I think the time pressure of creating all this stuff in a month is big factor in not completing; I know people say it's all very easy and you should do it in 10 minutes etc etc but if you are working and have other commitments it isn't actually easy to fit a lot of work in in Maya, particularly if you are learning something new. When the challenges are extended, then I think more people would finish something like the animation challenge.

On film composition I don't think everyone would have the software to do it all to the same standard and that would not be terribly fair. Given it's a Maya challenge it seems unfair to favour people with access to production software etc. Same with Photoshop and things, you do have to bear in mind that not everyone has access to all that sort of stuff, whether legal or not.

I think it would be nice to have a challenge that had a number of parts in it, working towards a final end, given the two month period. That could be modelling combined with a short animation, or character combined with small scene, game level or scene with flyby or dynamics etc. That would give people some milestones to map things out against. I enjoyed the game art challenge a lot as it was specific enough to be demanding, while not being out of this world, plus everyone has set things to work to - same with the short animation - while having lots of room for their own ideas. Maybe something where a short film precis or game concept summary is given to everyone and we create a trailer or promotional piece of 3d art for it etc etc.

yes all challenges from november will be 2 months

hmm I think that 2month challenges could be a double edged sword, yeah it gives people more time but I think that some people wont be willing/able to carry on one project for that long a time. It gives people an excuse to say "i'm bored" and then drop out of the challenge.

I think maybe having the odd 2month challenge for bigger ideas would be a good idea. I mean think about this if the new one starts on nov 1st then the deadline is jan 1st..... that's a long time ;) people probably wont manage their time and will end up dropping out etc. IMHO

Alan

that happens with our current 1 month challenges as well. :p

I agree with Witchy about the game art challenge, it was specific enough but still yet demanding which I think was because of Mikes real world rules.

I think for future challenges, it should be something that not only interests the person to do it because its fun, but will some how provide them with something exciting to learn from (im not saying that the current challenges have nothing you can learn from), like for example, in Mikes game art challenge, people were given an experience of working inside a real game company because of the rules that was brought upon by Mike.

As for the 2 month challenges, never knew about that till now..Its not bad as long as people have the motivation to try and finish the challenge.

As for the Matrix 3 theme for next challenge, what should we do if that is chosen? Our own version of smith? hehehe..Or how about our own version of that big speaking weird looking robot we saw in the trailers.
LOTR3 comes out December, maybe create a new secret monster that Sauron has?

or..oooh! How about create Sauron himself..Im not really sure if he comes back or not the same as how he was before..But eh, just an idea.

Ive always liked my "model your mental picture of another SM member".

I'd love to see a VFX challenge :) Particle explosion for example...

I really think the next challenge is going to go back to a normal challenge. The special stuff we've done these last 2 challenges just don't seem to be working out.

I think a big part of it is just SM caters specifically to newbies. That's not a bad thing, persay, but it would seem that those that are interested in more advanced challenge topics are few and far between in comparison.

I don't mean that to be derogatory to the community, or anything, but I'd have to say, realisticly, we aren't to a level (community-wise) like cgtalk or something is, who can guarentee at least 10-20 finishing every challenge.

The next challenge will most likely be something far more vague... Lord of the Rings... build a character, vehicle, and/or environment and just have at it. Not necessarily, but something similar. With a 2 month limit, if the simple challenges are successful, we can try to increase the complexity bit by bit until we're at a level everyone is happy with.

I agree Mike. I think that giving everyone a wider breadth of choice will enable us to choose something on a level we can challenge ourselves on. Also with so many different levels experience going on here it gives us the chance to work on the specific skills we're seeking to develop.

As I'm a sad old LOTR fanatic, I'd love to create something in that style.

LOTR Fan me too..

I agree well on what Mike said, the people here are still mostly learning maya (like me) so some of us are just still kinda new but doing something like a more general idea for a challenge, be it LOTR or whatever, would be a good way to help us learn Maya better because we can use what we already know and not dive deep into advanced things like blendshapes just for the challenge because I feel some people (like me) need time on our own exploring that topic or any other advanced topic because trying to do a challenge on it..but yeah