(From humorix): Hi The Challenge is: The challenge is to create an image modeled COMPLETELY IN BRYCE. (That is 100% Bryce!! NO imports of meshes, DXF models, Poser models et. al or putting in a pict object). Based on the theme: "A Duel". The interpretation of a duel is left to the challengers! It might be a joust, a wild west draw, a duel in the sky, a space fight, a duel of wits, a bout of chess, a fight of music, a clash of colors, Gandalf v/s Balrog...!!!! Whatever, as long as it shows a contest between two entities ( of near equal strature, it can't be a fight against Nature, if you know what I mean) !. The image might be abstract, medivial, futuristic, fantastic...whatever! No limits to your imagination! One can import grey scale image, work upon gray scale images in external editors (Illustrator, Photoshop etc), but no post work of any kind is allowed (post render)! Clarification about the post work. I had allowed for compositing, depth of field and lens effects (and disallowed any creation of clothes, hair etc) but guess fellow Brycers wanted a completely Post free challenge! Sorry for the delay in response but have been having a tough time trying to connect up! Let me know if you want anything more!

Submissions will be accepted until 8am Tuesday, May 21st. Entries will be up for voting within 2 hours of that. (Barring any internet catastrophe on my end) Voting will cease on 8am Monday May 27th and the winner announced. Entry Restrictions : Due to the format of the Challenge, pictures have to be no more than 800x600 in dimensions and saved in the .jpg format at no higher than 90% quality. If you need help with this, contact me. Each submission can/will be checked for this. *The reason for this is when the entries of the Challenge are put into one thread for voting their total amount of Kb can be pretty big. We need to keep it down so members can have ALL entries pop up (on slower modem connections), so they can choose the best one to vote for. *The Bryce Forum Challenge will have a new area (as soon as I can get it completed) This new area will house all the entries and winners of future Challenges. The new format will make it MUCH easier for voting. * A new way of voting is in discussion, we'll post as it's decided. You have 33 days, go to it! AgentSmith

Its not my intension to be a pain in the but guys, but why is it allowed to import grayscales, AND to work with them in external editors? Unless im mistaking, those are 2D-pics as well... One of the biggest challenges is actually to model the stuff in Bryce itself. And to allow "some" postwork will make this contest 95% bryce, not 100%...

One Question, can the imported primitives available on the Create Palette ( imported primitives category ) be included in the models?

The greyscale pics are to be used in the terrain editor. I don't a problem with using this or creating textures in a image editor. What is meant by 2-D pics is like you want R2D2 in your scene but instead of modeling him you just use a picture of him applied to a 2-D plane. This is taking a shortcut.

I think import of primitive can be allowed (Rounded cubes, cylinder, cone) but the problem is what will be deemed as a primitive? Say, will a pair of horns be deemed a primitive? Who will decide? Hope the image restriction of 800x600 can be either of the ways, i.e. landscape or portrait!

Umm whatever is given in Bryce by default can be used in the image, so the imported primitives in the Bryce pallette can definitely be used.

Imported (objects) Primitves - Yes; If it comes with Bryce it can be used, as it is 100% Bryce. This would also allow metaballs. Humorix wishes to allow import of 2D pics in the sense of greyscale images only for use in the terrain editor. That way if someone wished to make them in Photoshop, Dogwaffle, etc., they could do so, to make a better looking terrains. But as Aldaron said, no 2D in the sense of pics of R2D2, etc. are allowed. No postwork is allowed except for a signature, date, etc. Humorix was going to allow SOME postwork, but some members wanted to go for none. So, it is none. AgentSmith

Dimension Maximum's - Entries can either be (a max of); 800 horizontal x 600 vertical or 600 horizontal x 800 vertical No 800 x 800 entries. And, of course keep it at a max of 90% quality. And, (if you have it) Sub-Sampling can be maxed out. Thanks! AgentSmith

"A duel" on its own would be a good topic. 100% Bryce is fine for a subject close to Bryce's main capability. I don't think the combination is such a good idea. Duelling terrain objects? Duelling booleans? Good luck, folks!

Question, Why does it have to be a duel, why not just use Bryce to its fullest potential? There are some of us here that like to deal with more realism then fiction, (and yes I know that most of my pictures deal with what is possible and not what is now in practice). By limiting the contest to this dueling thing may always leave people like me out, I create about 98% of my pictures exclusively in Bryce. I never got into the (Star wars) thing, just showing a spaceship against the stark background of space can be just as awe-inspiring as having 2 ships blowing themselves up. Just a thought. David

Bambam, no one defined what the "duel" is. It's subject to the interpretation of the artist. If you like doing realism then do a realistic duel, doesn't even have to involve blowing anything up, just have what can be seen as 2 or more antagonists.

Bambam131, how about a scorpion and tarantula going at it ??? just a suggestion. I am working on a Rhino challenge and just got Bryce 5... so I am learning the ropes and if you want to use that idea.. please feel free to. bob

Each month is a different Theme, that is the way it has always been. Having a theme gives members a direction in which to take and forces us to use our imagination in a focused way. The theme aspect of this challenge helps bring out the artistic side of Bryce, along with the technical. With no theme we would just be making pics for our gallery alone. Without a little pressure, a diamond would never be made.

HI Bambam! I've seen your work and you make great stuff! To reiterate what Alderon said, a duel can be interpretted as a contest between to entities! It doesn't necessarily have to have violence! A duel of wits? A duel of intellect? Rayraz came up with an idea of duel against time! Well these are just to give you inputs on various thought process. But it definitely would be great to have an entry from you in this challenge! The visual arena will be all the more richer! And for phantasat I'd say the same. You are at full liberty to interpret the theme as you wish, and yet to 100% Bryce! After all the aim of this monthly challenge is not so much to compete, but to extend our capabilities, which, hopefully this month's theme will help do, like the previous themes!

Hey Agentsmith, I loved that bit about diamond!!! :-) Very true!

What if I wanted to make a sign or label ? Does this mean I have to model the letters in Bryce or can I use a 2d face with lettering and a transparent background ?

Up to Humorix, as far as I have read it's greyscale images only (which is for the terrain editor.

As we are allowing textures created in any 2D package, I guess the sign and lable is allowed if used as a texture somewhere! :-)

Listen I usually dont answer these things but I think that if you are going to do it,it should be 100% Bryce and only that what comes with the cd's from Bryce should be used...That means the content cd from Bryce has tons of extra stuff that comes with Bryce pics and models There is enough there to be able to model a scene...also what about folks who have just 4 or even 3 The metaballer kind of throws them into a disdavantage right at the beggining,so I suggest different catagories for bryce then,1st one should be 100% Bryce,the second of course would allow postwork and imports,This is a way that could accomodate all Brycers...Just a thought and hey guys what about my Effects can I use them?

Umm Foley, I did win the March challenge with Bryce 4 and with a boolean character at that. The whole idea is to challenge your imagination and your usage of the software, irrespective of versions. Having seen the work you create I don't see how you can but not come up with a great image! :-) Also, I'm sure you can use your effects (as we have allowed no post work, but one can create a texture outside and bring it into Bryce!) In fact I saw you have offered a few of your effects as freebies. Why not offer it to the rest of the challenge team so that they can get to use some of those great effects? I guess you might need to check with agentsmith once of course!

I have just one gripe...for those of us who do not have bryce 5....metaballs are not an optinon for organics...how will the playing field be levelled?

Well duk duk you needn't use organics. How about something created in Boolean or a terrain map. The whole challenge is in interpreting the theme within the constraints of whatever version of Bryce you are using! Exceptional work will always stand out!

Attached Link: http://uk.geocities.com/bryster3d

This is cool, posting it here. BUT...you should also post it in a new thread in the forum, just to get more members to see it. I really, really like this!

Hi Est! As Agentsmith says above, you need to post this image as a new thread, titling it as "May monthly challenge entry:ET v/s AI. That way more people get to see it! The concept is cool btw. Can I suggest a little more improvement in lighting and move the camera a bit more closer so that the objects are clearer? :-)

Thank you very much for the suggestion! Is it OK if I will delete this picture and then put the enhanced one here instead?

Yes delete the picture her. In case you have doubt about your image, post it as a WIP for the challenge, but in a new thread (right at the top of the page you'll find a link for new messages). If you feel that you have created the final image, post it as "Entry for May challenge" again as a new thread!