Okay, all. I got a little contest for you. Create a Sci-fi or fantasy (or any combination or permutation thereof: cyberpunk, steampunk, post-apocalypse, crosstime, urban fantasy, and so on) picture using any one or more of my items, as listed below (not all of my items are included in this list, and those that aren't don't count):

• DAZ Dungeon Lighting Kit
• DAZ Hot Dog Cart
• RMP JICC 3000
• RMP Mike's Biker Jacket
• RMP Hooded Cowl
• Former RMP Elf Mage Vicki 2
• Former RMP Fighting Man Mike
• RMP Scarecrow
• RMP Mike's Toga 2.0

The twist: You have to make this as if it were really going to be published. It isn't, but this is a bit of roleplaying for you to do. In the next message I'll attach a fake book cover. You have to design your picture so that it fits this cover and so that the compositional elements work with the main spaces you have. I.e. nothing really detailed or important should go under text, barcodes, crossing the spine, and so on. You do not have to make up a series logo for the cover and can just leave this area void of detail, but you will get extra kudos if you do. It's August 22nd. I'm going to run this until September 1st (at midnight the morning of) OR until I have five entries, which ever comes latest. All entries must be in by such time to qualify. Prizes: Grand Prize: Mike 3 Samurai Yoroi (as pictured in my 'For Blood, steel, and honour' thread below). First runner up: My Dungeon Lighting Kit or my Hot Dog Cart (as seen on DAZ3d) Second runner up: JICC 3000 or the Scarecrow (as seen in the RMP) Judges: Me. Knock my socks off. Images will be judged on render quality, composition, and general coolness.

OK, let me get this straight... We use the placement of the items as you have them, but can assign different names or characteristics to them. For example, the Author's name must be at the bottom, but we can call him, her, or it anything we want? If we decided to create a mystery cover and call it "Hot-Digetty-Dog!" with a fiendish vendor of "something" (what better way to remove all evidence of the body than by turning it into chili sauce?) as the illo, we'd also need to come up with a clever subtitle to stick in that spot? At least better than "An Elrick Punisher Mystery!" It appears as though the back of the cover is slightly wider than the front. Can you give us some proportional pixels? Or do we just come close and allow for bleed? (hmmm, maybe I should rephrase that!) Anyway, this looks like it could be fun. :) Carolly

We use the placement of the items as you have them, but can assign different names or characteristics to them Right-o. The book can be titled whatever you feel like, the author's name whomever you like, whatever fonts you choose, and so on, but everything has to conform to the layout. Also feel free to leave parts greek -- for instance, there's no real need to write copy for the back. as greek text will do fine and the focus is on the art, not the writing B^) I double-checked the wrap template (I loaded it into Photoshop directly from this webpage so there were no version mistakes possible, copied the layer and flipped it horizontally, then reduced the opacity to 50%). It's absolutely symmetrical; it's just an optical illusion. Each cover face is approx 1.65 and the spine is approx 6.29. The total aspect is about 0.73. Aspects listed are for width as proportional to height. Your image can be scaled to any size Renderosity will support provided it meets the aspect ratio requirements and layout needs.

That is why I said "appeared". My Mac is busy trying to come up with a Bryce sky to match what I want for an image, so I didn't download your template and carry it over to the other machine for checking. There's more white space on the left of the back blurb, so that will need to be accomodated. The punster in me just looks at this as too rich an opportunity to pass by, especially since it isn't terribly likely that I'll really be published by Huffy-Miffy. ;^) Carolly

Will have to see if I can find the time. Is post work allowed?

yes

Dodger will look over my shoulder and judge this contast but will not be able to post directly probably. I'm Audrey his wife. Despite recent events he will still follow through and the dad line is same.

Are entries to be posted her or sent to you privately? If privately, will they be posted for public viewing? (I'm interested in seeing the entries, too, as my day job is as a cover artist, and I'm looking to recruit some help)

That should be "posted here"

They should be linked from here. As Dodger said in post number 2 "All entries should be shown in the appropriate (probably Poser) gallery, and linked to from this thread." Though as an addendum they can bve posted in any of the galleries on any of the forums now. If you dont want it in the renderosity gallery and you do want it in the 3d commune gallery you can put it there as long as you link to it from here and so on as it says there.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=481013

Due to the overwhelming response, it's sooo hard to choose... Caly, you win because at this point, eleven days after the deadline, you're still the only entry :)

Thanks. Though it is a pity, it was such a fun challenge, I'm surprised no one else tried it. :(

Man, what is it now, the fourth or fifth time this has happened? The last one only got like two or three enteries... It's to bad you can't get this set up as the monthly challenge or something. ~DM