 20, Antara, Winter Holiday Is Here.

    Just a few thoughts for other entrants. Dudu, BooksbyDavid, and MistyWisky, in various drafts of my vote post, your images were in there. If I waited, I would probably change my mind again, and y'all might have been included, and someone else's image would have been left off. It is just so hard. It is gut wrenching to not be able to vote for all worthy images. Anyway, keep up the great work.

    EP, I think you may suffer from the Michael Jordan syndrome. I could vote for your renders every month, sort of like Jordan could have been voted MVP every year, but wasn't. It isn't fair, but you will just have to step up your game even more, if that is even possible. :) In the future, I will try extra hard not to succumb to the Michael Jordan syndrome. But if you want to know my thought process, I loved your barn especially, but I thought some of the other entries had more to explore after the initial impression (same applies for with Fenric's fox). I don't know, if I gave it another look, I might change my mind.

    And Pimpy, and Darwinsmishap, and Roygee and Fenric, and Chickenman, and Bunyip - I really enjoyed exploring your final renders in the entry thread and seeing how you put them together in the WIP thread. Pimpy, your image hit all the right factors. I am especially impressed at the image's ability to convey emotion through the pose of figures that don't have much room for movement. Bravo. Darwinsmishap, that is an exceptionally beautiful landscape. I learned a great deal from your WIPs. Thanks for the tips and I hope you keep participating. Roy, I especially like the man in the snowstorm because the lack of vibrant color conveys winter to me. Fenric, that is one foxy fox. The breath is the perfect touch. It is such a clean image. Beautiful. Chickenman, great job on the cloaks. The folds flow very naturally and the fur lining is exceptional. Bunyip, I am so glad that you entered your image even though you didn't have time to get your figures and your background the way you imagined. That dragonboat is an impressive piece of work and deserves to be entered in its own right. If my custom model of the bear had survived my computer repair, I would have entered my bear image even though the den, the beaver dam and the rest of the scene wasn't finished.

    Antara, thanks for a wonderful month. And thanks to Daz and Jack Tomalin and Dogwaffle Howler for sponsoring.

    Enjoy the holidays everyone. I can't believe I am the only one up in this house. The tree lights are on and the packages are so tempting.

    Thank you so much for the comments- I will definitely keep trying.

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