Welcome everybody to the July Freebie Challenge - Heroes, Heroines and 3D Graphics
While trolling through the DAZ forum, I have learned that there are many artists that use DAZ, Poser, Blender, Vue, etc. for creating comic graphics and telling stories. In the freebie world there are shaders, characters, clothing, and objects made specifically for creating your favorite comic hero, or heroine, or cartoon character.
This month I would like you all to render a “comic” page or scene. It must contain an action or set of actions. This can be as simple as holding a gun to as complex as blowing up a building. You will be required to use toon or artistic shaders (at least 80% of the scene) or use the render engine option for cartoons. Flattening or outlining in postwork is expressly forbidden.
Since I am not really familiar with comics I have asked Eustace Scrubb to chime in and bail me out with tough questions and how-tos. He also has been most kind in helping me with developing the outline of how this month’s contest will be conducted.
Throughout the first part of the month I will be creating scenes using the same requirements that are stipulated in this post to give you ideas and sources that I have found or that Eustace has pointed out.
The Rules:
1. Use a minimum of 8 freebies. One of these must be from Most Digital Creations. Free render engines are not a part of the required number of freebies.
2. Only use a maximum of 5 purchased items for the whole project.
3. Base figures (V4, K4, M4 and the Basic Male, Female, and Child morphs for Genesis) don’t count as a purchased item.
4. Postwork on scenes is limited to insertion of conversation balloons, signatures and borders. If you create a page with multiple scenes then postwork to compile the page layout is allowed. Use of Comic Life for this type of work is allowed for this month. You get a free trail usage of 30 days.
5. For setting up your scene you must use Bryce, Hexagon, Blender, Poser or DAZ. You can use any free render engine such as LUX to render the scene or the default engines of Bryce, Hexagon, Blender, Poser or DAZ. Other free renderers include, but are not limited to, Anim8or (the latest beta has a raytrace engine), POVRay, 3Delight standalone, or anything else the contestant can achieve the requisite comic-novel effect in without spending money on it. Free software used (bridges or renderers) do not count toward the requisite eight freebies.
6. Morphs will count toward a purchased item. Using a bridging tool, such as Reality to port the DAZ scene to Lux, counts towards a purchased item.
7. For an item to be considered free it must be offered as a freebie for the whole month of July. DAZ weekly freebies for the month can also be credited.
8. All links to freebies must work, and all freebies must be clearly seen to be accepted.
9. Enter as many times as you want.
10. This is a “G/PG” rated contest so DAZ TOU is strictly enforced. Dress your characters appropriately and no gruesomeness, i.e. spilling of guts, chopping off heads and such. Remember there are children that actively participate in the contest.
11. Because of the nature of the contest please, please be careful with copyright. If your render looks too much like Superman (or any other commercially recognized character), your render will be disqualified.
12. State the title of the piece, what software you used for setup, bridging/exporting (if any) and rendering (including shaders), and identify your 8 or more qualifying freebies with links to the freebies.
We will start on 1ST July - 00.01 DAZ time, and end 31 July 23.59
I am also looking for one more judge.
Judges:
Lord Ganthor
Robkelk
DollyGirl
???????
For my judges and contestants here are additional guidelines:
How did the piece convince me that it’s from a Graphic Novel or a Comic Book,
Do I see both interplay between the elements and environment,
Is there trans-continuity: who are these people and what is this place? Where did they come from and where are they going from here?
These three elements can be effectively conveyed in a single image or two, even without narrative or dialogue, but they absolutely must be intentional. There doesn’t have to be much visible background or environment at all, or not in every frame. It just has to belong if it is there. Example, yet another sky-high fistfight could as easily occur over the city as over open water or farmland, but someone falling is falling from something and to someplace, even if she’s still above the clouds. If something is indoors, there is a reason for it to be indoors, and in the room or corridor it is in. If it is outdoors, it is in the country or in the city, at ground level or at height (also applies, to a lesser degree, to views from windows if any) for a reason. As to the “trans-continuity”, the questions don’t need to be answered by the picture, they merely need to be asked, implied. The answers to the questions need only be implied, one only needs to know that there is one. Also, the “Picture is worth a thousand words” cliché is at full validity here. The less dialogue and/or narration needed to convey the scene(s), the better.
Sponsors:
plasq
Music2u4u
joequick
The AntFarm
3D Universe
Eustace Scrubb
LJ Studios
Prizes: More to be anounced later
Everyone who enters:
LJ Studios Blinn Shaders for DAZ Studio. This file is password protected. I will PM you the password at the time your entry is accepted.
First Place:
Comic Life 2 and Comic Life for iPad
Any product from The AntFarm DAZ store
3dUniverse Toon Cow
Beta version of Eustace Scrubb’s Mephistopolis Shaders for DS4
Second Place:
Comic Life 2 desktop license
Beta version of Eustace Scrubb’s Mephistopolis Shaders for DS4
Thrid Place:
Comic Life 2 desktop license
Beta version of Eustace Scrubb’s Mephistopolis Shaders for DS4
Honorable Mentions:
$5.00 DAZ Store Credit given by LJ Studios
Beta version of Eustace Scrubb’s Mephistopolis Shaders for DS4
Let the stories begin!
Edited 7/11/2012 to add Comic Life link in rules and state that there is a 30 day free trial available.
Edited 7/13/2012 to add Judges to list before I forget who they are.
