Contest: Pond

[DjVoyager]

Hello everyone,
The contests are taking a different, although not new, direction with this month's theme. You are provided with a basic scene to texture and render creatively.

April Contest: Pond
Duration: March 25th, 2010 - April 30th, 2010

Download 3D scene (attached).
- Maya_pond.zip is for Maya users.
- OBJ_pond. zip is for other 3D application users.

-> Maya users will find all objects including the cameras locked, so there is no issue of accidentally moving something.

-> Non-Maya users: I've set up a dummy cameras for you to replace with your application's 3D cameras. Set up the render resolution size to be 720x480. Let me know if you have any difficulty opening the file.

Project Description

- Texture and render the provided pond scene.

Who can enter: Novice to advanced artists.
* DT administrators and moderators can enter this project but are not eligible for any of the prizes.

Software: Any taught by Digital Tutors. Permission of moderator is required for any other software use. Specify your user level with the application of choice.

Rules and Requirements

1. Create a thread under the April 2010 forum with the title of your project, i.e. Apr10: project title.

2. You can add to the scene but you cannot delete or move any existing objects or cameras.

3. You can also increase the geometry resolution of the provided 3D objects.

4. Render the final image through any one of the two scene cameras' view.

5. Post at least two wireframe WIP of your project for proof of authenticity. This rule is applied to avoid plagiarism.

6. Gore and vulgarity is not allowed. Negative comments and foul language will be removed.

7. Your final entry should be rendered through the provided scene's camera resolution, 720x480. Post your final entry in your project thread either as an attachment or linked from an image hosting site. Specify that it is a final entry.

Winner of April's contest will be announced on May 10th. S/he will be notified via PM, and receive a month's subscription to DT's tutorial library. In addition to this the winner will be included in the next Digital-Tutors Newsletter. Subscription to the newsletter can be done via your DT user ID options.

Judges: DT administration, staff, and moderators.
Judging is based upon the following criteria:
* Composition of the scene as a whole.
* Project's progress from start to finish.
* Project's popularity amongst DT members.


Camera View 1
http://www.digitaltutors.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4586&stc=1&d=1269522904

Camera View 2
http://www.digitaltutors.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4587&stc=1&d=1269522904

Some inspirational pictures for a pond:
http://www.atlantawatergardens.com/images/askexperts/Islandscape%20in%20pond.jpg
http://www.finking.co.uk/finking%20pond.jpeg
http://www.onlinelandscapingideas.com/images/800px-Garden_pond_1.jpg
http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/family-handyman/2003/05/Formal-Garden-Pond-and-Deck-Plans-01-af.jpg
http://www.talltreesgroup.com/Tall%20Trees%20Garden%20Pond%202.jpg

[Gadgetfun]

Yeah! this is awesome. May i use Vue to handle the vegetation?

[DjVoyager]

Yup, Vue would be a great tool for vegetation.

[purplemikey]

good idea! that will make me impatient for summer time to come!!!
not sure if ill be in that one
but I'll just do a quick brainstorming to get my ideas on paper and see if I have time to do it =)

[danlefeb]

Hmm, I guess this means my time for March is wearing thin... :)

I look forward to seeing what sort of ponds people come up with!

[Dean]

Great idea guys, im going to try and be in this one to, if my pc can take it lol, damn power failures we had cause of the storm, and im glad we can use VUE for this, im going to try and add an aligator or a croc too in the scene, maybe a python instead if i cant make it on time.
Cheers !!!

[purplemikey]

hey Dean
think its the time to use your toad
make a snake ready to attack the toad
its more realistic than an aligator in it I think... well it probably happens more often.

[Dean]

yeah mikey, nice idea mate, happens alot to have an aligator in that pond with people who keep reptiles tho :D, and i always wanted to model that thing but dont think i can manage to get all the detials in time, so prbably wont be an aligator at all.
Cheers :D

[purplemikey]

Yeah well aligators are not easy to do, these dinosaure have some weird shapes
could be easy to do if you stay low poly but its faster to model a snake and concentrate on the textures of it
since this contest look like it is for texturing and rendering more than modeling... I think you should try to have awesome textures and realistic rendering

[Phoebe]

Wow, you read my mind! Just yesterday I was going to suggest to do contests on something other than just modeling.

[Dean]

well guys those contests were not just about modeling.... texturing, lighting and renderings were pretty much included, plus you have to model many many stuff for this scene in order to look good.

[purplemikey]

I think what Pheobe means is that the others were more based on hard modeling
like guitar, piano, cars, copter...
that one is about paint effect (wich is a kind of "texture") and doing simple shapes
sure you can add some more but its up to you

This contest will suite better for people who like to do beautiful renders with nice textures and reflection on water... things like that


I have a question... do we have to stay realistic or we can use some fantasy..?

[Phoebe]

well guys those contests were not just about modeling.... texturing, lighting and renderings were pretty much included, plus you have to model many many stuff for this scene in order to look good.

Dean, sorry if my statement was a bit confusing but this is what I mean:

If the contests were not about modeling, then I could just come and either buy a 3d model of a car, chopper or whatever and concentrate on the animation, rigging or rendering. This is not allowed as far as I know on the DT contests. If I am wrong, please someone correct me.

I think, it would be great to have contests on different things like rigging, animation, VFX, rendering...

Modeling is great and most of us start in the 3d field with modeling. However, there are many other things out there. Many people are experts in animation and have little to no skill on modeling. Others are great with just lighting a scene, others are riggers, others are experts on dynamics...

Some people like to just model and specialize on that field, which I think it's great, but as far as I have seen, up until now all contests on DT have been more oriented towards modeling than anything else. This not great for some people like me, that personally do not want to specialize on modeling, and have to go to other forums to find rendering, VFX, rigging, animation... contests.

Two thumbs up to DT for this contest!

[Dean]

yeah i understand that, dint thought about it like in seperate contests cause dt is not doing seperate contests, then again if i was good enough in rigging and animation i could and i would rig and animate the chop i did in the prevous contest, sry dude i didnt meant to be offensive or something just stated my opinion in the prevous post, and i do think you have a point here.
Cheers.

[DjVoyager]

I have a question... do we have to stay realistic or we can use some fantasy..?

Yes, fantasy would be fine :)

@ Dean & Phoebe: You're both right. Though most of the contests are open to any aspect of the 3D process this one is particularly selected to give you the opportunity to hone your texturing and rendering skills.

If you are interested perhaps we can do some rigging and animation contests in the future. Feel free to drop me some ideas :)

[Dule]

Nice idea for a contest.

[supernegrojr]

am i allowed to change the plane you have there to act as water? like could i add divisions to it and make it look like there is some disturbance in the water?

[Blodiiks]

Yes, its great ideia...

[purplemikey]

@ supernegrojr - think it count just as a "shader" since your modifying it to add realism
think no one will keep the water 100% like it is

[Dule]

I'm curious, would adding some sort of a stream going into the water be allowed, as long as we dont change the existing geometry?
By definition a pond is .. well, a small still body of water I guess, but would a small detail like this could really bring the image to life.
It would still be very .. pond like :p

[a_whitedemon]

cool. i just finished and posted my work in march contest . i guess i have a lot of time now to work on this one . and just in time to begin doin' something with vue i was about to forget it ( i hope i haven't yet ) .
so Djvoyager about the ideas of contests may be some architectural visualisation would be cool ! to post a scene like this month but with some more details and models ( u know rooms ,hallway, exterior scene ) and may be take it one step further and u decide in what time of the day we render it ( morning , dusk , night ) or may be the style (like old and damaged or shiny new ) . that's just what i've in mind now i'm sure u could come up with something better

[DjVoyager]

am i allowed to change the plane you have there to act as water? like could i add divisions to it and make it look like there is some disturbance in the water?

@supernegrojr: Yes, you can add division to the water plane. Materials are one of the best ways of creating water turbulence.

@Dule: Yes, adding objects like a stream or a waterfall is allowed.


@a_whitedemon: Architectural projects are great for practicing modeling and rendering skills though let's consider some ideas to add animation in there. :)

[vfxme]

I think a fun new idea for a contest would be to have a rigged character interact with an environment. Provide the character, or we could use one of our own, you provide the theme, and we make some kind of area, like a park or school yard, and animate the character DOing something interesting, whether it be playing chess with a friend, or playing in a kids playground, or whatever we come up with. It maybe could be a 2 month contest, being that it takes more time to do animation. 1 requirement would be that our animation be sketched out with a few thumbnails to plan the bit, then animate the bit. Because proper planning is essential to good animation. The new 12 Fundamentals to Animating series would provide some basic concepts for this. Or the contest could even be one of the fundamentals, like a scene pulling something, or a scene hitting something using anticipation and follow through. :dont know

You could have easier contests for those who haven't done any animating yet going on at the same time, of course. ;)

Actually, that might require quite a bit of teaching first, so maybe I will try to come up with something myself to do something like that with the given basic scene. Might be simpler. I have some fun ideas already popping up in my imagination right now. I better get to thumbnailing.

[DjVoyager]

@vfxme and bravo2zero: I've been thinking on the same line too. The 12 principles of animation are very crucial for any animator, 2D or 3D. Of course, a short lesson would be provided to go over a principle. I will have to divide them up in two per month. Would two principles be too much? :)

[a_whitedemon]

Hello DT guys ,so finally i am free and ready to participate but before i begin anything i need to ask couple of questions : i wanna go with a totally different theme other than what's goin on so far in the competition ( vUE vegetaion and beautiful colored plants and flowers , clear water in the pond ...etc this is what i found people are concentrating on so far which is beautiful and iam not criticizing anyone here :D ) but i wanna try something like a horror theme u know dim lighted environment no healthy plants at all and for the pond itself maybe some blood in it u know what i mean . so please moderators i need to know is this allowed or it's off topic .

Cheers :beer

[a_whitedemon]

i have seen threads that say vue is allowed in the contest as long as you post several pictures during the contest and state what software your using .

sorry i think there's a misunderstanding ( i hate my poor english :mad: )it's not vue that iam askin' about as the matter of fact i don't think i'll use it at all . it's just the mood of the pond contest does it have to be a clear water pond , colorful vegetation and environmment or can i go the other way and do some horror theme with blood in the pond, dead bodies ...etc

[bianconero90]

@a_whitedemon

No, you were correct in the first post.

It doesn't need to be a water pond etc. You can do what you want with it but you need to know that this forum is PG rated.

[a_whitedemon]

ok 3rd post in less than hour i know u r startin to hate me :D , but what is PG rated .if it's something related to showing ur progress ..etc i know that and i also know that iam not gonna be a winner anyway .but i found out these contests are so fun and most importantly very useful to me. as in the last month's one i really never thaught that i could model and render a car in about couple of days only ! but i did it ! (it didn't win i know but i still like it :D ) .anyway thank u DT for this and thank u Bianconero90 ''Pandora man :D ''

[mariamarga]

I really need to improve my lighting and renders skills, so I’m in!