Half way though febs and no talk at all about the next one ???

Jay I think your starting to hit the challenges right on the money at the mo. Switching it up a little is paying off and the monthly time limit (of which I was worried about) is working.
Nice to see a lot of new faces taking part.

So what type of topic we covering next

Cheers Tweety

ahh I tend not to worry about whats coming up. Generally I look at what people ask and go from there. The majority kind of wins with a twist on it from me LOL

J

Yeah, environmental would be sweet. I'd participate, for sure.

I would like to see a Game Character Challenge - with texturing etc.
You may have a maximum Polycount and the ability to use every Maps and Programs you want - for example the decimation master.
---Peace---

I like the idea of an environment challenge for sure, but would it have a certain theme or be open ended?
Also, I really loved the fact that this months challenge was modelling only, no worries about having to texture, light and try your best to get an amazing render done.
Would this environment challenge be similar, concentrating on one area of 3D rather than having to worry about 4 or 5 at a time?
Either way I'd have a go at that one if it was chosen.

i think a good challenge would be to take a character from an old 3D game that has a really low polygon count and remake it.
like how the FF7 characters went from being people with cubes for hands to super detailed people

or how bout, take an old toy and remake it so it can do the things you see it does on the box, like the old transformer toys or my little pony, so they'd be fit to be in something like Toy Story

or if a cartoon character were to appear in real life what would they look like?

I have heard this idea before and I liked it then and I like it now, but alot of the old games are being remade now so its getting harder to pick some - maybe do the classic twist of a sex change - take an game character and update and change the sex of her/him/it. Even robots could be changed some high teck to old teck/steam punk.

But I`m still wanting the next one to be an environment one - but there is nothing stopping that from being an old game set being updated - a little bit like the remake of the monkey island games or resident evil on the game cube (now that was an overhaul).

I really like your idea of changing the sex of a charcter.
A fmale Kratos or a female master chief would be cool - I think if there won't be a challenge like this, this will be one of my next projects :-D
---Peace---

but there is a female kratos, her name is Nariko from Heavenly Sword :p

HAHAHAHa I didnt see that one coming never played that game though .....

Sorry, I've never played the game - it was just an idea :-D
---Peace---

don`t worry - he`s only joking - she`s not really

there haven't ben any dynamics challenges... at least not for a couple of years. or how about rigging and animation. (not that i would join in that one.)

how about modelling your favaourite sports person? or mma fighter?

rules out non sport fans like me - but a caricature of famous people has been talked about before.

Rigging very hard to judge and not many know dynamics (me included) - animation should be on the cards but I think a rig would have to be offered.

i think something small like a walk cycle to get it started

how is rigging and animation hard to judge? rigging alone perhaps, but you can have crap rigs and good rigs, and more complicated rigs with good skinning just like you can have crap models and such. All you need to do is make a playblast of an animation showing all the things the rig can do.

and how come you don't want to learn dynamics? well at least it sounds like you don't. A dynamics challenge would be exactly that... a challenge. Modeling and texturing is not the be all and end all of maya and this forum. How about some more diversity. sure modeling and texturing are the areas where every beginner will start, but I know there are lots of people on here that would be keen to do dynamics.
I think for someone like yourself (looking for work in the industry) you should be working on many areas of 3D and 2D. A lot of large places will outsource modeling to india/china so having more strings to your bow is pretty advantageous.

Animation challenges have hardy had any participation. I think 2 or 3 people entered if I remember correctly, so animation challenges are not a good idea IMO, at least not here.

Gamers challenges are like a dime a dozen now. There's nothing really unique about them anymore.

I still think we need an environmental challenge. They're not too hard to do, and the only real limitations are your imagination.

I was only referring to the rigging as being hard

Its not that I don`t want to learn - I just don`t know anything about them - and without knowing anything I would not really want to enter a challenge like that - and I bet a lot of other people would feel the same. Maybe the site will post a free Friday tut on some form of dynamics and then a challenge based on the techniques (making your work your own of course) but I know Mike always looked to get the numbers up in the challenge and tried something like this (I remember dames breaking or something). Jays free tut on putting an item into a photo was perfect timing for the last challenge and I bet it was on purpose, so we will have to see what the site does.

Saying that I have done a lot with fluids lately but nothing to show off just yet.

Again I think its because we were never given a rig to work off - always told to get or make our own - I not sure how many would give it a go - but I think I would. As for the game challenges - who cares what other sites are doing - we not had a low poly one here for ages.

I think that the next month challenge will be great to modelate and create some interesting game scene (only the scene, without any characters) like CS, call of duty etc. to improve our visual sense of creating something new and strange.
Thanks! :)

I will dodge the next challenge but I agree with Tweety....soemthing like a chair....or maybe whatever you want...one model...or centre piece/focus...minimal props. I had an idea (ok maybe not so good) of a single chair in a room...wooden floor...one side had a rocking horse and the other had a walking stick..the chair itself was a rocking type. The floor on the left (and objects) were brightly coloured and painted..whilst the other side was flat and dusty...with weathered curtain blowing in the wind. The chair was half and half...it represents our youth and our maturity...but they are still connected via the chair...something like that anyways....

sorry for the rant

cheers bullet

YouTube - Colin's Bear Animation

How about this for a 2 month challenge? Make and create your own tribute to the greatest 3D animation of all time... Something rather fun and silly with plenty of room for variety!

LOL thats a classic mate

The environment challenge was tons of fun, the participation rate was great but a lot of people didn't finish or didn't get to finish. Someone mentioned longer challenges, I don't remember if it was in this thread or another. If the challenges went from one month to say two would that be better or would the "hey I lost interest" risk be higher?

1 month some find too short - 2 months some find too long and lose interest - I was always a fan of the two months and was worried about the one month limit but I think its working quite nicely - only thing I would say more notice that deadline is coming is needed.

I think it depends on the skill level and how intense/complicated the challenge is Gen...I think 1 month is enough if it isnt overly complicated....is there a way to put it in the calendar as an event with an 'alarm' so to speak tweety?? For me personally I didnt have TOO much trouble in the speed challenge..I didnt do this month because of other commitments...and I felt out of my depth...I think you guys did very well to tell the truth.

cheers bullet

The deadline heads up would be nice indeed. The challenges could use some homepage promo since this lounge doesn't seem to get that much traffic. It could bring some new meat..uh I mean new active members :) to the site and who knows they might also participate in the challenges.

They have been posting the challenges on facebook and stuff - which has been cool - but I think a lot of people just forgot about the deadline this time around.

I have no idea how the forum works bullet so no idea if an alarm could be setup or not - but PM to the wip threads would do I think

Serious, you need a heads up for the deadline??

I know we call them a monthly challenge but this is SM not CGsociety etc where the iron fist rules on the challenges. I would trust you all to be self reliant and do your own time keeping and do the stuff required within a month, give or take a day or so.

I just wanna keep it easy going without any stress.

cheers
Jay

Jay, I know it's supposed to be quite informal and all, which is great, but I agree that a couple friendly reminders (one week left guys! and then two days left!) wouldn't be a bad thing in the challenge thread. You don't have to do it yourself either, I guess anyone could post a reminder as things come to a close.
Also I think it would beneficial to start the final images thread 3 or 4 days prior to the end of the month, also as a reminder, and so people have a window of a few days to get their stuff posted if they happen to be super busy on the last day and just let it slip.
You're doing great hosting these challenges... definitely in favor of the 1 month length; it keeps it fresh and moving, and there's enough time if people budget accordingly.

Just my thoughts.

I think the one month time limit works fine, as said before if there's many people who are working on something when the deadline's up we can just add two weeks extra. There's also no reason why you can't continue on a project when the challenge's over, the whole idea is to get started on something you might not do otherwise.

If someone would rather have their thread moved over to WIP than previous challenges just give me or Jay a shout. In real life you have to work to deadlines and sometimes you might have to hand over work you're not 100 percent pleased with and let's face it there's almost always room for improvement on anything.

For friendly reminders we can all remind each other by commenting on people's work, this also bumps challenge threads up on the front page and into new posts. There's simply no space on the front page without making it look like a cluster f***, unless we take away WIP threads or resources which is more important for the site. We can however add a challenge sticky to the basics lounge (which is still getting all the traffic at the expense of other lounges :)) to bring some more attention to this one.

Nilla

i'm still yet to see the front page... I always come here via email links

i think some kind of accurate time left thing could be a good thing, like there is 27 hours remaining. I myself always get confused with the different time zones (although that's not that hard to overcome). although I guess it's up to the competitors to sort themselves out. But commenting on peoples threads about the time is a good idea. still informal and if someone has totally left the world... i mean site... then they probably wont mind someone posting

the last challenge was cool, i quite liked it

This is my take on it, I would like to see 6 week challenges but I do understand that one month challenges do have a ring to it, I think that there are a lot of none finishers because the contestents know that there work was not up to the standard that they were seeing. This can not be helped..............dave

Yeah its a monthly challenge so one month deadline, and yep no probs if you really need a shout for a reminder of the deadline then we can do that for the future challenges.

Yeah I agree with the standard of work, but its all about improving anyway and never be shy or ashamed or what you do as your next challenge will hopefully be better than your last one.

.....and as the old saying goes, 'you gotta be in it to win it.'

cheers
Jay

New idea(s)

"Second Chance"

after seeing this

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_C64.aspx

Gave me a new idea ....

Redesign something that has been killed off - Store/Shop brand, technology (eg Sega games consoles) , vehicle, products, fashion or packaging campaign.

But it has to be something that was real but now been killed off.

still think we should have a Caricature challenge - would bring some really funny entries. - could be off ourselves or famous peeps. Well as long as it not Chef Gordon Ramsay.

But thinking a lighting and texturing challenge might also be welcome

I got an idea! And it's a decent one at that :P

Basically, model each others heads.

It could start with one of the judges posting their head shots, then each person would have to reserve a spot in the main challenge thread, and post side, front, and perspective shots with the reserve. First to reserve would do the judges head, next would model that person's head, and so on.

Well.. I think I will try to go Januar challange.. "finnaly I don't have work to do"

I'll go for anything.. It is chalange.. isn't it? :D hehehe

December Challenge
 

Here's the new challenge - making robots. It's up your street Sergej, you've already got one in your reel ;)

hehe Miss_Nova ...

I think it is going to be a nice challange...

are there any new challenges in the works?