Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/contest.ez?contest_id=5

I have an idea I'm working on, but I don't know if I'll get it done in time.

I think Ill post my entry tomorrow. Im almost done.

This is the U.S. Western contest? I haven't been able to think of anything apropos 8-(

I cna't think of anything worthwhile either! I'd sure like to but, I have Anything Grooves already. By the way, do you have any help tips for me about applying Anything Grooves to the treads on my tire litst? I'm having a lot of trouble with it and need to figure out a way to use it. Help?????? kaom

Sorry, Kaom . I can't be of any help because i don't use Anything Grooves . With my poor 64M ram, it would be too slow . :( Do you think the theme is too vague or too restricted ? Maybe we could make future contests with no theme at all ( but were would be the fun ? ) ? litst

ltst, I don't know! I mean, having a theme is cool because it probobly makes it easier to judge. That way you have parameters to go buy. But no theme at all would be cool too, anything goes, you would get entries from cars to characters to spaceships. It would be interesteing, to say the least. Heck try it, it might be great. We should all get together and buy the poor Frenchman some more RAM! 64MB is not enough for a man like litst, the boy needs some more RAM, you do some amazing things with that 64 MB though. And by the way, you are a texture wizard. kaom

you really need at least 256 MB RAM a theme-based "artists' jam" is better than no theme IMVHO western may be tricky because nobody has any cactus or longhorn cattle to place in their scenes ;-)

West is a state of mind, not just geography. It is where you journey for new opportunity, to find or fulfil a dream, to discover something you didn't even imagine until you stumble upon it at the far edge of a continental or oceanic trek, where another West rises up and beckons you ever onward. You never really reach the West, you can only travel in that direction. Does that help stimulate some ideas? SMcQ

I could use more time. I think 2 months would be a bit more realistic for the "offical" carrara contests. Sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 weeks just to plan out the scene. I was looking through the Carrara gallery and saw some of the pics that came in to late for the last contest...they where pretty nice. It can take a lot of time to crank out a good pic. Of course I have an adversion to using things I didnt make. I really want to buy Litst's metal shaders but I cant decide if thats cheating. In my head I know its not but I have this nasty tendency to want everything to be mine. I used a tire from Mark Bremmer in a commercial last year and it killed me to do it....I want it all to be me :)

SMcQ, Great description. That's exactly what I started to do but alas, reality never is as good as the dream. litst, the theme is a good one with many possibilities. Mine started out good but I've run into a few problems that need to be worked out yet (things like modeling, texturing, lighting and time).

Ok, now I've posted an entry.

When I thought of the idea, I was acutally humming the Pet Shop Boys' version of the old Village People song. Lots of what Smcquinn said is in that song. I was also thinking of west versus east (orient and occident), silicon valley, Hawaii, sunsets, old trains, six-shooters, moonsets, the western arm of the milky-way galaxy (orion arm -- our local area), all that. Anything you make can probably be stretched into the theme; I plan on adding bonus points for creative adaptation of the theme.... Hope this helps!

PS -- I created a Saguaro cactus that's in the free-stuff section of poser mesh objects. Download away!

Thanks for your feedback, And thanks for submitting, Mixepix . The lightning is particularly good, and the image really tells a story . Good work ! To Chip : thanks for your free model :) I'm gonna dl it right now . To Brent : me too i like to make all the elements of an image . I use Carrara for all my images . The fact is that i'm not the one who has made it, and i wish i had ! ;) And think you're right when you say that one month is not enough . So the next contest will be longer . Two months, probably . Maybe there is the possibility to make this month's contest longer ? I know the rules are the rules, but if you're okay with that, we can make changes . Please tell me . Of course, as several entries per member are accepted, those who have already submitted a pic will be allowed to upload another one if they want to refine it . One last thing . I know it's sometimes hard to think of an image from a theme . The first thing i do is to ask myself what the theme reminds me, and then i can let my imagination go and try to find a symbol . When Chip told me about the theme, i thought of a song by la Mano Negra, "Welcome in Occident" . It's the story of a eastern Europe guy who discovers United States after the fall of USSR ( "Mac Donald, MTV, Mr Bush and Mr T. " ) . So i've thought of some TVs in the shop window of a russian hi-fi store, showing commercials for hamburgers or cars, a guy with a bright smile, a soap-opera, some bimbos dancing, those kind of things ... I really think having a theme is more stimulating . litst litst.@freesbee.fr

I, for one, would support extending the contest deadline. If nobody has any objections, that is....

I'd be cool with an extended deadline. The western theme gave me a couple of ideas. First of all, "Go West" is the name of a Marx Brothers film. Secondly, I've been taking riding lessons, so I thought about doing a self portrait of sorts. But I have a different idea now, so we'll see if I can get it done in time. --Terri

I think extending the deadline would be great. I'm working on a scene and there is no way it will be done by July 31.

Glad, you liked it litst.:) I dont have any problem with an extended deadline either. Its kinda pointless with a competition if theres no submissions.

If there's room for two more cents, here's mine... I like having themes for the contests. It's great to see how a concept can be approached from several angles. The western theme is quite a technical challenge, especially if you go with the American "wild west" of horses, cacti, sagebrush, cattle, and all those other organic shapes. Now let's see some creative solutions... Extending the deadline should be helpful in several ways. It would allow us more time to exchange ideas and ask one another for advice (very educational). It will also allow participants to submit a more complete product that really shows off the capabilities of Carrara and RDS. This should attract more customers for Eovia - an important first step in our plan to take over the world! Mwahahahaha! Oh, and one more thing... there's nothing wrong with 64 megs of ram if you catch my drift ;) Jim Z. a.k.a. Julian Boolean

Thanks all, I'll see what i can do to push the deadline a month later . I'll keep you updated . litst

Obviously there's nothing wrong with 64MB of RAM, because it doesn't seem to be slowing you down at all.You rock man! Two months for the contest will be great, you'll see some incredible entries,I have a feeling! Thanks, kaom

Mixepix, great entry. One thing I especially liked was the surprise in scale. Usually, when I think West, I think of vast landscapes, "Big Sky Country" and the like, so when your picture came up I had an "Oh! I wasn't expecting that." moment, which I always enjoy. I also like the way you've told a story, both by what you have shown, and what you don't show. Really neat use of perspective.

Hey, Jim Z -- It's not the size of your RAM, it's how you use it! And I'd love to see folks post WIP's -- the real object of being in a contest is not so much to win, but to do the best you can and learn from it. That's why we used to do the 15 minute challenges. (And maybe we should do another sometime soon, eh?)

I've just seen that Brenthomer is looking for a 1.5 gigs Ram system ... I don't care because like Kaom said, my 64megs don't slow me down . No it doesn't . Repeat after me litst : " my ram doesn't slow me down ! " . My ram doesn't slow me down ! ;) Last time we made a 15 min challenge, it was about making something in our kitchen . I've tried and i've tried, but i couldn't find an efficient way to model a fork ! That could be the next challenging challenge ! litst

"my ram doesn't slow me down" "my ram doesn't slow me down" "my ram doesn't slow me down" "my ram doesn't slow me down" There,I feel better now.LOL I feel guilty for how much RAM I have litst, maybe I'll pull a stick out and send it to you. LOL kaom

Thanks, Twillis. Its nice to know you liked it!:)