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wow... way cool.
like wendy, I just don't... compete.
but the value of these challenges is absolutely vital to keeping me engaged and inspired (and buying tools and content for my myriad masterpieces in my mind!)
i owe everyone who competes and shares in these challenges a huge debt of gratitude for their generosity (and way-cool images/animations) and some guilt for my not participating. maybe someday a topic and available time will suck me in!
right now I have interest, a crapload of tools and content, gigs of "test-renders" and lots of excuses. lol...
sigh, and thanks again to all in these amazing forums. looking forward to 5 more years and a Carrara 9.01 update (odd numbered updates have the bug fixes...)!
cheers,
--ms
I liked to take part in these challenges but the censure discouraged me!
What is not “politically correct” seems prohibited on this site and it is contrary with the artistic and intellectual spirit; especially humorous. For this reason, I will never take part in these challenges, here in Europe, we have a freedom of expression which does'nt exist yet in other parts of the world.
Sorry... and sad!
Hey there MS. Long time since we first spoke. I will NEVER forget you sticking up for me, thanks.
My argument in response to your comment is that the Challenge is not a traditional "competition." For me, it is first and foremost a "creativity powwow." We pick a theme, and all get together and marvel at how different artists come up with such a variety of ideas. I love creativity, and this software has an insane number of tools to allow that creativity. I spend much of my time during the Challenge wondering how something was done in a render I admire - and if I ask, I generally get the answer! How good is that?
That is is pretty much the whole Challenge, except at the very end there is a popularity contest, which includes prizes and voting. Unless I am hosting, I don't pay much attention to that part. And if I am hosting, I structure the prizes equally, with different categories, to more accurately reflect the brilliant efforts of several artists, and not just a single one. Because, there is not really a single best render that everyone can agree upon. We all have our plusses and minuses. Giving the bulk of the prizes to a single artist makes no sense to me at all.
Some might say to keep the first part (the creative exchange) and get rid of the second (the popularity contest). But I don't think it is that simple. In the human experience, there is a need for ceremony and celebration. The popularity contest part fills that role. It's kind of a "light competition" which provides closure to the powwow. Plus, voting gives those who did not enter anything a chance to participate and comment on the proceedings. And finally, it allows us to honor our Carrara PA's, as there is a Carrara PA sponsoring every Challenge these days.
If there is a way to reduce your sense that it is a competition, I'm all ears. I'd love to have you participate!
and also while Carrara is certainly my most used software it is never my only used one, iClone comes very close and DAZ studio to get stuff into it
I also use Zbrush, Poser and Blender and of course Octane, standalone as well as the plugin and Unreal Engine 4 lately too
Most things I do I use many softwares to get there and post work in stuff like GIMP and Hitfilm
the biggest restriction is probably it has to be in Carrara!
Hello DUDU,
I understand your feelings too well. I came close to leaving this forum for similar reasons.
But please consider, when you refuse to enter a Challenge, who are you protesting against? Your lack of support for the Challenge doesn't bother Daz at all, but it does weaken the Carrara cause, in my opinion.
If you think that Carrara is dead, then there is likely nothing that anyone can say to convince you otherwise. But if you think that we can keep Carrara thriving in spite of the lack of official support from Daz, then please reconsider your decision. We need your talent!
I've seen your stuff in previous Challenges, and would love to see it again.
Hope you don't mind me posting this. Here is a great DUDU entry from the past. Click for full experience.
maybe because it's a Carrara Challenge....
you can model/export in zbrush, hexagon, DS or windows3d but then imported and setup in Carrara... then you can render using diff apps available to Carrara.. or use Carrara's native renderer. Imagine if I turned up to a pigeon show with a chook! I think it may not work. lol
I know where you're coming from Dudu .. I miss viewing your renders..
Got to admit I've never entered but as many know I devoted a lot of time to creating the "CarrarTors forum for Animators" so anyone here looking for ' an animation competition' might give some thought to starting one in CararraTors. "
But back to rendering competition and MY thoughts on how it could be run as we had the same considerations when deciding how the animation comps should be run. With member suggestions it ended up:
A General Overview
The PROMOTER starts a competition in CarrarTors as a NEW TOPIC and sets the rules and time limit. REQUIRING A STORYLINE, ARTISTIC CONSIDERATIONS AND AUDIO. At the end of the time limit the Promoter starts a POLL and states the " voting time limit." and acknowledges the winner ! VIDEO ENTRIES are posted here but WORK IN PROGRESS must be posted in the WIP section
So each competition had rules set by the person starting it and this is how the first one presented..
MOVIE COMPETITION RULES
1] A story line in any scenario.
2] Minimum 2 minutes animation - titles and credits should be included but are are extra time.
3] Soundtrack - Music and sound effects to be included but dialogue not mandatory.
4] All video to be created from Carrara Renders with exception to titles/credits. This means no effects to be added as post work.
5] Entries must include a description of the methods, content, tools and plugins used - or in other words how you made your fantastic video start to finish. This way, videos become a teaching aid and provide others with valuable information.
6 ] Final Entries submit by 31/05/2015 - Judging closes 15/06/2015
Prettty straight forward - the focus is about what Carrara and its plugins can do [ or conversely , what YOU can do with them ]. Content can be from anywhere.
Not being supported by Daz there are no prizes. The whole point of the competition is to learn,get mentored and build knowledge and expertise with the software so your prize is 'the satisfaction of participating and learning along the way' - and newbies , realise that experienced artists are STILL learning about Carrara..
So I think the basis of a rendering competition needs to be kept simple - Like posting on this forum
Many really dont have time to scroll through some of the waffle that gets put up and I admit I have NOT read half what is in this thread.but I will definitely enter the next competition.
Time to stop waffling !
Hey UB, well thanks you for that input. Very intelligent and thought full. ! Your last sentence gave me shivers and I thank you for that also - it's always been my pleasure to help. Those who came before me helped me amazingly.
And it's terrific when we have such talented people like yourself appear in the forums.
Oh there was a while where we had a very intelligent poster who loved trolling. In the end he was banned from the forum.
Here is an example of a terrific thread showing a little friction.
It's full of fun tips and well worth a read.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/54406/compositing-and-post-work-what-is-it-and-why-should-i-care/p1 ;
Wow - five years! It doesn't seem that long, time flies when you are having fun!
I see the main benefit of the challenges as sharing ideas and techniques and seeing the amazing range of work that can be produced on a given theme. Most users are very creative and take very different approaches, which is inspiring. For myself, I am a "sometimes" participatant as if I am working on a new product or a paid commission, that tends to take precedence, but if I can find the time and have the inspiration, I am in. Not to win, but to support the community, and to have some fun. I think it really is a case of "it's not the winning but the taking part" and I would encourage anyone reading this who hasn't joined in, or who is a lapsed participant for whatever reason, to give it a go.
00seven saideth:
Looking forward to seeing your work! (Ps I never read the stuff either)
mindsong said
yes, me too, i love to see what evil minds are lurking out there!
Yes, the last thing is to 'win'. It's all about learning from each other. That's the 'win'. :)
I would articulate what UB said as this crowd being the epitomy of anti-competition, in that everyone seems to be helping ensure that their so-called competition wins... heh.
It is indeed a 'challenge', and everyone in here pushes themselves and their peers to the best *they* each can be. wonderful energy.
I'm not at all intimidated by judgement of the folks in here (well maybe a little :), but rather by the gap between what I want to produce, and what I *can* produce thus far. Even with a forgiving audience, that and available time to go 'full in' are my biggest road-blocks, so I'm enjoying lining up my ducks for that coming day.
Again, perhaps I'll join the fray here soon, and end up wishing I had done so a long while back - regardless the results!
cheers to all,
--ms
I tend to participate if an when I have time and it is a topic that I have an idea about.
Lately I have had little time Between work driving kids to college and university comming home to a hobby farm and looking after animals it all tends to take a lot of time and is very draining.
If I have time and insperation I then particpiate.
I have always enjoyed my entries and the comments on how to make them better. I also remember the trollish times which to some were disheartening.
.
I pretty much feel the exact same way I did in this reply from 2015 - and it even followed another amazing hosting job by Stezza.
Like Chickenman, RL has taken over! I am also writing and working on basic illustrations for a project that hopefully will be accepted by a heritage site here in the UK. It takes a lot of time.
Also, I have focused on a rather narrow type of character, scene, clothing, and other kit creation. Most I must either create myself or kit-bash DS and other sites' products. So I don't get the chance to work with Carrara's huge range of tools and effects. I have had to turn to learning ZBrush to get some of the effects I need, but I can then get them back into Carrara after fine-tuning them. That is a big bonus.
I absolutely treasure the talent here and have hundreds of bookmarks from the WIPs and past posts or projects. There are dozens of artists here I follow and eagerly look for what new ideas and creations they might come up with! I am also very grateful to Misty. She has breathed new life into Carrara's possibilities with respect to G3 which I am totally dedicating my characters to as they are as realistic as I need (not going for G8 at the moment). G3s take up so much less file size than G2. YAY!
DUDU.... have missed you as well! UB you have so much energy and enthusiasm that never seems to flag. Glad to hear Dart is OK, too. I am always happy to see a face reappear than has been absent for a while.
I still miss some that I remember who posted a lot when I first joined about 5 years ago...but we all have commitments and different ways of working.
Cheers to all our PAs who post HERE and don't give up on Carrara, but have expanded their products to DS so more people can enjoy them.
Keep on keeping on people!
my favorite challenges are ones with opportunity to learn a carrara skill.
i thought that the prize for best newbie entry was nice.
gives a new comer to carrara a chance to win something. moreale booster, lol.
a catagory for using carrara's native render engine would be nice too, for those who cant afford like Octane.
5 years(!) - wow where did those years go?
I haven't participated hardly ever mainly due to time and lack of self discipline, mainly the later. The few times I have participated I certainly don't enter with the motivation to 'win' - this whole community is a 'win'.
Maybe I'm like a comet, sometimes orbiting at a far distance, always observing, and at times closer.. I do intend to make a better effort to participate more often (...famous last words). Maybe one day this comet will collide with Planet Carrara...beware!
I only belong to one other software forum which has nothing like the camaraderie I see and feel here. Thanks to everyone who tirelessly host these challenges and the sponsors and DAZ!
Great! Maybe Stezza can model a waffle for the next Challenge. :)
An old comment, but a great comment.
THIS! I forgot how impressed I was when I figured out that nobody ever votes for their own renders in a Carrara Challenge. There is no rule about it - it's just not done. So I think what Mindsong said is right on. This is largely an anti-competitive group.
Then again, Mindsong just sunk his own concerns about being involved in a competition. :)
Thanks! But if you talk to my wife, you may change your mind.
Good intent, but we get about one newbie per year. Maybe a prize for best returnee after a long absence?
I would be happy to give Stu Sutcliffe a prize for just entering again. Same with FifthElement, and many more.
I agree with you, I am a moderator on another forum which pales in comparison to the joy on this one. But I mostly quoted you so I could post one of my favorite renders of yours from the "Give Us A Sign" Challenge. Hope you don't mind.
Love it! The setup here is genius. I'm not surprised that you were one of the prize-winners in the greatest Challenge ever (27).
Oh wow, thank you the nice words UnifiedBrain!
Thanks UB for this kinds of words, you are a real attorney for this forum!
I think that you're right,DAZ don't care if we participate or not in these challenges but I would like a little bit more understanding from the moderators who should wait and see what we want to show in our images without to draw a parallel with the international news.
I'm sure that the exemple you show here up would have been deleted also if I didn't wrote a text to create a (false) context.
Be sure that Carrara is still my main program, I use a few other more specialized softwares only as plugins for Carrara (Realflow-c4d-Poser).
When I will have time, I 'll try to participate again!
@+
PS: "We need your talent!"... I don't have so much talent because I'm doing animations only but it's very funny and instructive to work on a different project.
yep.. sometimes we must be sneaky in doing our renders... that's a challenge in itself.. I managed to do it with my model of the missing post which I still use on occasions
missing posts, the daleks !!
borgs assimilate, daleks annihilate !
daleks dont get stuck at stairs >.< universe no sense of fair
waiting for the next challenge so i'se can update my siggie line
what will it be?
staampunk? space invaders? undah the sea? superheores? homages? archvis? ...?
whaaaatttt?
a mystery challenge.... no one knows and you have to render it .. like a lucky dip
what could it be..... what diabolical theme is UB concocting...... the wait..... ohhhh the wait......
I try to at least post a WIP or two in the challenge threads whether I have time to complete and enter the image or not. When I don't participate it's mostly due to real-world stuff - I really only have a few hours on the weekend each week and sometimes an hour here or there during the week to play with my 3D hobby.
The prizes aren't a motivator - it's mostly just for fun. Mark Bremmer ran a series of challenges over at Rendo that were just quick one-week, just-for-fun contests with nothing more than a little banner he made up as the "prizes" and when I could enter, those were a blast even though I usually went from idea to finished render in about 2-3 hours on them.
Plus I find that I am more creative when working within a theme than I am when starting with a blank image on my own.
Still no idea how to get more people to participate though.
This is still the friendliest, most helpful (and patient with newbies) forum I have ever seen since maybe some of the smaller usenet groups circa 1990.
So true! In the whole time I've been here, there's only ever been 1 troll, and even he was actually pretty helpful to others (although of course very acerbic) and only trolled 30% of the time, the rest of the time he had good advice to offer (I actually learned a ton about postwork from him, as one example). Single greatest resource for Carrara is this forum and the forum regulars here :)
Number 5 is alive..... I just can't find one
Listen sweetheart. You may be a knockout, but I ain't no rube.
You want me to sing? Then show me the geetus.
Show me the geetus, and I'll sing like a canary.
No geetus, no deal, see?
You givin' ,me the high hat?
(is this a hint that maybe it'sa 30's-40's theme?)
puttin one the ritz?