I had an idea to challenge myself in Poser dabblings and I'm wondering if anyone is interested in participating in the challenge...

I was watching a reality show called Face Off where special FX make up artists compete in a series of challenges to win a price.  My idea is simple: Take the challenges from the show and solve them using Poser and postwork instead of silicone, paint etc.

The challenges are as follows:

Challenge 1:
**Create an animal/human Hybrid **

The contestants were given a choice between an ostrich, a beetle or an elephant but I was thinking we could have a free choice or constrain to a selection of freebie animals.  Postwork is allowed but the two figures would have to be 3D models. No photos.

Challenge 2:
Nude bodypainting

This could be interesting.  Paint a nude model against a photo background.  There are several ways to solve this one.

Challenge 3:
Create an alien species

Create an alien that comes from the planet Gliese 581 g which is thought to exist for real.  The planet has water, volcanic activity and is permanantly dark on one side and light on the other.

Challenge 4:
Create your very own movie villain

Create a villain like Jason or  Freddy Krueger.  This could be a lot of fun!  The important thing is to create a story behind the villain to make it more real.  The final image would be a movie poster with your villain in the foreground.

Challenge 5:
The gender swap

Don't know how this would fit to Poser.  In the show the contestants had to swap genders of brides couples and they could do it anyway they wanted.  There are of course gender swap morphs for M4 and V4 but I don't see the challenge in that... 

Challenge 6:
Zombies

A classic zombie challenge.  Nothing complicated there.

Challenge 7:
Disguise youself

We might want to skip this one as it doesn't really fit to Poser.  I'm going to change a portrait of myself in Photoshop but we could maybe change this to 'Create yourself in Poser'? 

Challenge 8
Re-invent characters from a classic fairytale

This is the final challenge. The contestants could choose from Little Red Riding Hood, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid BUT they had to recreate them in one of these themes: Post-Apocalyptic, Haunted, Industrial, Psychedelic and Outer Space.  So you could make a Post-Apocalyptic Red Riding Hood or a Psychedelic Hansel and Gretel.  We could also choose other fairy tales or themes.

I know it's a bit much but we wouldn't have to do all the challenges.  I was thinking we could do one challenge each week.  We could have a discussion on each of the challenges during the week, posting WIP's and getting tips and post the final images on Friday or over the weekends.  The purpose is to have fun and be creative.  It doesn't have to be production quality or (dare I say it) photo realistic :)  The discussions could be fun and we could learn a lot from it.  That's the prize ;)

So what do you think?  Is it too much?  Anyone interested?

It sounds like an interesting challenge. Not sure I could make every week. But, I'd give it a go.

Sounds like fun, but maybe once a month might be better. Some of us are slow with making up scenes and some have and outside life to deal with too. Besides It would make the gun last longer.

Those ideas are superb.  I don't have time to participate but I may well use some of them in the future.

These sound like interesting challenges, I'd definitely participate.

But I do agree that 1 a month would be more like it for most people, as many aren't the Speedy Gonzales type modelers (or w/e).

Would be nice if we could get some awards for the winners tho, I'd be willing to put one of my products, or even offer a 'custom model' to a winner, and make whatever they'd like, within reasonable limits that is.

Personally, I'd prefer it not move into the arena of a contest with prizes. I think there are plenty of competition-based contests around. It would be great to just have a challenge where people can share their take on a topic. It would be even better if some WIP, pre-postwork and post-postwork images are shared. That way it can be a learning experience as well.

Edit:

I also agree that one week is a short time frame. I'd vote for 3 or 4 weeks for each as well. That would give us modelers more time to add our own props/figures/clothing to the scenes.

Okay, once a month it is. I'm thinking if we should skip some of the challenges...? What do you think? I´m gonna put my thinking cap on for a while and think this through. Please come up with some suggestions. This could be a lot of fun.

Thank you very much for your generosity Rooster! My only headache now is how we choose a winner...?  I agree with SekayiAsha.  My idea was to have a lively discussion in the forum about WIP and such. But prizes are always nice :)  Let's think on it...

Ok, now that I think about it, if it wasn't an actual competition, we'd get more participating.

That being said, how about not having prizes, but participation gifts. Something like they do in little kids soccer games nowadays where everyone gets a trophy :o)

I know it's a lot to ask, but I am still willing to volunteer my services to the cause, and if a few other people join in to split workload/gifts, it would be a nice way for members who may have never had any contact in the past to communicate and share with each other.

If you check my freebies, I'd pretty much be able to offer any kind of custom model with the same complexity and quality to possibly quite a few people, as most of those only took maybe a day or so to finish, working at my leisure. Just need requests for what people would like.

That's my usual problem is I have no clue what I wanna model, so I look thru the forums searching for requests.

Just an idea, hopefully a few will agree and join in my efforts :o)

Yea, I think the addition of prizes will kill the open discussion aspect. As soon as you add prizes/winners, it just becomes about competing instead of sharing.

But anyway, I think you've already outlined the challenge ideas pretty well. For "Disguise Yourself", I'd agree it would be better as a self-portrait challenge. I've actually been kicking around the idea of modeling a self-portrait to sharpen my skills. As for "Zombies", maybe it should be "unique zombies". It would be easy to create the same old Hollywood zombie image. For the "Gender Swap" one, maybe that could be changed to just creating an androgynous character. 

Edit:

@BionicRooster: I could go with participation gifts. I'd be willing to make some freebies towards that effort.

SekayiAsha, that's great!

Veering away from prizes to a few custom models is a great way for the community here to pull together and have a good time doing it.

And I've been wanting to get a community project going, where many members here offer their services to make one bad ass picture or maybe even animation. But, that's another thread entirely lol

Participation gifts is a fantastic idea Rooster!  It would be great if other modelers could offer gifts also...  Could we have a gift for each of the challenges or for participating in all of them?  I was thinking that people could freely choose what challenges they participate in so if you don't make one you're not 'out of the race' so to speak.

Thanks for the ideas SekayiAsha.  I was thinking if the 'Disguise Yourself' challenge could also be a photo manipulation.  That way you could change a portrait of yourself with bits and pieces from Poser.  The Zombie challenge should be a unique zombie with a back story. "How did he/she become a zombie?"  "Androgynous" is too big a word for me :) What does it mean?

You can check out photos from the shows website.  It has photos from each challenge so it's good for inspiration:

Face Off photos

I'm getting excited about this :)

:D

Androgynous has a couple of definitions. But, this is how I'm using it: "neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance". Think David Bowie during the glam rock days or maybe Prince or Annie Lennox in the 1980s. ^^ I suppose Marilyn Manson is a good 1990s example.

@ Bionic: That's a cool idea about a group project. I remember being a part of a collaboration like that back in the ice ages of the Bryce 2/3 days. :D

Quote - I remember being a part of a collaboration like that back in the ice ages of the Bryce 2/3 days

Wow, you've been doing this a while. I've only got a year of experience under my belt.

chuckles

Yea, I remember the Fractal Design and Metacreations days. But, I've actually been away for some years. I ended up getting heavily involved in freelance content design for virtual worlds professionally. Recently, I've started to get an itch to do some personal more artistic projects. So, Painter and Poser popped back into my mind. I'm really intersted to see what the latest Poser can do in combination with postwork.

I go pretty far back too ... I remember selling Poser and Bryce at Fry's back in '94 ... anyway ... I like these challenges.  I've been building a character set for myself.  contemperary, adventure, fantasy, sci-fi ...all sorts of characters.  This would help me hone my skills on these.  I will be a little late coming in though.  A friend is backing up my system and installing W7 for me (I use to be able to do this but a visual impairment that has shifted makes it too difficult now).  I'm wainting to get my system back.  Then I'll have access to Vicki and company and most of the base models I use for my characters.  Woo Hoo.

Boni

The beauty is that people can drop in whenever they want.  I was thinking we should start the first challenge on June 1st.  I'm hoping more people will jump on this and participate.  We know what the first challenge is so it's good to have time to think it over and search for inspiration.

Vestmann that sounds like a great challenge. It really has such a big range of challenges. Let us know if you want us to set up a challenge page for you through the site. That would make it easier all around I'd say. :)

Thank you Kimberly!  Would a challenge page allow discussions like here at the forums and would people be able to post WIP images and such?

Nope a discussion would not be possible or WIP I believe. We could make a link from the challenge to here so that WIP could be shown with discussion. This making the challenge page your rules, info, and images to be voted on.

We're not really going for a challenge or contest as much as we want just plain old community participation. No voting, no winners, cuz in this, everybody is going to come out of this with something.

nods I guess I was seeing Participation gifts as "prizes" thats one of the reasons I brought that up. No biggie honestly, just trying to make it easlier on you all :)

I didn't catch the part where you mentioned the link to here for discussions and WIP's at first, but it could be a good idea and also get more exposure.

Also, does there have to be actual voting? or can we just have it in the challenge area for showcasing finished images?

Looking at the first animal hybrid challenge it states a choice between a free choice of an animal or constrained to freebie animals. Which choice are we going to go with? I'd prefer to have a free choice of animal or insect.

Also, how much of the image needs to be created in Poser? Can the scene just be set up in Poser and rendered elsewhere? Or, does the scene need to be created entirely in Poser and rendered there?

Yeah, I'd vote for freedon of choice when it comes to selection, would allow for more variety.

One question tho, are we allowed to blend a human with only 1 animal? or can we have that freedom as well?

And as for render engine, I don't think people should be limited to only Poser or Daz, should be whatever tools you have at your disposal. It's not a contest, so I don't see how we should limit people.

I agree.  Pretty much total freedom.  The important thing to me is that people give insight to how they created the image and get a lively discussion going.  It's also fun to have a story behind the character. Why is it a hybrid human/animal?

The special FX artists on the show have a base model on to which they sculpt and paint in order to create their piece.  This is how I think about it. Start with models in Poser then sculpt and paint over it in any application you want.  The render engine shouldn't matter.  Those who have Bryce or Vue for example can use that to add scenery.

I'll post a more 'official' post for the first challenge with more guidelines and suggestions. Is there anything to wait for? Should we dive in and start the first challenge?

I've already got an idea gong thru my head and the animals to do it with. I'll say more once I get going on it.

Yeah same here.  I have an idea formulating and I'm gonna research it a bit.  This is fun.  I'll post some guidelines in a bit. Let the games begin...

Sounds good to me ^^

Challenge 1
Create an animal human hybrid

Combine your Poser models into a formidable animal/human hybrid.  Make it scary, cute or any way you want.

"Rules":

• You can use any models you have or anything you can find in the great world of Poser so start looking!

• You can render from any application you want.

• You can add postwork to your hearts content.

• You're encouraged to share your WIP and ideas as well give helpful critisism to other paricipants work.

Some guidelines and suggestions:

Here are some thoughts I have for this challenge.  These are not rules and you don't have to follow these.  If you have more ideas regarding workflow and thought process please share them with us.

• Research your animal.  What's its habitat? How does it feed?  What are its main characteristics?  Wikipedia is your friend here.

• Create a character with some background. How was it created? A tragic lab mishap? Was it cursed? By whom?  Is it simply a freak of nature? This is only limited by your imagination.

• Choose your style.  50's horror movie, a comic book villain, a fantasy creature or something from the latest blockbuster movie...?  Or maybe you have your own style.  A few moments to think about the style can help a lot with the idea process.

• Break out all your tools!   I've had Blacksmiths 3D morph app for some time and I never use it. Maybe now's my chance.  If you can add to your model by modelling something yourself, do it.  Break out the old pencil and paper and do some sketches. Have you always wanted to learn how to do more postwork in Photoshop?  Ask others for help and go for it.  Push yourself to create a really memorable character.

Time limit and final images

We have four weeks for every challenge.  I'm thinking that if everyone has finished well before time we can start on the next challenge.  As the challenge progresses we can agree upon a time to present our final images.

The final image should be something you would proudly put in your gallery.  I'm hoping to see some really spectacular characters!

So share your thoughts and ideas and learn from the thoughts and ideas of others ;)

Let the games begin!

Sweet ^^ 

I'm pretty excited! Now, I just need to decide between a lynx or butterfly hybrid. I hate decisions. -.-

Quote - Sweet ^^ 

I'm pretty excited! Now, I just need to decide between a lynx or butterfly hybrid. I hate decisions. -.-

I know!  I'm stuck on scorpion and I have a character pretty much set up in my head but I don't know...  A human/scorpion hybrid? Sounds like it's been done before... but then again that shouldn't really matter.  Sometimes my mind is my worst enemy.

I've actually seen a lot of human hybrid art, and I haven't seen many scorpion hybrids. I'd be pretty interested to see which scorpion parts you'd mix in with the human.

Well 'id incorporate the tail obviously but I'm thinking of doing a more tragic character rather then threatening.  He'd have the menacing tail and a giant claw instead of one hand but his face would be disfigured and even hidden and his other hand would also be disfigured and pretty much unusable. Maybe even missing.  He doesn't want to fight but he's driven to it because of his disfugrement and his yet to be known dark past :)

Sounds like a cool little idea, guess i'm also in. I'd also be happy to lend my modelling skills for any gifts and stuff you guys wanna put together. Any ideas on where to post our WIPs and thoughts and such ? I'm thinking the critique section could be a good place or maybe we should just post everything here ? It will get pretty OT though...

EDIT: Oooh that's looking really nice Vestmann !

Thanks ghonma, good to have you aboard.  I think it's best to post WIPs and thoughts here.  We'll be taking the challenges in order so we concentrate on each challenge at a time.  We'll just have to see how this progresses.  If the thread becomes to messy we'll figure something out.

Ok, I think i'll try something aquatic, maybe a jellyfish/human as I dont think i've ever seen that before. Should be fun :)

A jellyfish/human sounds very interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen one, that's for sure. 

The Aliens are out to exterminate us!

They've done all the probing they can, and now have combined DNA to come up with what they think is the ultimate Human killing beast!

From the land speed and stamina from the best of steeds, the pure hunter instincts and senses of a coyote, the attack speed of rattle snake, flight of a bird,  mixed with the cunning human intellect, and this is what you get....

Here's my concept WIP.

...did I go overboard with this one? lol

Quote - Ok, here's my crazy idea...

The Aliens are out to exterminate us!

They've done all the probing they can, and now have combined DNA to come up with what they think is the ultimate Human killing beast!

From the land speed and stamina from the best of steeds, the pure hunter instincts and senses of a coyote, the attack speed of rattle snake, flight of a bird,  mixed with the cunning human intellect, and this is what you get....

Here's my concept WIP.

...did I go overboard with this one? lol

I like the ultimate killing beast concept.  It reminds when Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington were discussing their ideas for the ultimate animal on The Ricky Gervais Show.  This one sure has a great set of skill and I wouldn't want to have it on my tail ;)  What's up with his left arm?  It's very long.

Quote - What's up with his left arm?  It's very long.

it's

Quote - ...the attack speed of rattle snake

:o)

Quote - > Quote - What's up with his left arm?  It's very long.

it's

Quote - ...the attack speed of rattle snake

 

:o)

Ah, Ok. now I get it ;)  It will look cool in a more curled pose or attack position.  I'd started wondering if he'd be participating in jousting with a long left arm lance ;)  This makes more sense.

@Vestmann:

I really like the top two poses for your character.

@BionicRooster:

That's a pretty epic character. ^^

I think I'll need to draw out a concept picture for my butterfly hybrid. I have a ton of ideas bouncing around about the head sculpt for mine, but I can't really settle on one. At least, I finally decided on the creature finally. :D

Quote - @Vestmann:

I really like the top two poses for your character.

@BionicRooster:

That's a pretty epic character. ^^

I think I'll need to draw out a concept picture for my butterfly hybrid. I have a ton of ideas bouncing around about the head sculpt for mine, but I can't really settle on one. At least, I finally decided on the creature finally. :D

If you're gonna sketch out a character it would be great to see it.  It'd be great to see a concept go from a pencil sketch to a finished render...

Added poor Simon for visual aesthetics.

Render time: 10 minutes

Blacksmith3D, that's one thing you have on me... Most of my tools are limited to free programs.

Looks awesome so far tho, can't wait to see it textured :o)

Quote - ok, did a little modeling to help hide some seams (lazy, I know lol), made a helmet, shoulder pad, and collar (seemed to fit well), and this is how it looks.

Added poor Simon for visual aesthetics.

Render time: 10 minutes

Simon seems to have quite a fall ahead of him :)  I like the pads and helmet, it adds to the character.  Good to see the snake in action.

Quote - Blacksmith3D, that's one thing you have on me... Most of my tools are limited to free programs.

Looks awesome so far tho, can't wait to see it textured :o)

Yeah, I bought Blacksmith3D some time ago along with PoseMorphloader.  It's a good combo as it lets me export several bodyparts of a figure no matter how it's posed, edit it in Blacksmith3D and then import it back either as FBM or PBMs

How are things going guys?  KimberlyC was nice enough to pin this thread so I'm hoping more people will join us.  Do you have any thoughts regarding participation gifts?  I was thinking it'd be best to have something generic like perhaps a platform for our cretions or maybe simple dynamic cloths like ponchos or something like that.  What do you think?