Sumea Modeller Challenge #7 Results

Message from Lava Injection Studios

I would like to congratulate each and every one of the challengers for the Sumea Modeller Challenge #7 and a special thank you to the judges for taking the time to look over each entry and mark accordingly.

Each year we see the Australian game development industry grow and it is great to see the local talent reflected in the entries in this
competition. So, it is my pleasure to announce the winners of the Sumea Modeller Challenge #7!

1st - Challenger #11 ? GoodGod.
For GoodGod?s effort he wins a brand new ATI Radeon X800XL 256M (PCI Express) to render all his high-quality goodness.

2nd - Challenger #9 ? Shane Lech
Shane receives an awesome Graphire 6x8 tablet for all his creative scribbles.

3rd - Challenger #17 ? Tojo
Tojo gets to practice his gawking skills with a brand new copy of Expose 3 (we just hope his dreads don?t get caught in the pages)

Congratulations to all winners and thanks to everyone that took up this
challenge!

Mick Gordon
Chief Executive Officer
Lava Injection Studios

Here they are! The Sumea Modeller Challenge #7 results!! HUGE thanks to all the judges for their time on taking part in this. I'm sure I can say on behalf of everyone that your effors are very much appreciated! the panel of judges for this challenge is:

Dale Pugh & Corie Geerders / Sidhe Interactive
Troy Nickel / Kalescent Studios
Andrew James / Irational Games
Rod Green / BioWare

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/SumeaChallenge/SumeaMC7Results.gif[/img]

A HUGE thanks to Lava Injection for generously sponsoring this challenge!! We'll be revealing the prizes for the top 3 challengers very very shortly :) And a huge thanks to everyone who took part in the challenge. A fantastic job by all as usual! Congratulations to Goodgod, Lechy, and Tojo. It was really close at the end and any of you could've taken the number one spot!

Judges Comments

Comments by Rod Green from BioWare
I judged each entry on 5 core aspects giving it a rating out of 10 (10 being the best I've ever seen and 1 being the worst).

Where there were equal ratings I gave the ranking to the one with the better overall quality.

Modelling: The mesh (technically) and it's final silhouette.
UVs: Layout and space usage
Texturing: Texturing quality and final rendering level.
Aesthetics: Final overall look and feel to the model.
Concept: The idea behind the character and what was the intended outcome.

I've been pretty critical of everyone but I think this is important to gauge your individual ability and where you should spend time to improve.

As always I'm happy to respond to any questions regarding technical areas of improvement but when it came down to aesthetics and 'creativity' it's just my opinion and you should treat it as such.

General Issues:
I noticed that on a lot of these entries it seems that entrants used a default 'unwrap' which as a starting point is good however it needs to be hand sewn and cleaned up so that you maximise the efficiency of your UV space. With bad UV's your texture map suffers from lack of area to add definition.

Entries of note:

#9 - Lechy
The overall result of this model is very good!

#19 - Conundrum
The concept is great!

Challenger 1: 3DArty

Andrew James/Irrational: Model looks a little boxy, nice texturing work on the metal and edges of the armour, but overall it looks a little busy. nice job on the face too.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Topology is not too bad although the silhouette is very boxy and elongated. At close to 8 ? - 9 heads tall he?s definitely in the ?superhero? proportion range, but lacks the structure and subtleties of the human physique to support that height. There are quite a few wasted polygons on the jetpack and some strange mesh construction going on down the centerline around the chest and abdomen areas. There are some good patches of well painted metals in the texture but the highly saturated blues, are blinding everything else. The face texture also looks too much like a straight photograph with some dark / burnt areas to boot. UVW layout is not bad though a few empty areas in there.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:3
UVs:4
Texturing:6
Aesthetics:4
Concept:4

Total:21 - rank #11
The texturing is the best part of this submission. Model lacks shape and the final resulting model looks pretty average.

Challenger 2: Damien P

Andrew James/Irrational: I like the pose and organic form of the model, good siluette. Color placement on the model is nice, wear on the padding is also good. Looks like the skin part of his face is a little too clean and bright something ? Fingers are a bit fat. overall good job.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Traditional FPS looking character, executed fairly well.
Topology is good, some nice mesh construction and balance of polygons although the legs could have used a bit more which could have been taken out of the thigh armour. The texture looks like it could do with one or 2 more detail passes to get it right up to top notch level, the feet especially look like an afterthought. I really think this character with a few more hours of attention could have been right up there with a top 3 position. The UVW is nice and tight ? Overall a good job but has a ?rushed? feel to it. Also ? Presentation means everything, it looks as though when compositing your textured pose in photoshop you paint bucketed the grey background and its bled over your characters legs from the knees down on the front and ? renders.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:6
UVs:5
Texturing:8
Aesthetics:6
Concept:4

Total:29 - rank #5
Bit boring. UV's have a little too much separation. Some shape problems with legs especially.

Challenger 3: Pik Pok

Andrew James/Irrational: I like the original design, the texture is very busy (too many different colours and sections) and the overall form gets lost a bit because of this. I do like the intricate designs on the armour. Add some more polys to that gun barrel, so the end profile is rounded :)

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: More Mech! Quite like this guy ? nice job. Topology is not too shabby although a few areas could have used more polygons while others could go without. Not really a fan of the big perfectly rectangular ammo crate on his back (viewing from behind) ? it doesn?t work with his typically rounded / robotic silhouette ? perhaps some bevels on the corners would have helped this. UVW sheet is pretty tight ? but I think some parts of the texture could have been pushed that little bit further and perhaps an alternate colour scheme, as from a quick glance there is no clear definition or focal point with the Red, Gold, Black, White and Grey?s all mixed in.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:4
UVs:6
Texturing:7
Aesthetics:5
Concept:4

Total:26 - rank #8
The concept of this guy is pretty standard. The modelling is ok but seems a little confused. Texturing isn't so good looks to be a bit cut and paste.

Challenger 4: Makk

Andrew James/Irrational: I love this guys concept. Great character profile for a game, he's be instantly recognisable from any distance. Good distribution of the polys to keep him looking organic. The texture is letting you down. Too desaturated and low contrast. needs some black in there, some shadows, dirt and grime in the nooks and crannys.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Nice Simple Heavy Mech design, execution is not too bad.
Topology works well with the simple mech. Would be cool to see this guy animated. UVW is pretty wasteful lots of empty space and random chunks which could have been stitched together. Texture is fairly flat and bland, not really a good indication of the metals that this beast is made up of, not a lot of contrast in there at all, and the blue glowing parts should be bleeding over a fraction to the surrounding metals. Once again looks like a base texture which needs to have a few more detail passes detailing irregularities on the metals surface, at the moment the body looks like a solid piece of metal, not made form many panels some extra detail on panels / rivets / welding and joint marks could have gone a long way to making this beast stand out and make him look more ?constructed / fabricated?

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:5
UVs:2
Texturing:5
Aesthetics:6
Concept:8

Total:26 - rank #7
Illegal polygons visible (>4sided polygons). UV's not very optimal. Nice concept.

Challenger 5: Flying Monkk

Andrew James/Irrational: I like the overall idea, nice mesh. The texture is too desaturated and not enough contrast. Great original style to this one. Also a character without eyes it s little hard to connect with..

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Interesting design, Amphibious assault type unit ? really nice topology, probably one of the best examples in the competition ? although the thighs could use some extra shape ? they look a tad thin and unshapely compared to the rest of the model. But the Topology isn?t fitting with your texture, there is a lot of depth painted into your texture which isn?t reflected on your models silhouette at all, which should be easily achievable given the budget. UVW?s are good, only a few chunks on the sheet, well done. The texture really lets this model down ? It looks like the base of what is to become a nicely detailed texture, with a suit built from otherworldy materials ? very bland ? soft, blurry and smooth. I also think this model could have gone a lot higher in the rankings if some more time was spent on detailing up the texture.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:4
UVs:3
Texturing:1
Aesthetics:3
Concept:5

Total:16 - rank #16
Texturing needs a lot of work. The concept isn't very developed.

Challenger 6: JohnN

Andrew James/Irrational: Model is very blocky and the details don't add much to the front profile to make it interesting. Good start on the texture but you need some more details in there, surface detail, dirt and oil stains etc. The painted shadows arn't working very well.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Quite a humorous design, reminds me of a hulking giant that would move like he was tip-toeing through the carnage trying to be stealthy ? but of course failing due to his bulk. Nice solid topology, polygons just where they need to be. UVW is pretty wasteful ? almost a 3rd of the texture space could have been salvaged if pieces where stitched together and packed a bit more tightly. Texture almost looks flat shaded in MAX with a few blemishes here and there. Very little contrast I think you could have done a lot better on the texture with a bit more attention to detail.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:2
UVs:1
Texturing:4
Aesthetics:4
Concept:7

Total:18 - rank #14
Good concept. However all aspects need more time. UV's are really inefficient, texturing is very basic.

Challenger 7: IronHideNT

Andrew James/Irrational: Interesting profile and good use of polys to create it. Nice texture, good job.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Unique Design, could work really well in a sci-fi FPS, Toplogy is not too bad, UVW map is fairly good too, but the texture I think could use a few more detail passes, sharpening up some edges and some well placed highlights / shadows from the chips, scratches could really add a new dimension to the texture ? heavy use of bevel emboss on the texture is really evident ? and where its not the hand painted areas are quite blurry. Not a bad job ? some metal reference might have really helped you on this one. Also the blue ?glowy? parts should have some light bleed on the metals surrounding them.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:4
UVs:6
Texturing:7
Aesthetics:6
Concept:7

Total:30 - rank #4
Looks good. Needs more attention on the modelling however in general good work.

Challenger 8: PopaWheelie

Andrew James/Irrational: The tiger doesn't look like he would animate very gracefully the way his legs are attached. The texture painting work is very good, let down by the fact there doesn't seem to be any straight lines in the texture, this really fights against the fact you are trying to make it look like metal :(

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Very original design and not a bad execution, Topology is fairly even and although I feel that its an ambitious design with so few polygons ? you?ve managed to use the count pretty well. There are a few areas where you could have saved polygons ? but nothing major. The texture is really contrasty ? a lot of white / silver means that even an older engine like unreal 2k4 once you?ve got a spec map on this guys hes going to glow like a beacon of light ? not to mention the contrast hit if you ever injected him into an HDRI environment. Fairly detailed texture but I think you could have pushed that gold a bit further to take up some of that white / silver. Not a bad UVW, and lastly I think it would have a few problems deforming nicely at a full gallop with texture stretching and only a few boundary polygons linking critical joints.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:3
UVs:3
Texturing:5
Aesthetics:5
Concept:9

Total:25 - rank #9
Nice concept. A little more work on the uv's, Modelling and texturing would make this real good.

Challenger 9: Lechy

Andrew James/Irrational: Nice Profile, and some very cool shapes on the armour that work well together. Good work on the texture. I like the scratched paintwork (with undercoat!:) and dirt. The face seems to waste a whole lotta space, if you distribued some of the body to that 2nd texture u could have added even more detail to him. good job.

Dale Pugh/Sidhe: Great design! (if not a little too clich?) Tidy mesh, good shape, also looks like it will animate nicely. Good colour and nice dirty metal textures, the big thing that let this entry down was the poor use of space in the UV layout.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Mech! I can really picture the heavy mech sounds that this guy makes while running around ad wreaking havoc ? good job. Topology is not bad, but a few areas could benefit greatly from an extra row or 2 of polygons especially the shoulder pauldrons, while others could have done without (the waist section) The silhouette is the key point when working with low budgets, so if you have any polygons that aren?t adding much definition to the model you can usually get away with culling them out and using them to round out places that will be seen more. Alot of wasted space on the second UVW sheet, and many chunks on the other would have made a lot of unnecessary seem-work. Texture is pretty good although maybe a tad saturated and the areas around the glowy parts could have done with a haze of the same blue to help give them more presence.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:7
UVs:3
Texturing:5
Aesthetics:8
Concept:9

Total:32 - rank #3
Looks really good however could do with some major work on the UV's the core problem is that the layout is really inefficient.

Challenger 10: PK

Andrew James/Irrational: Well executed, but I dont like the design very much. proportions of the mesh look a bit out too.
Good work on the texture, but it looks a little blurry and hard to tell what surface is meant to be what.

Dale Pugh/Sidhe: The best entry overall. Good topolgy and proportion. UV layout very tidy (good use of the space available) Colour scheme and general design could use some work but it?s almost there ;)

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Quite unique design, not a bad execution ? though I think his silhouette is very reminiscent of a transformer, fins sticking out and bits and pieces tacked on ? looks like he could flip and change into some kind of radar device! Topology is not bad although due to all the extra fins / amour he does look quite low poly in silhouette. Texture isn?t too bad but looks like a lot of black was used for darkening areas and whites used for highlights ? which really washes out the nice metallic greens I think you were going for. UVW sheet is not bad, very little wasted space but I think more of these chunks could have been stitched together with a more careful approach when unwrapping.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:5
UVs:5
Texturing:3
Aesthetics:4
Concept:3

Total:20 - rank #12
In general more work needs to be done on this model. The texturing needs a fair bit of work.

Challenger 11: GoodGod

Andrew James/Irrational: Nice Profile and pose, although the model seems to have very feminine proportions?? love the hair and face texture. I like the model shape but not the rivet construction, lets it down a bit for me :) . Good job Good God!

Dale Pugh/Sidhe: Cool looking character although maybe a little too ?effeminate? for the genre. Very nice topology. Love the hair! Textures are painted really well and the nice green bounce light from below looks cool. Once again, this entry is let down by the terrible use of texture space.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Nice clean, sharp design and execution. Polygon topology is good although some deformation areas may suffer from clipping/ stretching ? especially the shoulder. Its often difficult to execute a texture with many straight lines in it as it shows up any inconsistency in your UVW?s ? but you?ve pulled it off. Quite a bit of wasted UVW space on your face map ? and probably could have managed to stitch quite of few of those UVW chunks together to eliminate excess seem-work.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:8
UVs:6
Texturing:9
Aesthetics:8
Concept:4

Total:35 - rank #2
Everything looks really good. The only issue I have is that the concept is pretty basic. The style is nice though.

Challenger 12: BlueXcess

Andrew James/Irrational: Very boxy design, the testure is getting there, but the overall design looks very busy with too many colours, lines and shapes.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Reminds me of a robot that I?ve seen somewhere ? but cant quite put the finger on it. Quite a boxy / spikey little fellow! The simple topology works well with his simple design. The UVW?s are packed ?nicely? but quite wasteful and there is so many pieces that could have been stitched together to reduce a lot of seam-work.
Overall the texture reminds me somewhat of Spaghetti Bolognese ? I think he could have gone without the pink on his arms and bright orange on his feet! A lot of burnt areas in there too. Overall not too bad but needs more effort in the design phase of the character detailing and working with colour schemes that suit your character model.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:2
UVs:2
Texturing:3
Aesthetics:2
Concept:2

Total:11 - rank #19
Needs work in all areas. I think the concept of this guy needs to be developed further.

Challenger 13: AHarvey

Andrew James/Irrational: Not a bad job, but very cliche design. chicks wearing armourd bikinis are getting old too me. (but at least she's not wearing a G-Sting!)

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Quite a nice design good to see a female in amongst this lot too. Topology needs improvement, as there is a lot of wasted and misplaced polygons, like the breasts and hands are almost black. Also the number of edges around your legs and arms could have been reduced to a 7 ? 8 sided cylinder to begin with.
UVW map is satisfactorily packed though I imagine the range of resolution made it difficult to make texture seams invisible on some parts. The Texture is quite blurry overall could have really benefited from some hard detail with a 1 ? 2 pixel brush ? especially the metal areas.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:2
UVs:7
Texturing:3
Aesthetics:3
Concept:1

Total:16 - rank #15
The concept isn't really anything too creative. In general the model needs work, uvs, texturing etc.

Challenger 14: Kizza

Andrew James/Irrational: This guy made us laugh (ina good way :) Nice work on the textures.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: I can really see this guy as some unlockable secret character, Unique design and comedic proportions. Good Stuff. Mesh Topology is good although expensive in some areas like his bum and the front of his mask. Deformation will work really well on this guy though. Very simple texture but it works well on this style of character. Few open areas on the UVW?s that could have been closed up ? but overall a good solid effort.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:4
UVs:4
Texturing:5
Aesthetics:5
Concept:3

Total:21 - rank #10
Concept is a little boring. Work needed in all areas.

Challenger 15: CodyAIday

Andrew James/Irrational: Need more work on the shape of the model, good start on the texture, but you need to add some real detail in there

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Nice stealthy design, The Joan of Arc tutorial is easily seen in the modeling of this character. The topology is really quite well done ? a good balance of polygons throughout the whole character also the UVW map is packed really well, although there seems to be some problems with her hair in the renders supplied.
The textures really let this character down ? they lack a lot depth and will look quite flat-shaded from a distance in any game engine. A Valiant effort, though I think investing more time in the texture department will help a lot.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:3
UVs:6
Texturing:2
Aesthetics:3
Concept:5

Total:19 - rank #13
Concept is ok but the development of this model needs more time.

Challenger 16: Palantir

Andrew James/Irrational: Lots of redundant polygons on the arms legs and chest of this guy, that dont add to the profile. The texture is very bland and desaturated, needs some detail and contrast.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Nice Terminator like design, Topology is fairly good though I think a lot of polygons where spent on areas that simply wont get much of a look in a fast paced FPS style of game. UVW map is coming along well, with a fair few of the pieces having been stitched together. Your texture is fairly flat and lacking a lot of contrast ? could have really benefited from another pass with a small 1 ? 2 pixel brush really getting into the nitty gritty details / blemishes on your metallic texture.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:2
UVs:4
Texturing:3
Aesthetics:3
Concept:3

Total:15 - rank #17
Not quite sure what you were trying to achieve. The model needs work in all areas.

Challenger 17: Tojo

Andrew James/Irrational: Nice model, not a very original concept.. great job on the texture, i really like his face.

Dale Pugh/Sidhe: Great feeling of size/bulk from this entry. Nice posture and shape. Although another unimaginative design. Textures could use some work, a little too plain and shading of the metal seems to be a little directionless. Cool blue glow cast up under his chin but where?s the source?? UV layout not too bad. A solid entry.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Cool design, although the thin rectangular waist doesn?t really suit the bulk of the legs or shoulders. Topology is spot on and the main deformation areas will work quite well. UVW?s are packed tightly, but still many chunks that could have been stitched together to lighten the number of seems. Texture is nice although the highlight on his abdominal plate is really the first thing that breaks the mirroring illusion. Also the harsh gritty/real styling of the armour doesn?t follow through to the face texture which has much more of a painterly feel.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:8
UVs:8
Texturing:9
Aesthetics:8
Concept:5

Total:38 - rank #1
Great work! However the concept is pretty basic could be a little more creative. But in general great work.

Challenger 18: Rowan

Andrew James/Irrational: Not a very riginal concept. Nice job on the mesh. The clothes testure is good, the rest is very blurry.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Every FPS needs a Sam Fisher! Not a bad character and use of photo reference. The UVW?s are pretty good too ? good to see a lot of the chunks are stitched together to minimize seam-work. The Texture is quite blurry and I think that?s the part that needs the most work on this character ? especially the face and ears. The hair also looks out of place. I think this character could have gone along way should some more time have been spent on polishing it up.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:2
UVs:4
Texturing:3
Aesthetics:2
Concept:2

Total:13 - rank #18
Very basic concept and the development of this mesh needs a lot of work.

Challenger 19: Conundrum

Andrew James/Irrational: Original concept. The model looks a lot lower res than it is. The texture is very "paintly" so it looks more illustrated than "textured" to look like any materials in particular.

Troy Nickel/Kalescent: Unique mesh design and really bright painterly texture style sets this guy apart from most of the entries here. Topology could use some work, high density of polygons on his right arm and chest area, which could have been used to smooth out the headgear that he?s wearing, which at the moment really is the only thing that suggests ?low poly character here?. UVW mapping looks like a bunch of planar maps where used, pretty lazy, could have stitched together a lot of chunks and eliminated a lot of extra seam-work.

Rod Green/BioWare:
Modelling:5
UVs:4
Texturing:5
Aesthetics:6
Concept:8

Total:28 - rank #6
Really nice concept. Style and look is succinct. However some minor issues with the model and UVs as well as more time needs to be spent rendering the texture.