2014 Holiday Season Carrara Challenge (#14) - Entries: WINNERS ANNOUNCED.

Antara · November 2014

Holiday Season Carrara Challenge of 2014. Is over.

Sponsored by DAZ 3D AND Jack Tomalin with a special prize donation by Philip Staiger.

We have the winner list:

1st place: Varsel with #11
Prize: $120.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s) & 3 products from Jack Tomalin’s DAZ Store*
2nd place: stringtheory9 with #18
Prize: $70.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s) & 2 products from Jack Tomalin’s DAZ Store*
3rd place: MDO2010 with #6
Prize: $45.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s) & 1 product from Jack Tomalin’s DAZ Store*
HM: evilproducer with #9
Prize: $30.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s) & 1 product from Jack Tomalin’s DAZ Store*

Newcomer winner: Chickenman with #14
Prize: $25.00 DAZ 3D Gift Certificate from me & 1 product from Jack Tomalin’s DAZ Store* & 1 copy of PD Howler 9.5
Newcomer HM: Misty Whisky with #19
Prize: $10.00 DAZ 3D Gift Certificate from sukyL.

* All Jack Tomalin’s products in his store are eligible to be selected as prized with the exception of Game Licenses.

For complete list of prizes and rules please refer to the WIP thread here:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/

THEME:
Public space poster on the theme of
Winter _____ Is Coming OR _____ Winter Is Coming
With a possible variation of
"Winter ____ Is Here" or "____ Winter Is Here".

Now open for VOTING!

Voting Rules:
- Each voter can vote for 4 images ONLY. (without any regard for categories - just vote for whatever images appeal to you most) - you may choose ANY 4 images out of ALL 20 entries.
- Anyone with DAZ 3D account may vote.
- If you have a justifiable reason to want to cast your vote anonymously, please send me a PM with your vote and your reason for anonymity. (My own entries are excluded from entries eligible for anonymous voting.)

- Votes will be counted per image and the image with most votes will win. If an artist submitted 2 images, only one of their images (the one with the highest vote count) is eligible to win a prize (the other prize will go to another artist's runner up image).
- The honourable mention will be decided as the 4th place image.
- The newcomer category winner will be decided by a panel of judges.

ANNOUNCEMENT: we have finalized the newcomer category judges:
- sukyL : our previous challenge host, and she is also contributing a $10 Gift certificate for the newcomer HM - a new prize category!!!
- head wax : the original creator of these challenges
- Antara : current challenge host.

Until voting closes on December 30th 2014 Please only respond to this thread with your votes (and, optionally - reasons for your votes).

All other comments and critique for the images in the challenge are always welcome in the WIP thread here.

Please cast your votes and enjoy the Holidays! :)

Entry posting requirements:

When posting an entry, please provide the following information:
- Entry # (based on how many are already posted in this thread)
- Artist name
- Entry Title = the theme phrase with filled in blank(s).
- Entry category: Regular OR Newcomer/New User.
- Links to WIPs in the WIP thread.
- List of all used content if any.
- Description, listing what was done to satisfy the rules, and whatever else you'd like to mention about the creative process. If posting in Newcomer/New User category, pleaset describe your history of using Carrara: when did you learn about it, how long and how often have you been using the program and how are you liking the experience :)

Dates to remember:
Challenge WIP Thread Opens for WIP submissions: November 14, 2014
Challenge Entry Thread Opens: November 24, 2014
Challenge Entry Submission CLOSES: December 24, 2014.
Challenge VOTING period: December 25, 2014 TO December 30, 2014.
Winners announced: December 31, 2014.

pimpy · November 2014

- Entry # 1
- Artist name: Pimpy
- Entry Title : Winter Holiday is coming
- Entry category: Regular
- Links to WIPs :
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P105/#715408
(created snowpersons in model room using sphere, cone and cilinder)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P135/#716043
(working with terrain and ocean)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P150/#716896
(use of replicator on a limited terrain space)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P180/#718651
(created items for snowpersons and full scene setting)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P180/#718831
(render preview)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P195/#719310
(render preview)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P225/#720424
(created ligth on top the tree)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P210/#720224
(final image)
-List of all used content:
Winter Spruce tree (Carrara)
Realistic Sky Presets for Carrara by Ringo Monfort
- Description:
To satisfy the challenge rules my final image is new, unpublished and rendered in Carrara. For the final effect I used Gimp in postwork only to increase a little bit the blue gamma channel.
I used Carrara 8 pro to create all the items and the snowpersons of my scene (except for the single tree present)
I created all terrains and the replicated snowpersons in Carrara (using replicator) on a limited terrain space. I also created the light on the top of the tree and for the global illumination I used (but altered) the Realistic Sky Presets for Carrara by Ringo Monfort and using also, as backdrop, a picture of the sky I made some time ago. Hope you enjoy my scene and Merry Christmas!

DarwinsMishap · November 2014

- Entry # 2
- Artist name: DarwinsMishap
- Entry Title : Winter Cold is Coming
- Entry category: Regular
-Size : Size is 1033x800 (14 inches X 11 inches) pixels

- Links to WIPs :
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P60/#714431
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P60/#714458
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P165/#717582

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P150/#716794
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P165/#717271
(This scene was scrapped, though everything was made in Carrara- the room is a bunch of cubes and planes for the windows and the poster frame is a mix of vertex object for the frame itself and plane for the glass. Shaders were all from inside C8 and the demo GI light settings were used.)

- Final Raw Render:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P180/#717961

-Post Worked Render:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P180/#717966
(some gamma correction, a light blue color filter, a high-pass overlay and a vibrance overlay)

-List of all used content:
Carrara Vista in the Clouds as the base

- Description:
To satisfy the challenge rules my final image is new, unpublished and rendered in Carrara. Postwork was done in Photoshop (Tweaking gamma, color filters, ect.)
I used Carrara 8 pro to re-work the shaders on the rock surface, the snow surface, the tree bark and the pine needles. I worked the trees themselves by changing the trunk/branches in the modeling room, as well as the pine needles (shape, orientation, population/generation). I also re-worked the sunlight's settings and the clouds and fog.
The hot-spots for the replicator for both of the tree sets (there are two) were changed as well.

DUDU · December 2014

- Entry # 3
- Artist name: DUDU
- Entry Title: The last sun
- Entry category: Regular User.

- Links to WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/714497/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/715138/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/719128/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/719206/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/727029/

- Content List:
- My preferred star: Michael 3.
- The reindeers are from Lyne.
- The tree of ? , but re-worked.
- A fox (www.most-digital-creations.com_Fox) is the base to make the dog (added hair, modified vertexes).
- An Arctic hare from Lyne (where is it ?)

I built all the remainder myself, clothing, the tent, the skins of reindeers and the support, the dagger, the belt, the lasso, the hat, the shoes, the skis…
The main terrain was builds with a base of displacement map and modified around the tent with 3D brushes.
No postwork except a little for the snow in the tree in PS.

- Description:
The winter arrives early to Lapland and the sun disappears for two long months.
I recreated a scene what I saw several times personally: the last day of the sun before the polar night.
I often lived during many years with these semi-nomad population which one calls the “Samis”, these men who follow their reindeers during the migrations.
Most difficult was to recreate this special atmosphere of the Far North European…

Roygee · December 2014

- Entry # 4
-Artist name: Roygee
- Entry title: Winter light is Coming
- Entry category: Regular
- Links to WIPs:

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P255
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P285

Content list:
Wolf is a freebie by umar6419 from http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/wolf-91025.htm Wolf rigged, morphed and hair made in Carrara. Terrain heightmap made using data from USGS (Alaska and Himalayas) in 3DEM, imported to Bryce and exported as .obj.

Method
Terrain was textured in Carrara, using two photographs of rock in the diffuse channel, with noise mixer and a snow overly. Sky was painted in Gimp and placed in the backdrop. Aurora Borealis was painted in Gimp and mapped to a plane. This was rendered, the render placed in the backdrop and in the background for IBL. The cloud was added for the final render.

Postwork
Background rock behind wolf painted out in Gimp to give a cleaner profile.

Roygee · December 2014

- Entry #5

-Artist: Roygee

-Entry title: Winter Blizzard is Coming

-Entry category: Regular

- Links to WIPS
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P285
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P315

-Content used
M4, Wolf is a freebie by umar6419 from http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/wolf-91025.html M4 cloak and boots modelled in posed position in Hexagon. Everything else in Scene modelled in Hexagon.

-Method
Cloak draped in Blender. Wolf rigged and morphed in Carrara. All hair added in Carrara. All content painted in Carrara 3D paint, maps exported, desaturated in Gimp and re-mapped in Carrara. The monochrome render was done in Carrara, not post-worked.
Particle snow rendered separately in Carrara, composited in Gimp.

-Postwork
Image given a layer of inkpen and snow given motion blur in Gimp.

MarkIsSleepy · December 2014

Entry #: 6

Artist Name: Mark D. Olsen (MDO2010)

Entry Title: (That Crazy) Winter Jogger Is Coming

Entry Category: Regular

List of all used content:
Carrara 8 Native Content (low poly cars, tree).
Loretta Lorez and Lorenzo Lorez by Predatron. http://www.daz3d.com/lorenzo-and-loretta-bundle
Flinks Grass 3 by Flink (from Renderosity).
The Fabricator by Marieha (I used some of the bump maps from this product on the clothing). http://www.daz3d.com/the-fabricator
Ultimate Digital Fabric Pack by Diane. http://www.daz3d.com/ultimate-digital-fabric-pack-bundle
Carrara Realistic Seas by PhilW. http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-realistic-seas-2
Highway Gothic font by Ash Pikachu Font (from dafont.com) used on the "No Pouting" sign.
Neon Glow font by weknow (from dafont.com) used to create the "Beer" sign.
Sparrowhawke's Edge Falloff shader was used in a few spots, most notably on the couple's clothing, and his Instance Randomizer was used on the window lights and the buildings to create some color variation.

Description:
The image was setup and rendered entirely in Carrara 8.5 Pro. Some textures use maps created in Filterforge, Photoshop or both. I really did a lot of modeling in this one - the Row houses, Tree lights, Streetlamps, Seawall and path, benches, garbage bins, sign, pile of dirt around tree bases all modeled, UV mapped and textured in Carrara

For the creative use of replicators, I created two spirals in the spline modeler, converted them to vertex objects, manually fit them to the trees and then set them to not show up in the scene. The tree lights are replicated along those spirals. Replicators also used (less creatively) to place vertex grass in the nearby terrain, to place colored lights around some of the windows on the buildings and to place small light grey spheres near the camera as snowflakes (the more distant snow is created with two planes with a procedural fake snow texture).

I tried to meet the challenge of having an impact on a quick look but having more to see in the scene for someone with the time to look. I think at first glance one pretty much sees the couple, the oncoming jogger and the pretty holiday lights. On closer look there is some funny text on the nearby sign, a beer sign, some more people walking around in the distance and some kids playing on the grass.

evilproducer · December 2014

List of all used content: I used the DAZ barn, but I couldn't find it when I searched. Has it been discontinued?

Description: I used nested surface replicators to make the feathery looking frost on the grass tips. I basically made a shape and replicated it on another shape, that was then replicated on the grass blades, which were in turn replicated on the ground. I wanted a bolder look, but Carrara choked on the number of replications I needed. The trees, grass and scrubby undergrowth were all driven by different distribution maps.

The shaders (with the exception of the barn) were created by me. The wooden fence is purely a procedural shader for instance. So is the grass and snow.

I created mounded snow on the barn roof and the fence by modeling vertex objects in the Assembly room. The ground is also a vertex plane that I used smoothing and soft select on to create the rounded drift look.

The post production WIPs are the last couple links in my WIP list.

booksbydavid · December 2014

- Entry # 8

- Artist name: booksbydavid

- Entry Title: Winter's Sister is Coming (too)

- Entry category: Regular

- Links to WIPs:

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P105
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P120
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P165
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P180

- List of all content used: I used V4 and her morphs++, Winter Wonder2006 background for Daz's Multiplane Cyclorama

- The image was set up and rendered in Carrara. I modeled the hat and collar base for the dynamic hair in Silo. The sticks and bells were also modeled in Silo. Shaders for everything were created in Carrara. I used a replicator for the candy on the lips and also several for the bells on the sticks. I used Carrara's dynamic hair for the hat and collar. The candy cane was modeled and shaded in Carrara.

Postwork was done in Paintshop Pro X4 and Onone software's Perfect Effects.

evilproducer · December 2014

Entry #:9

Artist name: evilproducer

Entry Title: The Ice Age. (An eon of winter is here)

Entry category: Regular

List of all used content: I used the Columbian Mammoth. I tried to find a link in the store. I disabled the option to hide previous purchases, but I still couldn't find it. Snowy leaves from Howie Farkes' winter scene that I kit-bashed onto my own trees.

Description:I converted a summer scene that I had been building to a winter scene through extensive shader work, model tweaking and plant editing. The mammoths use Carrara's dynamic hair.

The light rig is based on my standard rig which is replicated Distant Lights on a sphere. No GI was used.

The replicators drive tree placement, rock placement and fern placement. I have over twenty replicators, each designed to allow me to turn them off it they are not in the production frame. Each is driven by a custom painted distribution map.

The rock outcrops are vertex objects I created. The icicles and ice falls are also built by me in the VM. The frozen river surface and snow is a vertex plane I made t look like slightly mounded snow and flat river ice.

Diomede · December 2014

- Entry # 10
- Artist name: Diomede64
- Entry Title : Winter Tales are Here
- Entry category: Regular
- Links to WIPs :
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P405/#735729
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P420/#735794

List of all used content: (I will have to add links later with an edit)
Holiday Nook from Daz store http://www.daz3d.com/holiday-nook
Yuletide Tree from Daz store http://www.daz3d.com/yuletide-treasure-tree-2011
The Kid 4 from Daz, Clothes for K4 from Daz, Wedge hair from Daz. http://www.daz3d.com/the-kids-4-base
Freak hammer from Daz, Valiant sword, Dagger, Rapier all from Daz store http://www.daz3d.com/the-freak-accessories
Squeaker and Nutcracker from Poser content paradise
- Description:
To satisfy the challenge, I made or customized at least two items (crown, shirt, and cape for Rat King, custom shaders fo minion rats and minion nutcrackers). I used Carrara's soft body physics for the cape. I used replicators for the rat army and the nutcracker army. The size is a multiple of ratio 45.875”h X 89.875”w.

Varsel · December 2014

- Entry # 11

- Artist Varsel

- Entry Title = Winter Queen is Coming

- Entry category: Regular.

- Links to WIPs in the WIP thread.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/715550/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/716029/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/716716/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/720326/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/723061/

- List of all used content
Genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/rm-nieves
http://www.daz3d.com/shieldmaiden-for-genesis-females
http://www.daz3d.com/hooded-cloak-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/polar-bear-by-am
http://www.daz3d.com/ursus-arctos
SomeTrees from :
http://www.daz3d.com/arboretum-volume-1

- Description
Hair and fur are all Carrara Hair.
The Polar Bears do not work in Carrara, so I had to rebuild the .cr2 for them. The harness and the sled is own creation.
The background is a Carrara terrain, converted to a vertex model, and adjusted. Using replicators to place the trees. Grass is own creation, using replicators to place.

Varsel · December 2014

- Entry # 12

- Artist Varsel

- Entry Title = Winter weather is Here

- Entry category: Regular.

- Links to WIPs in the WIP thread.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/731397/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/735840/

- List of all used content
V4.2
http://www.daz3d.com/sojourner-v4
Texture is from Renderosity (Sorry about that, but Daz didn't have anny I could use)

- Description
Hair is Carrara.
Snowflakes are made in the vertex modeller. and then replicated on a shaped vertex model, witch is hidden in the render.
The background is a mountain created in the terrain modeller.
And a volumetric cloud to fill the sky.

Fenric · December 2014

Entry #13

Artist Name: Fenric
Title: Winter Weather is Coming
Size: 2000 x 1533
Category: Regular
WIP Links:

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P255/#724168
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P255/#725478
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P270/#726378
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P420/#735931

Final raw render
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P420/#735920
(Contrast and Levels tuned in Photoshop, that's all)

Content

9mbi Red Fox
Lisa's Botanicals "Dead Bushes", "Tall Grass", and "Indian Grass"
Carrara supplied trees: "White Pine", "Fir", "Pine w Cones", "Christmas Tree"

Made/Modified in Carrara

Tweaked the fox's textures to work in Carrara
Modelled the snowflake
Modelled the mouse in the front-left corner
Custom Carrara terriain
Custom Carrara volumetric clouds
Replicator for the trees
Particle emitter for the snowflakes
Custom realistic sky settings

chickenman · December 2014

- Entry #14
- Artist name: Chickenman
- Entry Title = Winter Fun Is Comming
- Entry category: Newcomer/New User.
- Links to WIPs in the WIP thread.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/718371/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/725026/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/734089/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/735957/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/736261/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/736729/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/736736/

- List of all used content if any.

- Description,
I got Carrara in September and started using it in October and participated in the October challenge. I have tinkered with DAZ Studio for years but not very seriously. I had no problems moving over after watching some tutorials I try to use the monthly challenge to improve my knowledge of Carrara.
I created the Tree and placed it in a replicator. Created the shader for the tree to try to replicate some of the pines around our house.
I changed the fur texture map on Chickenman to Carrara Fur. The fur was fun to do not hard to do but needs tome to try to get the look you are after.
Changed the shaders on the Sleigh to Carrara color of red.

Played with the lighting to try to get it to work out like I intended. ended up using light through transparency to get the eyes to look right along with a bright sun.

I still find Lighting a challenge and will look at that again.

Antara · December 2014

Entry # 15
Artist name: Antara
Entry Title: My Winter Is Here.
Entry category: Regular
Links to WIPs :
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P315/#731842
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P330/#734048 - just a description of my compositing process
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P375/#735195
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P405/#735606
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P405/#735613
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P405/#735687
List of all used content:
- Movie Sets, Country Home by DreamlandModels
- Reflections Victorian Bedroom by LaurieS
- IN Fantasy RiverCottage by winnston1984
- Kelly Lodge by Faveral
- Holiday Nook and Dream Home: Breakfast Nook Furniture by Jack Tomalin (the later only lists DAZ 3D in creators list, but I think Jack was the artist who created it, if I remember correctly - correct me if I'm wrong, please)
- Stoney Creek Beechdale by Howie Farkes
- Some 3DS freebies from various sites, which I converted, shaded and in some cases severely altered. Unfortunately, I don't haveall the sources to list them.
Description:
I started by creating the room - which meant taking apart the single huge object in the Country Home set. I removed most of the geometry, extracted some of the geometry into separate vertex objects, changed UV-mapping on those objects and changed the majority of the shaders.
Then I populated the room with props and tweaked the shaders on the new objects too.
For lighting I added a glowing plane outside the windows and 2 glowing spheres where room ceiling lights would have been. I used DCG's GI Brightness to amplify the effect of the glow on Global Illumination. (I used really large values, too - something like 2000-3000 % on each glowing object.)
I rendered the room with Light through transparency OFF and Indirect Lighting ON (no Sky light, or anything else) and it is my underlying textured render.
I then turned off my Indirect Lighting and imported Stoney Creek Beechdale into the scene. Placed it behind the window, turned my glowing plane invisible and rendered (with some additional planes blocking the camera view to simplify computations and speed things up). That's my window view.
Next I removed Stoney Creek Beechdale again, removed all the shaders from the scene except the glowing ones, changed the default shader to a frost one and turned Indirect Lighting back ON. Rendered the room again with same settings as in my first render. This is my frost layer.
For the snow pile by the door I added a small terrain with zero-edge filter. I then modelled a simple crystal, then replicated my crystal on the snow pile on the floor, on the door knob and painted a distribution map on the door and door frame and replicated the crystals there as well. For painting the distribution map, I had to separate the door into a new shading domain and re-UV-map it. I re-rendered just the affected portion of the room (again blocking the camera view with simple planes to save time) and used it as a final compositing element in my final image.

I rendered everything with Muti Pass rendering and then each image was had all layers grouped into a single group. Then I brought all the groups together into a single photoshop file, and controlled what bits show where using group masks. Also in postwork I added minor tweaks like photo filter to the window view some blurred yellow "glow" around the window: Selected the window glass only, created new layer, filled selection with warm yellow, applied huge Gaussian blur and set the layer to Screen blending more.

Bunyip02 · December 2014

- Entry#: 16
- Artist name: Bunyip02
- Entry Title = Winter Dragon Ski Boat is here
- Entry category: Regular and still a bit of Noobie to Carrara.
- Links to WIPs in the WIP thread. - http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P300/#728038
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P300/#728755
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P345/#734679
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P345/#734853
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P345/#734870
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P420/#735819
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P435/#736764
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P450/#736864
- List of all used content if any. - Sub-Dragon - http://www.daz3d.com/millennium-subdragon
Ancient Greek Boat - http://www.daz3d.com/ancient-greek-boat
La-Cage - http://www.daz3d.com/la-cage
Gazebo - http://www.daz3d.com/high-fantasy-scenes-props-bundle
Dragon Ballista - http://www.daz3d.com/dragon-ballista
Simple Sleigh in Maya - 3dgreg
- http://www.sharecg.com/v/30570/browse/5/3D-Model/Simple-Sleigh-in-Maya
Story Book Dragon -
Lantern - Andi3d
Eastern Dragon - http://www.daz3d.com/eastern-dragon
River Delta (8pm) for Bryce {Landscape used for Frozen Ice Field} - cris333
- http://www.sharecg.com/v/71095/gallery/5/3D-Model/River-Delta-8pm-for-Bryce
Inagoni Architools - already made doors & windows for use in this excellent addition to Carrara

- Description :-

Inspiration for this was an ice-ship done by a another extremely talented superb artist which has a Chinese junk/Gothic look to it.
The concept shown here is an original concept using some excellent 3D models by other artists as well as some of my own modelling.

Modelling was done in Carrara, and the render was also done in Carrara. Minor post-work done in PSPX7 to fix a hole in the bottom of the sail, and to also fix a shadow on the ice that came through as white, would have been fixed in Carrara but was running out of time to submit the entry.

Aim was to create a poster that would make people stop and look, or at least take a second look at something that had a Fantasy/gothic type feel to it.

Idea was to have a carved wooden Dragon with an old style boat on top, and the whole lot mounted on skis for the ice fields that exist on the world that they inhabit. Crew race is of a humanoid life-form that has a Bull like face with ape features.

Main deck hall/windows/doors was built using the excellent Inagoni Architools, with a shader made to match the colour/style of the Ancient Greek Boat. Sub-Dragon was used as a base for the dragon. The Ancient Greek Boat was used as the boat section, this was scaled to suit the Sub-Dragon, then taken into the Carrara model room and had all the oars & rudders removed, and the main deck adjusted to remove the wells for the rowers. I was originally going to model the skis, but as I was running out of time I used the excellent "Simple Sleigh in Maya" by "3dgreg" located at ShareCG (http://www.sharecg.com/v/30570/browse/5/3D-Model/Simple-Sleigh-in-Maya), which had the obj imported, then into the Model Room where the tub was removed, a number of the iron-works were removed, scale was adjusted, then shaders applied. Additional fittings such as the Gazebo as the Crows-Nest, LC-Cages as earrings (still used as cages), Harpoons, Lights, Door decorations added.

To satisfy the use of Repicators the Story-Book Dragon was used as an ornament above each window holding a Lantern in it's mouth (the Lantern is made by Andi3d). Replicators also used for the Harpoon launcher and Harpoons. Replicators are also used for the door ornaments which are 2 Eastern Dragons modified to form an arch around each of the doors.

Shader for the Deck Hall done by me, all other shaders are the respective work of their creators, with some modifications such as base colours.

This is "Stage-1" of this concept and will be developed/refined further at a later time.

EDIT:- WIP locations & Content updated

Mistara · December 2014

- Entry #17
- Misty
- Winter Magick Spirit Is Coming
- Either
-
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P450/#736911
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P390/#735543

- Aiko3 Ice Princess, Xstyle outfit, Petite Fleur Hair
Carrara lava ball, cloud trail, ice peak
-where the magick of winter spirit waits to be called upon for the Holidays

Inspired by caustics. Used surface replicator on the lava ball. i originally used the text tool, forgot the rule of no text in image.
Went back and tried deformers on a cylinder. got a lot to learn about carrara's lights and vertex modeling. and self glow, no ambient? i like the feature of assigning a light to a single object.

stringtheory9 · December 2014

Entry #: 18
Artist name: stringtheory9
Entry Title: Winter Powder is Here
Entry category: Newcomer

Links to WIPs: 
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/716399/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/716433/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/719484/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/725535/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/726394/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/726534/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/735154/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/735184/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/736931/

List of all used content:
Daz3D Michael 4
First Bastion Rocks at the top
Powerage rocks behind the skier
The Lodge is from 3Dwarehouse
Eagle from TruboneZ-OO
Lower Pines are Spruce 1 from Howie Farkes Valle Alpina
Snow covered pines are from Howie Farkes snow scene
Pants: Fairytale Prince for M4
Hair: Skye Hair by PhilW

Self modeled:
Goggles, Skis, Poll, Bindings, Ski Jacket and foreground slopes.

Description:
The far mountains are made using two separate terrain objects with the complex mountain share on the mountains around the lake and complex mountain 2 on the far mountain. I adjusted the shaders to give the rocks a bluish tint. The lake is an ocean primitive with using custom shader.

To create the sky I am using a gradient backdrop with a volumetric cloud object to darken the top portion and another to lighten the horizon. The scene is lit with a single distant light. I have two additional bulbs lighting the skier to mimic indirect light. I have another bulb lighting the under side of the eagle.

The foreground slopes are modeled planes. The snow spray uses a number of fire primitive. I created two normal maps, one for the trench and another for the bumps, for the ski trail.

The lodge smoke uses two fire primitives and a volumetric cloud for the smoke that fanes out at the top.

Newcomer required history:
I purchased Carrara about a year ago to learn the art of 3D graphics and animation for an idea that I had for a film that I had decided to make in my almost non existent free time. After evaluating a number of other options I chose Carrara for a number of reasons; price, availability of pre made content, and ease-of-use/depth of features combination. I remain convinced I made the right choice.

This last year has primarily been learning how to use Carrara, experimenting, sourcing content (also known as waiting for sales) and learning how to make realistic elements for the various scenes I plan (such as waterfalls, smoke, splashing water). I also spent a ridiculous amount of time working on a way to use the faceshift motion capture software with Daz models in Carrara and an almost as ridiculous amount of time looking for a way to implement dynamic clothing in a usable way. In between I was learning about lighting, shaders/texturing and geometry modification in the VM. I decided to enter this contest to break out of a pre-production rut I was in and apply what I have been learning. This is the first compete scene I have done and my first real attempt at modeling.

Mistara · December 2014

- Entry #19
- Misty
- Winter Magick Is Here
- Newb
-
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P450/#736911
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P390/#735543

- Aiko3 Ice Princess, Xstyle outfit, Petite Fleur Hair
Carrara lava ball, cloud trail, ice peak
-where the magick of winter spirit waits to be called upon for the Holidays

Inspired by caustics. Used surface replicator on the lava ball. used the text tool with the assign light to one object feature

my ca history:
--1st got Carrara 6 in the "Figures, Characters and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art" book. found it didn't do png, went back to poser
--next got CA7 in 2009. played with it a few weeks, production frame would get lost. transmap hair didn't look nice. went back to Poser and Wings3d.
--got CA85P on a steep discount sale last Feb, i really liked the look of the Darkwald set, played with it for a few weeks. i'll try to stick with it longer this time. my first passion is writing. the rendering is to illustrate my story scenes.

Antara · December 2014

Entry # 20
Artist name: Antara
Entry Title: Winter Holiday Is Here.
Entry category: Regular
Links to WIPs :
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P435/#736694
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48708/P450/#736832
List of all used content:
- Howie Farke's Fir and Spruce Brnaches (found in Leaves presets which come with his sets)
- EvilProducer's Christmas Lights Freebie
- Valandar's Christmas Tree Ornaments
- a bunch of freebies from various 3DS archives.
- www.hdrlabs.com/ free HDRI, which I blurred to use as lighting-driving background
Description:
I threw this scene together yesterday. It started with some custom-shaded ornaments from Valandar's set, which I had from last year. I then added the Howie Farke's branches and realized that I don't like how they looked in the close up view, so I added my own branch and surface replicated the needles onto it. Then I added the terrain and some other freebie holiday-themed objects: the gift box, more ornaments, the sled, the cup with coffie, the pine cone and the cookie tin. The freebies were all in 3DS format and I modified, reshaded (sometimes using my own shaders or creating new ones as I went), remodelled, re-UV-mapped them to fix some geometry and UV issues. Creating custom shading domains , fixing geometries and UVs for these models was actually the most time-consuming part of this project. I then added EP's lights and replicated a simple bent polygon onto the electric cord to create the garland.
Finally I positioned both light strings into place, tweaked their settings and rendered with Sky Light (no indirect lighting, no Light through transparency) and Gamma Correction at 1.8.
The Post was mostly playing with glow, reflection and DOF/vignetting.
(More details in WIP posts)

Antara · December 2014

And now the Challenge entry submissions are officially CLOSED.

Which means that the VOTING is now OPEN.

Voting Rules:
- Each voter can vote for 4 images ONLY. (without any regard for categories - just vote for whatever images appeal to you most)
- Anyone with DAZ 3D account may vote.
- If you have a justifiable reason to want to cast your vote anonymously, please send me a PM with your vote and your reason for anonymity. (My own entries are excluded from entries eligible for anonymous voting.)

- Votes will be counted per image and the image with most votes will win. If an artist submitted 2 images, only one of their images (the one with the highest vote count) is eligible to win a prize (the other prize will go to another artist's runner up image).
- The honourable mention will be decided as the 4th place image.
- The newcomer category winner will be decided by a panel of judges (TBA).

Until voting closes on December 30th 2014 Please only respond to this thread with your votes (and, optionally - reasons for your votes).

All other comments and critique for the images in the challenge are always welcome in the WIP thread here.

Please cast your votes and enjoy the Holidays! :)

Diomede · December 2014

Here are my votes in the order in which they were entered. I'll reserve my comments for the WIP thread. I encourage everyone to view the entries at full size.

- 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.

MarkIsSleepy · December 2014

Following diomede64's lead, here are my four votes in order of their entry:

#2: Winter Cold is Coming by DarwinsMishap
#12: Winter weather is Here by Varsel
#18: Winter Powder is Here by stringtheory9
#20: Winter Holiday is Here by Antara

Mark

Bunyip02 · December 2014

My picks (top 3 I cannot separate, are listed/chosen by what catches my eyes the most)
Again would like voting rules changed so half the entrants are prize winners and the rest are Honorable Mentions !!!!!!

#1: Entry # 11 - Artist Varsel - Entry Title: Winter Queen is Coming
#2: Entry # 9 - Artist evilproducer - Entry Title: The Ice Age. (An eon of winter is here)
#3: Entry # 18 - Artist stringtheory9 - Entry Title: Winter Powder is Here
#4: Entry #13 - Artist Fenric - Entry Title: Winter Weather is Coming

Also very impressed with Entry #14 - Artist Chickenman - Entry Title: Winter Fun Is Comming

All of the New Noobies work was excellent - keep those Carrara production lines going !!!!!!!

Update from Antara to clarify voting:-

The full rules are here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/736943/
but the relevant part is this:

Each voter can vote for 4 images ONLY. (without any regard for categories - just vote for whatever images appeal to you most)

The honourable mention will be selected based on vote counts, so there is no reason to vote extra for it!
And the newbie category is panel-judged.

DUDU · December 2014

1- Entry #5
Artist: Roygee
Entry title: Winter Blizzard is Coming

It is certainly not he's intention, but when I see this image, I have a thought for all those which spend the winter in the street…
The passengers of the subway will immediately establish the link between this image and what they see while leaving the subway.
Very beautiful composition moreover!

2- Entry # 11
Artist Varsel
Entry Title = Winter Queen is Coming

Superb idea, carried out very well !

3- Entry # 8
Artist name: booksbydavid
Entry Title: Winter’s Sister is Coming (too)

Very beautiful image which attracts definitely the glance.

HM to:
Entry #: 6
Artist Name: Mark D. Olsen (MDO2010)
Entry Title: (That Crazy) Winter Jogger Is Coming

For the incredible atmosphere which he was able to re-create...

Very nice work everybody !!!

Antara · December 2014

Voting Rules Clarification:

when voting please choose

4 images out of all 20 entries

based on their visual appeal to you.

ALL entries are eligible for your votes. Please don't discriminate against newcomers by excluding them from your choices based on their category!

Roygee · December 2014

My votes in the order in which they appear -

Entry # 7, evilproducer, Along the rustic road ( Winter is here)

Entry # 11, Varsel, Winter Queen is Coming

Entry # 12, Varsel, Winter weather is Here

Entry # 18, stringtheory9, Winter Powder is Here

MelanieL · December 2014

I'm not (yet) a Carrara person (I have it, but still can't really get to grips with the UI so have yet to create anything myself) but It's been really interesting seeing the WIPs develop and the final entries - here are my votes:

1st = Entry #6 - MDO2010 "(That Crazy) Winter Jogger is Coming"
2nd = Entry #11 - Varsel "Winter Queen is Coming"
3rd = Entry #2 - DarwinsMishap "Winter Cold is Coming"
4th = Entry #9 - evilproducer "The Ice Age (An eon of winter is here)"

Mistara · December 2014

- Entry # 1: Winter Holiday is coming
(sweet)

-Entry #:9: The Ice Age. (An eon of winter is here)
(conceptual wooly-ness)

Entry #13: Winter Weather is Coming
(like the vapor breath detail)

- Entry # 3: The last sun
(scene conveys winter cold! brr brrr)

pimpy · December 2014

Entry # 11 – Artist: Varsel (Winter Queen is Coming)
Entry # 18 - Artist: stringtheory9 (Winter Powder is Here)
Entry # 6 - Artist: Mark D. Olsen (MDO2010) (That Crazy) Winter Jogger Is Coming
Entry # 13 - Artist: Fenric (Winter Weather is Coming)

Notifications

2014 Holiday Season Carrara Challenge (#14) - Entries: WINNERS ANNOUNCED.

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