I like rocks, and appreciate stone for its placid, immovable, unemotional sensibleness. But what if rocks danced with joy, stood with determination, cried when cracked, or whispered to each other like friendly gossips? The goal is to portray an emotion (loneliness, regret, exuberance, affection, pity, nervousness, gusto... whatever) using rock or stone, in such a way that it engages the viewer. So, the theme is "to wring tears from stone" but you can portray any emotion using any sort of stone: a standing column, stone-faced cliff, pile of rocks, whatever. This might be a little tougher, but I hope you have fun doing the unexpected! Carolly

Now that really is a challenge to get to grips with. Nice one Carolly, and congrats on a well deserved win.

I Like It! 8)

Pam, Thank you. Well, if you think of a pillar of salt looking back regretfully, or Tolkien's trolls arguing angrily (and eternally), or even the phrase "petrified with fear", literature does have some strong emotions displayed by this most mundane and unemotional material. The writers may have an easier time with this. Are you familiar with the Russian story of the Malachite Lady? http://www.sunbirds.com/lacquer/readings/1025 Even a stone can love (and perhaps more truly than we restless humans)! Visually? I photographed some friendly rocks: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=891447&Start=1&Artist=hauksdottir&ByArtist=Yes ...and someone else might find rocks stacked in a happy dance like Snoopy's pattering feet, or perhaps arching to support each other if they live near a Goldsworthy installation. Utah has goblin valley and England has dancing maidens. We have those stern presidential faces, but there are certainly smaller carvings all over the world. Graveyards are full of mourners frozen in their grief. Even the inuit has a word, "inuksuk", for "man of stone that points the way": http://www.eskimoart.com/gallery/D4904.html Artists with Bryce might build a stone bridge of two arms clasping and reinforcing each other to show how friendship can unite peoples no matter how deep the divide between them. Or folks with Poser might break out their old Stone Maidens or the newer Stone Troll and see just how expressive they can get. Fractal artists might have it a bit harder... unless they used a palette representative of stone... but I think exaltation (leaping with joy) could be managed, or maybe teardrops? Lots of things can be done with rock; the tricky part is making it emotional. Carolly

peeks in Are staff allowed to play? Or do we just get to watch? This one sounds really awesome, and something to give me a good challenge!!

Just to clarify things, being "stoned" is not considered an emotion - although people experience emotions while stoned. A rock concert can also be very emotional - but not always.

Of course, staff can play too! :) The more ideas, the more we learn from each other and the more fun we have. And with challenges, if anybody needs help, they can post WIPs and get tips on the lighting or focus or whatever. Carolly

Why am I seeing a concert of rainbow-colored stones arranged on chakra points all vibrating in cosmic harmonies and radiating peace? Tie-dyed background is extra. :giggle:

:D Awesome. As soon as I saw the first line of the first post, I've had an idea in my head ;). I may just play in this one :D

Probably could have called this "The Rolling Stone" as well.

This is my first submission to the Challenge Forum. Hope I posted correctly. Please, let me know if there should be separate threads for the submissions. Thank you, ClearVision

You posted fine :) We're a little different in here. :) Everyone is allowed to join in. Poems, pictures, 3d, staff. ;) and we tend to keep everything in on thread so it's easy come vote time. :)

You gave the challenge a great start. :) Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the welcome. Couldn't resist the great theme. By the way, if that wayward little note jumps onto your desk, please send it back to the image. ClearVision

Here is my entry into this challenge. I call it "Trolls just wanna have fun" (yeah the Cindy Lauper tune got stuck in my head too LOL) DAZ Troll, with my "Rock Troll (Rocky)" texture (which should be released sometime this month. Hope you enjoy :) Rawn

Well done. I like the way you worked the frame into the theme so nicely. It's like looking through a hole in a rock wall. Cool. :)

LOL! Delightful. :) And I like the musical one above, too. We're off to a very good start indeed! Carolly

They call it progress? Ancient monuments left to go to rack and ruin, yet they build their new houses by the score! Dig up all the peat to enhance their gardens, and let good peat bogs degenerate into swampy morasses! Hrrummmph!..It's enough to send a dolmen demented! Bryce, with just a frame added and tweaked for levels in postwork.

Wonderful conceptualization of a "right on" disgusted rock relic! Love it! :)

I like the theme as well. Actually it reminds me of an old cartoon (yes, there is a flashback coming). I can't remember the name of the cartoon movie, however, I do know that I was in a play once and this cartoon was based on that play. In the cartoon, Alan Thicke narrated it, and it was all about a boy who had a round head when everybody else had a pointed head. I think the play was called The Land Of Point. In anycase, at one point in the cartoon, the boy meets The Rock Man. Who is this very cool and hip kinda guy, who spouts wisdom in a gravelly kinda voice. Favourite line from that was his "You've got to keep on, keepin' on." Okay, I think I've wandered on my little tangent long enough. Cool idea. I can't wait to see some of the posts. Capn O

A rock man with a gravelly voice? You do know that writers are welcome in these challenges, too? Why don't you write up a bit of story, with a suitable emotion for this guy? Perhaps he is eternally optimistic "on a roll"? or curious... always rolling along, never settling? or an erratic (the stones left behind by glaciers are called erratics because they do not match their surroundings)? Carolly

Oh my gosh! What was she thinking??? Bryce 5.1, textures generated in UltraFractal 3.5, apples by kzoo, trees from treelab

Going to place Saturday as the final day for entries. Starting Sunday morning, voting opens.

Eeeks! I may have to fall onto my backup idea if I can't get this sky-generator to cough up the pattern I want. This is Memorial Day weekend hre in the States... are you sure that you want to have voting start when many people are apt to be gone? I won't be back until Monday night, and others might be traveling, too. Carolly

Very true Carolly... and I also always allow for those who need a few more hours for rendering and such to post and and ask for a little more time. Part of the reason of posting like that ;) We can hold until Tuesday morning, which then gives everyone the long weekend (those in the states) a little extra time to finish their works. :)

RimRunner, My goal is an exuberant rock, leaping into the sky with joy. I found these gorgeous halo pictures, including some from the NOAA site which would be ok to use, but also found a little simulator program which seems more designed for astronomers and weather scientists than for artists. :deep sigh: Running up a sky in Bryce is eeeeeeasy compared to determining the angles on ice crystals! And after a night of making pretty patterns... I discovered that it only saves ONE image at a time, the first one. :( ALL of my color on color skies are gone. :((( Anniemation and I got together last Saturday when she was out here, and among the things we discussed was how learning new programs keeps the rust off the braincells. Sometimes it seems more like steelwool. (ouch, ouch, ouch) Oh, well... challenges are supposed to get us to stretch, even if the results aren't going to show in the final image. I have to decide now whether to try to use this one, or go back into the program and wrestle with it some more to try to recreate what I'd noodled together a couple of nights ago. If I can't get this to work, I'll just enter a photo, but at least you've given me a bit more time. Thanks! Carolly

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=966128

We leave for Yosemite in less than 2 hours, and I still need to pack clothes... but this will have to do. My entry is at the link. Good luck everyone, and have a great weekend! Carolly

Oh wow I know where my votes going, this is stupendous.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=966754

As I see it, rocks are very simple creatures - just beneath reptiles on the evolutionary ladder. So they should show emotions consistent with this fact. Also, rocks possess an elegance and a profound nobility, so the emotion should be deep and serious. I chose "Determination". What could be more noble than dragging oneself out of the ocean in an attempt to evolve into a creature of the land? Sends chills up my spine...

Six Meteors Boulders or Rocks (free) from 3dtrue. Terraformers Cliff and Water from PoserPros. Some pokin' around in the material room by me.

Yet another great theme... met with awesome images. Congratulations to all who entered!! and let the voting beging. Standard rules: Pick your three fav' entries. 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice. Good luck everyone!!

Very difficult to choose but I think I am going this way. 1st place....Hauksdottir 2nd place....Rjbourc 3rd place....ClearVision. I would like to have been able to vote an equal 3rd for Ranwrr, but ended up chosing on the toss of a coin.

Thanks for the kind words, but mine didn't come out the way I envisioned it... I was trying to shoot through the ringstone, but it just looked like a lumpy frame if you didn't know what it was. :sigh: Some things are better animated. This might be better art, but it is more sky than rock. OTOH, that really is a nifty little program for making neat halo effects, and if we ever need a ring around the moon or some sun dogs, we can just make our own. ;) Meanwhile, I'm really glad to see all the ways people have taken this theme. I need to get another cup of coffee, finish unpacking, apologize to the cat again... and make my selections. Skrogg slept on me for about 12 hours, but she still isn't letting me out of her sight. Carolly

Well, I wanted emotion, so my choices are going to be based upon that... but this is a tough group. Each one is very expressive. Each is worthy. 3 pts rjbourc 2 pts Rawnrr 1 pt chohole Rjbourc's rock hauling itself out of the sea is subtle, but powerful (there are mornings when I feel like that). Rawnrr's dizzily dancing rocktroll is delightful. Pam's dolmen clearly wishes he had longer legs; the disgust is obvious. Carolly

3 pts Clearvision 2 pts chohole 1 pt tresamie Really loved the theme and the results. :) You all won, in my mind.

3 pts chohole 2 pts tresamie 1 pt hauksdottir

RATS! I'm too late to enter. I took the theme literally and started working on a "Zen Garden" in a space in front of my house - still looking for the right rocks. Was going to enter it as photography. Votes: 3 pts: Hauksdottir - partly for her image and partly for her knowledge of art in general and how it can even relate to Japanese rock gardens. I learned more looking at rocks than I could have going to the MOMA. 2 pts: Rawnrr 1 pt: Tresamie

3 points - rjbourc 2 points - Rawnrr 1 point - chohole This was difficult as always. Loved the imaginative challenge and I think everyone did wonderfully!

3 points - Clearvision 2 points - tresamie 1 point - chohole This challenge is my first time stopping by here, but it won't be my last. Very entertaining concept and very clever entries.

ok....my votes are

3 rjbourc
2 hauksdottir
1 Rawnrr

Good luck, and great job on these!! I need to definitely find time to play in here, LOL. *edit because I can't count, LOL.

Message edited on: 06/04/2005 10:54

3 pts clearvision 2 pts hauksdottir 1 pt rjbourc Good luck guys This was a heck of a challenge. I've enjoyed watching...me....... I'm not imaginative enough for a hard one like this lol. Nice work from all!

Please cast your vote today. Sunday (today) night I'll tally these up and get the winner announced. Good luck everyone.

a very close race this time. Closer then they've been in a while... so who is the winner??... keep reading. With 6 points - 6th place: Tresamie With 7 points - 5th place: Rawnrr With 8 points - 4th place: Chohole With 10 points - 3rd place: ClearVision With 11 points - 2nd place: hauksdottir and taking the lead with 12 points: The winner is... rjbourc! Contratulations Roy. Please start a new thread with a theme for June's challenge.

Wow, that is very close. Good going, everyone!!! Congratualtions, rjbourc, and everyone who entered such wonderfully imaginative interprestations of the theme. This was a good one. :) Thanks too to Carolly for thinking it up. :D

A good close finish... with a lot of excellent and very imaginative entries. I'm pleased that people had fun with the concept, even if they were only thinking of things they could do with it. :) And major congratulations to rjbourc! Wonderful pic! Carolly

Congrats to all, this one was fun. Looking forward to the next one. Pam

Just logging in briefly from work. A wicked storm knocked out our electricity for the past 24 hours and counting. This was a good close vote. Hats off to all the participants - this was fun. I will post the June challenge this evening if the utility company gets things done today as promised. Hopefully it's something new...

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12372&Form.ShowMessage=2292119

Just in case anyone gets lost. ;) Is clearly a good one!