[ellis]

So finally, we have the pleasure of announcing the challenge winners at last

On behalf of SimplyMaya & SimplyLightwave we want to say thank you to everyone that participated, there were so many brilliant entries and it was a lot of fun to follow. In fact they were all pretty brilliant so calling the winner on this one was really hard but as things go someone has to win in the end so here goes the verdict from the jury:

Winner 1st Place - otacon (SimplyLightwave)
Vintage Tricycle
"A very simple but yet effective render which brings a sense of nostalgia with its subtle details and fits the challenge brief perfectly. This texturing and lighting work is well executed and a lot of thought went into the presentation which has given a piece which is both artistically and techniclly strong with focus on the toy itself. It is interesting to look at as a CG render as well as from a photography standpoint and for this reason it is the winning entry."

http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1309458970
http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1309458970
http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1309458970


2nd Place - jonamar (SimplyMaya)
Toy Car
"This piece is full of fun and we love the creativity that went into the presentation which makes it stand out amongst so many brilliant entries in this challenge. As we asked for a toy and not a toy in an environment we've left environments out of the judging process to a large extent, but with this piece we feel it's within the spirit of the challenge as the wooden men have been integrated to be part of the toy itself. Very clever take and a great final render."

http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1310118045
http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1310118021
http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1310117989



3rd Place - Shared between two entries;
serzz (SimplyMaya)
Helicopter Toy
"Perfect photorealistic render which looks almost identical to the initial reference posted. We liked the photograph as a product shot and the final render displays excellent skills in modeling, shading and lighting work."

http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...&d=1310113956]

Daveido (SimplyMaya)
Thinktoy Buzz
"Great modeling and texture work, very true to the original Buzz in both presentation and style. Playful and fun. We couldn't choose between these two as they were so different in style but both great toy renders in spirit with the challenge, hence the shared 3rd place on this one"

http://simplylightwave.com/forum/att...1&d=1310113358

All the final challenge entries can be found here. So many great entries didn't place which they normally would and it's a real shame the quality of work was just so high this time around. Let's have a crack at the next challenge too! And big congratulations to winners, especially otacon, we beat them

[TowerFan]

Great competition, Congrats to all winners.

Way to go otacon!!! Bringin' it home for SL !!

[s2-speedy]

Well done otacon. I knew this was guna do well when i first saw it. Stunning render. Glad a lightwaver won but the maya entries were awesome too. Especially like buzz. Well done to all who entered and more so those who won. Wheres the next challenge

[lightmod]

I read the simplymaya forum. I do agree that I would not have picked the winner in a modelling challenge not even a photoreal challenge. Textures are very procedural and cg looking. The theme "Your favorite toy" was also in question. You would have to be a survivor of the titanic with this toy as been posted.
Is it because the winner is popular with using lightwave?
Even if I'm a die hard lightwaver, I believe maya users should have won this challenge. I feel bad for the huge number of quality models in the simplymaya forum that were both really good models and renders.

[Romizer]

I congratulate the winners!
It was a nice competition.

Romizer

[otacon]

Wow. There were so many great looking models I didn't think I could win. Both the lightwave and maya groups came up with some really inspiring work. I loved looking through them all.

Thanks to the judges for noticing the subtlety in my model, even if it looks simplistic.

[Warlock 279]

Congrats Otacon, and the rest, really high quality turnout for this challenge.

[Miss Nova]

Really high quality work on both sites and a shame that everyone can't win but that's how it is. Congratulations otacon, I really like your renders and everyone here was in complete agreement that your entry was the best.

lightmod, I've already replied to all this on SimplyMaya but I will say a few things here as well. First off this was not a modeling challenge it was an art challenge where best overall image wins not the thing that took the longest to produce or the most complex model in that case we would have asked for an untextured model to begin with. It was not a photorealism challenge either, it was about producing the best render. And since there were so many good models it really came down to nitpicking and some great models were let down by their shading and lighting work. For this reason images we considered perfectly executed were favoured over more complicated ones which had room for improvement. You can of course argue that this is wrong, for me it makes more sense to pick the highest quality image.

I don't know why you think SimplyMaya missed out, personally I think there was a lot of work on this site that could easily have placed in the top three as well and in a sense it isn't fair that so much good work went unnoticed. Nor do I get what you mean by "Is it because the winner is popular with using lightwave?". I'm a Maya user and SimplyMaya is a larger site if there would be any bias it would favour Maya not Lightwave, nor do I or anyone else here know otacon personally we simply liked his work in this challenge.

When it comes to the choice of toy I see no problem with picking a vintage toy, we didn't say it had to be from your childhood as we also mentioned you could make something more adult like a gadget leaving plenty of room for interpretation. Either way many of us had older toys from our grandparents me included and toys are collectibles so you never know what people have lying around.

Anyway I hope that clears some stuff up, I also don't think it's very nice the way a few people have attacked the winning pieces especially on SimplyMaya it's fine to disagree but no reason to be nasty about it. I would have been much happier if the focus would have been on the work that people thought should have won but didn't rather than taking straight slap at somebody else's work, it's a waste of time and it achieves nothing but bad blood. To avoid this happening again I wrote very clear guidelines and what the judging criteria is for the dream office space challenge, if something is unclear please feel free to ask me about it now rather than after the challenge is judged.

Nilla

[arma]

Well done Otacon

was a great piece of work.. personally i loved it..

i was hoping to do a bit but work is way to busy

Allbest to runners up too


lightmod

[Mark]

Well done to all the placed finalists. Some superb work in there.

Comiserations to all the others who didn't place in the top three ... there was some outstanding work from both sides of the fence.

[bullet1968]

Well done otacon congrats mate. I think the entries from both sides were outstanding...and well done to all. Lightmod I have also answered that 'Titanic' bulldust on SM...LOL...Im only 43 and I DID have a bike like that...and I wasnt on the Titanic...and that individual was extreme to say the least in his critique.

To be honest 3 of 4 were Maya...but otacon won out in the end. To be brutally honest...we ALL won...because I have not seen so many fantastic works in SM or SL in my short time here. To see everyone in good stead and helping as well as critique...man awesome is all I can say. Well done to EVERYONE on both sides of the software coin who participated.....on to the next one

cheers bullet

[slade]

Congrats to all winners