New Challenge: Favorite Toys - $500 1st Prize!
 

The theme for this challenge is favorite toys and you can make any sort of toy you like. It can be a classic toy from your childhood or something more adult like your current favorite gadget. Final entries in this challenge should be models which are textured and lit. You can use any software you like to help you create the final toy renders, however the primary focus for this project should be Maya.

The prizes for this challenge are:
1st prize - $500 USD
2nd prize - Lifetime Membership at SimplyMaya
3rd Prize - The Art of Toy Story 3

Challenge Duration: May 2nd - June 30th
The challenge will run for two months with the deadline for your final entries set to June 30th. All entries must show WIP on the forum and as this project is shared with SimplyLightwave you'll be competing with people from our Lightwave site as well. This challenge is open for all types of Maya users, you don't need to be an expert to join. The main point here is to challenge yourself and to have some fun.

Your judges will be:
Jason Edwards - Senior Modeler at Windmill Lane VFX
Michael McKinley - Author and Environment Artist at Zombie Studios (Hopefully)
And of course, yours truly :)

To join in simply start a new thread here with this in the title:

My Favorite Toy Challenge - Your User Name

Good luck, have fun and we hope to see some great entries for this challenge!

Chuck me; those are some significant prizes.

But what to pick? I think it's a toss up between a stuffed elephant I've had for as long as I can remember and a plastercine model.

Ohh i have lots of favorite toys maybe i will enter=)

Hmm. Sounds exiting. I might join.

:wavespin: Sounds fun and the prizes are major, I might join!

Dave, I want mah medal for March >.>

GecT Done :) Sorry been so hectic around here with the new SimplyLightwave launch.

Dave :)

Wow, major prizes this time round!!
Done and done: Bandit Ambush #6024 on Vimeo
Only joking, I'll have to think of something other than lego :)

WOW. This sounds serious.....
I may give it a shot

is the final entry to be judged on photorealism?

Hope not as I have a cracker of an idea in my head - as I can`t really do Grimlock again.

Dave - do our simplymaya ID work over at simplylightwave - as it would be good to follow them as well - I know in the past it did not....

I'd like to jump on this challenge. As a lightwaver, Do i have to post it in the simplylightwave forum? As in the past, not alot of people over there entered or posted and maya being more active I joined here instead....I was hopin I could post my WIP over here if I enter to get more comments and crits. If not ill just enter over there.

Thanks,

Hi David

What are the criteria of judgement ?

Is it about likeness ( if so do participants need to post an orginal photo of the said toy)
Are interpretations of toys alowed ( like they did with Toy story where they made the toys alive, or even better a rendition of pinochio which was a rendition of a toy in an animation)
Is it about scenery or about the model?
So just to make things clear:
If someone models an entire ruined city with a beaten teddybear beneath some rubble, a Spielberg camera angle, Michael Bay effects( so basically focussing on composition/staging etc) and someone else models a pixar quality teddybear like lotho( focussing on getting the toy looking right and not so much on compostion) and someone else makes a beautiful illustrative final render of aliens playing with the earth as a ball ( totally imaginairy) which one would win, or in short what are the criteria?

I know some now think this question is bollocks, but if in the end we have 9 half decent attempts at an existing toy and there is one person who enters with a really beatiful render of the aforementioned 2 aliens playing with the earth as a ball and wins it can lead to discussions so I think it's best to set some clear guidelines with absolute do's and don'ts, and what is considered to be the most important criteria( modeling/renderquality/posing/staging/Composition)

Original photo is not required. Interpretations are allowed it could be a stylized version of what you remember as your favorite toy.

This challenge is about the model. It must be textured and lit but the environment it's in will not count in the judging.

A turntable of the finished model is also encouraged but not required.

Think something like this.

Can I model a plastercine model that I made? I want to model 'plastercine' but just modelling a block of it would be a bit boring.

That's a cool idea elephantinc... I think it would hinge on getting the shader just right.

Second thoughts on entering... 2 months is too long for me and the prizes are too major... I know, sounds crazy. I'll cheer everyone on from the sidelines :D.