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View Full Version : Blender Battles, April contest - Light Fantastic



Alltaken
03-Apr-06, 19:52
This Challenge is run through Blender Battles, a site dedicated to Blender competitions, and nothing else.

Your entries should be submitted to:
http://battles.mudpuddle.co.nz


http://battles.mudpuddle.co.nz/albums/userpics/10002/light.jpg

The Challenge

Light Fantastic
The sun shone through the cracks in the wall, bouncing, playing off the shards of a broken bottle

This months challenge is about showing Mood and emotion through light.

The challenge is NOT intended to be an abstract entry using bright colours swirling around, nor is it intended to be a model of a physical light. It is however suposed to be an exploration of how light can effect forms, effect mood, change the idea of the scene, and add interest to an image.

Bright
Dark
Contrast
Colour
Glow

Outcome
The expected outcome of this challenge is a single complete and self sufficient image, to be submitted for judging at one of these sizes.

Size: They can be either vertical or horizontal.
normal 3:4: 640x480 or 1280x960
Wide format: 1280x480 or 2560x960
250Kb for your submitted image. Larger file sized images for wide entries can be emailed to me.

Software Rules
Most modelling needs to be done in Blender. Rendering can be done in yafray, blender, or a mixture of both.
Post processing is allowed, and expected. (gimp, photoshop....)

You are allowed to use pieces from old models, as long as this is a largely original composition, with a largely new design.

Deadline
The Deadline is the End of the Month 1st May 0:00 GMT. Find the time in your location
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=5&day=1&year=2006&hour=0&min=0&sec=0&p1=0

Prize
The winner will get a 1 month, Blender Bronze subscription at Respower super/farm. http://respower.com
The winner will be able to choose when to use the subscription, within 3 months after winning the competition.

The winner may be able to choose a prize from the prize pool instead of the renderfarm prize. with the second place winner getting the other.



Tips and Tricks for Entries.

Subject matter
Light is a fantastic thing. it shapes everything we see, and changes things we think we know.

Shadows are as much a part of light as light is. The way shadows fall, exagerate, and hide objects can be played with

Research
Research is a must. Without it, you will be limiting your imagination to what you understand right now. Don't just research the topic you are designing for, research anything that offers inspiration, could be beetles, could be electronic components, could be anything.

Draw your Concept
Before you model in blender, perhaps draw your concept. it doesn't need to be a masterpiece, it just needs to serve as a Guide for your creativity. you will find you are spending less time thinking and resolving problems while modelling if you resolve them on paper.

Simplicity and Elegance
Sometimes modelling every single detail is not needed, a simple object made from 5 cleverly intersecting spheres or other simple shapes, may in fact look better than an elaborate model that took you weeks. Remember its in the lighting as much as the model, even a simple model can look amazing if well lit. We don't want entries to be laborious, we want them to be efficient and effective.

Create a simple model, get the lighting and camera angle correct. Sort out a background, and then add details as you need

Post Production
You are free and encouraged to use post production, don't feel you need to render the background at the same time as the foreground. If you do use post production (out of blender, i.e. Gimp or Photoshop) please include your original render also, we are all interested, and it will help prove the effectiveness of Post production, to convince others to use it in the future.


Inspiration box

http://garry.smugmug.com/keyword/light/
http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/~tsp/hawaii_photos.html
http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/041113A_0N7AAabc1-light.jpg
http://eonneo.dotnode.com/albums/fb/76/8068.jpeg
http://didaktik.physik.uni-essen.de/~backhaus/Venusproject/Sonnenstrahlen.jpg
http://www.theborrows.plus.com/glow_800.jpg
http://www.iwcc.edu/foundation/Images/balloon-glow-1024x768.jpg
http://pictures.exploitz.com/Sunlight-in-Antibes-thumbnail---_tngpx10001x15031x1726d160c.jpg
http://www.depresion.co.uk/
http://www.pbase.com/slug/image/6372/5
http://www.coe.uh.edu/courses/photo/class6/sunlight.jpg
http://isothermal.typepad.com/tauntinghappyfunball/000_0092.JPG
http://www.samholton.com/pics/details.php?image_id=20
http://www.fxxj.com/list/730_7.html





http://battles.mudpuddle.co.nz/albums/userpics/10002/logo-320x60.jpg (http://respower.com/)

Sago
04-Apr-06, 04:46
Great theme, All.

First thing I thought of was the Discworld novels (2nd novel 'The Light Fantastic'), so perhaps I'll use that for inspiration.

Also want to do some research on the paint-technic Chiaroscuro, strong use of light and dark. So I guess it's gonna be Discworld and Chiaroscuro for me, with a Sago-sprinkle on top.

Ha.


And to all Blenderheads:

PARTICIPATE IN THIS CHALLENGE!
It's a light fantastic theme, and a great way to develope your skills. Trust me!


Thanks for reading,
Sago

LohnS
08-Apr-06, 18:46
ah! yes very cool stuff, I just managed to get myself busy, but I would like to get a bronze thing from respower ;) and get better with lighting, so I might be able to call this 'part of my job' as a 3D guy mhuhahah =D

yes yes all join in! this is really great stuff, awesome topics for getting challenged and improving skills

Yoeri
09-Apr-06, 15:37
Yay, im gonna participate! My first contest actually :D And I suck it lighting, so this'll be challenging :)

Edeehem
10-Apr-06, 15:48
PARTICIPATE IN THIS CHALLENGE!
You're right, we should all give it a try and thats exactly what I will do. And it will be a great learning experience in lighting which I consider one of my weak points right now. I'll see what I can cook up though ;) Eventual placeholder.

Slep

[t0rc]
17-Apr-06, 19:50
Light. Gotta love it. One light really can change the mood of an image instantaneously. Hopefully I can acquire a few minutes here and there to throw together some sort of entry.

Edeehem
01-May-06, 15:52
The voting has started !

http://battles.mudpuddle.co.nz/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=423