[gformenti]

For those upset about the app restriction, take a minute to think about it. Its sponsored by Autodesk, they are the ones paying for the prizes and whatnot, their obejtive is plain and simple, marketing strategy.

Offering a contest with great prizes and a 90 day trial of their software they are making you use their program in the hope you switch over or at least find some features useful to include in your pipeline.

This has nothing to do with CGhub, they are just a channel to mae this contest viable. Im a hardcore zbrush user and I would never install Mudbox "on my own" , but today I did and i thought well maybe its worth a shot in trying something new.

/cheers

[admin]

Wow, we've really taken a lot of heat over this in the last 24 hrs here and other places online. This is the last time we'll address it, but we do want you guys to know we hear and understand your frustrations. There are some things we'd like to clear up:

1) Autdoesk is not paying CGHUB.com to host this challenge.

2) There are certain legalities involved in distributing cash prizes that prohibited Autodesk from running this challenge on their own website, so we agreed to host it for them because, despite the software restriction, it's a great opportunity for artists who don't have access to any 3D sculpting and painting software, and the prizes are fantastic. It should be fun guys!

3) This is not one of our "big challenge events" where we have 2D and 3D entrants and a level playing field, those will continue to come and they will always be tool agnostic.

4) This is a one off event that we brought to you guys because the prizes are awesome (who couldn't use the first place $5k USD along with the other prizes for winning these days) and the software is free. If you want to enter, you have to play by the rules, just like lots of other things in life. You might learn something along the way

5) To the 2D artists who got excited by the teaser banner and feel left out, our sincere apologies. We will make efforts to be more clear in the future. That said the idea is to encourage the 2D artists to step out of their comfort zone and give 3D sculpting a try.

6) This took a lot of coordinated time and effort to put together, and we aren't out to hurt anybody here. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be something exciting. We would love for you to try something new and enter but if you can't or won't there are other 3D challenges on this site happening right now to participate in, and in the coming months we will have more big challenge events with nice prizes that don't have any limitations on software.


Thanks to everyone who has been supportive. This is something exciting, it's a great topic, we want you to have fun! Good luck to all those who enter!

[gformenti]

Amen admin!
If the challenge was to see who operates best a brain tumor I would understand the criticism but its not the case.

[muppet_man]

This should be fun! Haven't used mudbox in a long time but looking forward to seeing what's new. Count me in!

[FabricioTorres]

I'm so into this one

but I have some questions:

- can I have multiple entries (judged separately?) cause I have loads of ideas.
- can I use a competitor software like 3D-coat for things that Mudbox doesn't offer yet such as retopology and UV unwrap?
- a warrior is not always the winner. If I portrait a defeated warrior, will it be ok?
- any restrictions regarding nudity or gore?
- any restrictions regarding a diorama? Let's say I want to portrait a battle with 2 to many fighters. Is it ok? Or should I model A warrior and that single warrior only?
- There is no specification for what the figure should be, so it could be a bust as well as a full figure it seems?
- as the winner will have it's model printed, shouldn't the rules include specifications for that? What are the limitations for textures in models that are meant to be printed, for example? Is there a limit? Will the the textures be printed at all? What format should I use? What's the minimum thickness for objects? and so on and so forth. Printing has way too many rules that most people are not used to. Just saying...

Thanks
Fabricio

[admin]

GIMP ok? Probably, but just checking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudbox Looks like it imports/exports .obj and there are open source programs out there that can deal with that. Therefore, even things like importing base mesh/exporting to render should be totally painless here.

Yes, absolutely, for example if you don't own a license of Maya, 3ds Max, XSI, etc, you could use free open source software like Blender to create your base mesh and Gimp for your final touch ups and composting, and you wouldn't have to own any 3D software to participate in this challenge. Mudbox should be used for the sculpting and painting aspects.

[admin]

I have one question regarding the race of the characters, for example it can be of any fantasy race right? for example orcs,trolls,kobolds,gnomes,dwarves right?

Yes, fantasy races should be ok, just don't create a recognizable Dwarf, or Orc (say from Lord of the Rings, or Warcraft). Your character should be unique and original.

- can I have multiple entries (judged separately?) cause I have loads of ideas.

Yes, please read the rules!

- can I use a competitor software like 3D-coat for things that Mudbox doesn't offer yet such as retopology and UV unwrap?

That is acceptable, just use Mudbox for the sculpting and painting processes.

- a warrior is not always the winner. If I portrait a defeated warrior, will it be ok?

Yes, that's an interesting take on it, that would be great.

- any restrictions regarding nudity or gore?

No restrictions, but keep in mind winners will probably be used for marketing purposes, so if it's too extreme you might be hurting your chances of mass exposure due to adult content. That said you could always submit 2 versions if you like, a more censored one and your version.

- any restrictions regarding a diorama? Let's say I want to portrait a battle with 2 to many fighters. Is it ok? Or should I model A warrior and that single warrior only?

You could do a diorama and multiple figures, but when it comes to the 3D print, you might have to select just one to be printed.

- There is no specification for what the figure should be, so it could be a bust as well as a full figure it seems?

Yes, you could do a bust, but it should be full painted and be "posed" for your final (ie. try to show some character).

- as the winner will have it's model printed, shouldn't the rules include specifications for that? What are the limitations for textures in models that are meant to be printed, for example? Is there a limit? Will the the textures be printed at all? What format should I use? What's the minimum thickness for objects? and so on and so forth. Printing has way too many rules that most people are not used to. Just saying...

Offload Studios will be posting some guidelines for the 3D printing process shortly, please keep an eye out for those. Those are all good questions for them!

Good luck!

[sandpiper]

This is really tempting for me, especially as a heavy ZB user, to try out Mudbox for funsies. Thanks to the admin and the sponsors for doing something a little different.

The judges and cash prizes really make it hard to pass up...

[FabricioTorres]

Originally Posted by admin

Yes, please read the rules!

gasp, somehow I missed that one. need glasses maybe...


Thanks for the answers!

[IdanI]

WOW this is an amazing challenge! ... and the prizes are a very nice bonus too count me in

-Idan

[SCWatson]

This looks like oodles of fun!

[NikolaiAzzurro]

Another post just to get things clear.

Can I use Maya (or other program) for creating object kind of lowpoly mesh like armor, swords, guns and such? Are these objects counted as basemesh?

[admin]

Can I use Maya (or other program) for creating object kind of lowpoly mesh like armor, swords, guns and such? Are these objects counted as basemesh?

Yes, you can use any program you wish to create the base mesh. Make sure you post a shot of your base mesh before you begin sculpting. (If you are a student or a newbie to 3D and don't have any 3D software, check out Blender, a free 3D app where you could model your base mesh.)

All 3D sculpting and painting should be completed in Mudbox.

There are no software restrictions on base mesh creation, UV mapping, re-topologizing, or creating the final beauty shot render comp (ie. 2d software like photoshop, shake, etc.).

[arttorney]

If you have trouble figuring out Blender, or you get the "black squares on your screen" bug that Blender exhibits for certain graphics cards there is Art of Illusion that I am taking to pretty readily (and so is my Windows Vista machine). http://www.artofillusion.org/ The documentation link contains a detailed Manual that starts with the basics (in case a 2d person is wondering what a base mesh is, for example). Also in the documentation link there are tutorials including one about making a human form base mesh. There are no barriers to 2D newbies who want to jump in on this (other than the learning part which is good for you). You need Java for Art of Illusion.

[NikolaiAzzurro]

Thanks for your answers!

I am just trying to learn the tools right now and it is really frustrating. It is really hard to keep in mind that everything has a learning curve and the beginning is always the hardest part, learning just the basic technical stuff when you would want to make art.
Baby steps...

Well good luck for everyone and especially those who have the guts to try something new. Keep pushing it and dont quit. In the end you will be VERY proud of yourself