The next Sumea modeller challenge this year will be in a few months time. I'm hoping at around the beginning of June, so be prepared!
You can use this thread to make suggestions and discuss what the topic you'd like this challenge to cover.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy....
Yep, as always I'll be in this one too, should keep me up at night during the World Cup.
I'd like to see a normal mapping challenge too, but I'm sometimes worried about the participation levels or drop-out rates when people have to learn extra things and on top of that, cope with software quirks (or at least I'm at that point now). Is there a way we can fairly run normal mapping as an option? It is quite a time consuming extra step.
I'm all for those certificates Souri - this comp is getting a lot of industry recognition, and judging by the quality last time, I think anyone would love to have a Sumea certificate on their wall - framed ofcourse.
Souri said:
quote:
I've also been thinking about producing a certificate for the top 5 placements
That would have to be worth more then any prize. :)
Makk said:
quote: As for a topic, maybe something simple yet open to interpretation like "RPG character".
That definitely sounds like a good idea. Anuxinamoon also mentioned a similar idea a while back that was pretty cool ? create a class for an MMORPG.
It would be good to give people the chance to design a detailed character where anything goes, rather then restrict all entires to a single genre. It might also encourage some 2d/concept artists to enter.
Totally agree with Steph on that - way too much work at the moment to even think about doing personal stuff, but I'm just itching to do something still. Longer term and structured comp would be great.
On a tangent, when I say structured, something to bind it all togethor to keep peoples entries not falling apart or being completely neglected and gather dust would be a great motivater... maybe like a milestone gauge which entrants update as they go along, and include all the entrants gauges on a centralised competition page? Just an idea at any rate [:)]
yeah i would like to enter to, but if it's short lik the polycount/cgchat one i entered i wont have time to finish (but that was very short compared to previous sumea comps to start with).
another +1 to the normal mapping
and i like the idea of milestones, as long as you dont have to stick to them, but if they are there it may give people goals to work to and we may see more completed entries.
normal maps should be in for sure... although they may cause a heap of greef for people with older software and cards.. let alone for people who have never done them before... so maybe they could be optional...
as for theme.... i kinda like Makk's idea ... of a simple rpg character... but maybe we could add to it.. ie.. like 'The Journey Begins' challenge XIX at cgtalk .. and focus on a character that has just began out on a quest... or maybe has just returned from a lower level quest sporting a trophy of some description like a +2 weapon of flamebreath or something?
That way the character would be interesting enough to model.. yet not overly saturated with massive armour and weapons as to not not be able to personally identify with the character...
would be cool to try and get everyone to stick heaps of personality into thier character rather than just go 'ape' and normal map everything from thier shoelaces to thier tonsils.. :)
I like the forum avatar/you in a game thing. Show us what your handle represents or some such.
And since I've been playing too much Soul Calibur, here's what I'm thinking. A character in a fighting game style (Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Soul Calibur, DOA, etc), based on your Sumea forum handle, armed with an appropriate weapon or fighting style to defend your honour in the mighty arena of Sumea Challenge Numba 8! Cheesy, cliched, completely over the top.
/edit
Here's a few examples for a clearer definition of what I mean by fighting game style. From the Guilty Gear series, the pirate chick, a typical anime babe with a pirate hat, armed with a massive ship's anchor. From Powerstone, the English flyboy, wears a bright red flight suit, scarf and goggles, turns into a mech in a WWII fighter/bomber style. Soul Calibur tends to recycle its concepts - the big, musclebound axe guy was originally Rock, then was recycled into Astaroth. Street Fighter's simplest examples come from the older games - the sumo wrestler, the flashy Vegas boxer, the Spanish ninja, the everyman martial artist hero, the evil supervillian, and so on. Essentially the style is a very simple concept, take a few key words, use them over and over, layer it on as thick as you can.
Am quite a big fan of the fighting game idea. The fighting genre has brought out some iconic gaming characters and some very strong series. The genre has seen some decline in recent years, so it'd be good to see some new designs.
The original Streetfighter 2 series and the Mortal Kombat series had some damn impressive designs. So did the King of Fighters (who ripped a bit from SF, but who cares?).
So yeah, I'll put my hand up on this one.
Jono
a stylised character for the fighting game genre is a cool idea.
what about making a boss character for a side scrolling beat'em up (double dragon, battle toads, streets of rage), they usually have special attacks that were reflected in their design.
im not so sure about the normal mapping idea now. how many noobs do you know that can produce good quality unreal 3 spec characters?
we could go for quake 4 specs like the polycount+cgchat challenge, normal maps optional. but there were still a lot of people that dropped out of that challenge.
I?m also questioning the normal mapping thing now. If it was compulsory, I imagine there would not be very many completed entries. Making it optional could work though ? if your dead keen on trying to win, then normal mapping would be essential, but if your just in it for the challenge of completing a model ? like many people ? then having the option to bail on the normal map might mean more completed entires. Besides, many people don?t have the necessary tools for normal mapping.
As far as ideas, in a similar vein to the fighting game character idea: create a super hero/villain. That could be pretty open to interpretation.
Modeller "Challenge" being the key word here. I do believe for the last 2 years or at least the previous 2 modeller "challenges" alot of the senior more experienced people would like to also be challenged, have suggested normal mapping tech but it has been pushed back due to alot of people simply not willing to have a crack at it at all.
Normal maps have been in development cycles since 2001 in studios worldwide. Its 2006 guys, and your still not ready to have a crack ??
I dont mind what angle, or idea it is - but my vote still stands firm as it has for the past 2 years that Normal Maps should 100% be apart of this challenge, optional or not is definately fine. But please, at least have that option for people who want to create them.
Of course that opens up a whole new area of judgement so I'm not sure how that would be handled. Maybe a Dual Challenge with 2 areas, which has been previously mentioned. Pro / Novice sections perhaps ?
i totally agree Hazard, i'll admit to being one of the 'lets not do normal maps yet' supporters in a past challenge - but that was two years or more ago at least. It's definatly time to get into it if you havn't already (if it wasnt already time two years ago).
I understand that normal map noobs might feel at a disadvantage. well to that i say - if you've been modeling for a while and havnt seriously touched normal maps yet, that's your own fault (i'm upset at myself for being included in that lot), and if you're a new modeler altogether, and feel you couldnt posibly compete, well, to put it bluntly, if you're a noob you probably wont win anyway - which of course brings up the point of: if you're only entering this for the prize you're missing the point of the challange in the first place.
Sorry, a little harsh, but i'm being just as harsh at myself in this as at anyone else.
Make them optional if you must, but involving them (normal maps at least, if not spec and what not aswell) is a must.
Perhaps instead of banning normal mapping alter what sway it has in the overall marking score. Im not exactly sure how you would structure this myself but perhaps just have it have less effect on your final score, but not so little as to make it pointless to include. So those that have done their research will be at an advantage, but there similary wont be no point for those who havent to enter (for whatever reason, myself im a student and would like to participate in such a task to keep myself working in the 3d enviroment but have simply not had the time nor the necesary experience needed before on the lower rungs of the ladder).
Oh and on the topic, im in favour of some with a bit of an edge towards non photorealistic rendering (so you know, cartoony and the like). Just to buck the trend :P
Yaay! @:-D