Attached Link: http://www.3drt.com/3dm/fighters-fleet/fight_fleet-shots.htm

Those are 3D models??

yep

wicked/ You have to model your entry yooour-se-eelf... And, if the Machine Flesh challenge is any measure, you may not use Poser characters eeeither... /wicked If you do, you'll probably lose points. :-( Also: "Anything to close to a published image will be excluded to avoid any potential copyright violations. It's fine to be inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Babylon 5 or any pre-existing stories, but no copies please."

yeah i read those. it also excludes modelling terrains through bryce's native creator and so on. but meh...

definately looking to avoid "out of the box" generated anything. Looking at the Machine Flesh competition gives you a good clue.

it also excludes modelling terrains through bryce's native creator and so on That seems kind of extraordinary. I can see not using preset skies, atmospheres etc., but most programs generate terrain heightmaps randomly from mathematical formula. Did they specify just Bryce terrain, or did they name all terrain generators? I have several programs that make terrain from heightmaps - Leveller, Geofrac, Terragen, Carrara Studio, Metasequioa - not to mention Photoshop filters. Are all of those banned as well as Bryce? I'm not entering the competition, so it doesn't matter to me, but it seems a bit odd to ban terrains generated from mathematical formulae. Doesn't Mojoworld do the same thing? And what about programs like Universe that (I think) randomly generate starfields. Huh? Huh?

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. But it looks really cool. You guys keep calling it space opera. I used to play a SciFi RPG back in the 80s called Space Opera. Had a great time playing it.

it also excludes modelling terrains through bryce's native creator and so on Drac, where did you really come with that? the only thing I found in the challenge FAQ is this: --- Q: Can I use Poser to make different people (because they will not be the main purpose of the scene)? A: No prefabs, if your characters are tiny it won't take you much effort to model some lowpoly humans. --- And even if they did come up with such a thing, it would be very silly of them, because not only the landscape creators use formulas, but every high-end program I know has heightfield from bitmap function, as well as plugins for terrain creation.

@Erlik- where did you see that? I looked at the rules and I quote-(rule #3)- "Pre-fabricated models are not allowed to be used. These include parametric models generated from Poser or Daz3D". When I use a terrain in Bryce it is never a "default" one. I either use the brushes or the filters to build from "scratch", or import a heightfield greyscale I made in PS.

I think someone accidently gave Drac too much garlic. :D But seriously, terrains are, as far as i know, allowed. As Erlik pointed out, most apps have something similar. Relief objects in Cinema, Image displacement etc.

it also says no parametric pre-fabs. and i took that to understand bryce trees, rocks, terrains, etc.

A guy asked about using DEMs. Another guy said, probably no. I wrote an answer, but since it was my first post there, it has to pass through a moderator, which can take 24 hours. In the meantime, an admin there said, no, no DEMs. Aargh. Like DEMs are ready-made Poser figures... What if I wanted to create a spaceship chase through the Grand Canyon? It would be a completely legitimate space opera (and I do know about SF). Do they expect me to model it myself? Fine, if they are prepared to wait into 23rd century. Danamo, that's in the FAQ in Entries 3D forum.

Well, if the models above are not allowed because the entrant "didn't make it themselves" they can be a reference for making your own, just try to change enough of the details to avoid the dreaded CI... And if I have to model every damn thing in Bryce forget it, it's too restrictive contest rules. How about 'primitives' (spheres) for worlds, they out too, or do you have to model your own? Not happening....

Drac could.... "TEH SPHERE"!!

Yeah, LOL, but then we couldn't use it cause it's an import...;)

I don't see how they could enforce a DEM or terrain ban. How could anyone possibly tell whether a terrain was modelled, or converted to heightmap from a DEM, or made using a filter in PhotoShop? A rule isn't a rule if it's unenforcable, and this just couldn't be enforced.

Well, they apparently can... The editor of CGNetworks said "no prefab models" for the DEM question. I'm arguing over there with him about Bryce and Mojoworld and his tone is starting to get up my nose. To quote freely, "If your peers/jury see you're using Vue/Bryce, your picture will rank very low." BTW, about parametric models, a guy asked "what about spheres, cubes, cones, planes?" :-)

There are some elitists over there, but as far as i know it, most people dont mind Bryce or Vue at all. If its good work and your own, they have no problems with it. As for the Uber-judges (Syd Meed etc), they usually choose the images for Exposas well, and if i can get in with Bryce, so could anyone else. They look at the work, not the app. But now when im reading his comment, it seems to me that he doesnt fully understand what the hell hes talking about. Mind you, that most of these guys dont know crap about Bryce or the terrain editor. When you say create a terrain in Bryce (making one of your own, that is), he probably thinks that the software creates one for you automatically. "If it's just a height field that you use to apply to a plane as displacement or whatever, then fine." Thats exactly how the terrain editor works. :)

You're my ace in the hole. I'll pull you and Expose out when it's needed. :-) And yeah, he apparently doesn't understand. The next step is pictures. :-) But neither do I understand what's parametric software. Hence my question about Ozone and the Max plugin. OTOH, I really don't understand how would they create a horizon spanning landscape in Max without a plugin or something similar. Then, it might be my lack of knowledge about Max. I'll ask a colleague who uses Max tomorrow.

And sadly enough, ive just spotted this in the rules: "Pre-fabricated models are not allowed to be used. These include models generated from Poser, Daz3D, Terragen, Bryce and other parametric model generation software." That wasnt there before, im pretty sure about that.

Yup, only Poser and DAZ Studio. Aaaah, scum.

Hey, where did you find that? I checked the FAQ and the Instructions and no word about Bryce or Terragen. Just Poser and Studio.

Attached Link: http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/instructions.php

Just to fire things up....

"Q: Are random or parametric terrain and foliage/plant generation software (Bryce/Vue) allowed?
A: No. This has been a legacy of the last 15 Challenges. The whole purpose of the Challenge is to learn. We challenge artists with a concept/theme and rules/boundaries by which people have to work with. What's the challenge in pressing a few buttons and getting an automatic scene or terrain out of that? There's no challenge! We regard the Challenge like a triathlon, where athletes are given a goal and a route to go through to get to the goal. You don't see athletes jumping in cars to beat their competitors, and drug cheats almost certainly face banning, prosecution and public humiliation. Similarly, we give boundaries to the Challenge, and we challenge artists to better themselves through this."

Hows that for a quote from their FAQ??

Message edited on: 10/21/2004 19:08

Well then... Maybe they better check the Last 15 challenges they ran...Because One thing is for sure that without a Plugin for Terrain Generation in max or Maya lightwave ect,they would have to take upto several weeks to Model Terrains and Tree's and such for any type of Landscape/Vegetation Pic...

Exactly my point, foley. I was getting the cached version, and now I refreshed the page. I repeat, scum.

"No-one is denying that Bryce/Vue/whatever are capable of creating good results. Go to any car race - let's say NASCAR - notice how all the cars are similar specs? Why don't they allow Formula 1 cars in NASCAR? They'd run circles around any NASCAR machine any day! Why don't they allow it? They have RULES to level the playing field for competitors." This is great. Finally a confession that Brycers are superior beeings in the galaxy, and that they feel intimidated by us. HAHAAA :)

Yep, Rochr, I guess Bryce is in such an advantage over SoftImage (maybe XSI is a bad example now, cuz it is much cheaper, which puts it in poor man category), they HAD to do that, lol !!! I guess, according to the guy, we all "press 2 buttons" and thats how we make our renders ! :) Superior beeings ??? Definetly, lol ! It really feels good every single time you pull something which looks like it was rendered with MentalRay (kind of, sort of) or some other expencive "push couple buttons" renderer (20 min in MentalRay = 20 hours in Bryce), not really couple of them, but with much less effort !!! :) I guess all that effort does not make it up for quick random parametric generator thingie in Bryce, go figure, lol !

Me, I make all my works (which I never show) by opening Bryce, pressing a few buttons, holding down the (unknown to most) special "make-art" easter-egg keys, then going down to the pub while the render's going on. OTOH, Tracy Emin gets out of bed then lugs the whole bed down to the Tate, becomes famous and makes lots of money.... Wierd world, this.. I'm not going to try to enter the CG contest. In fact I'm not going to try to find the site. Whilst I agree with having contests which impose restrictions (I'd never stand a chance in ANYTHING otherwise), from the comments above the site seems to be aimed at a specific type of purist. (Similar to: Try getting a concert pianist to write folk music. They can't do it. Their background gets in the way.) Cheers Diolma (In sarcastic mood)