New User Contest Thoughts and Ideas
DAZ_ann0314
Posts: 2,814
Please feel free to post any ideas or thoughts you would like us to consider for future contests that you feel would make things more fun. Also please feel free to post any contest ideas or things you may like for us to cover as well.
These contests are for you all so any feedback is always much appreciated :) If you would prefer not to post, but still wish to share some ideas, thoughts, or even complaints please feel free to PM me any time or e-mail me as well aanderson @ daz3d.com (take out the space before and after the @) Our goal is to make these contests the best they can possibly be so any feedback is always welcome and appreciated :)
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Comments
This is a bit of wishful thinking, but...
I have found the posing competition fun and a great learning experience. This inspired me to think how it could be extended. What came to mind was, an idea where there were levels; beginning, intermediate and advanced in each of the different areas; posing, lighting, texturing, modeling, and composition. In the beginning level, show basic skills, intermediate show more advanced skills, and at the advanced level, show reinterpretation. The contests would have some minimum number of people to sign up for them (like maybe 5 people) so that people aren't winning by default.
Now, here's one of the fun parts in this idea. for each area one wins a competition, they get a letter under their name, L (lighting,) T (texturing,) P (posing,) M (modeling,) and C (composition.) The letters could be color coded for the level they've passed through. It would be much more interesting then green boxes showing how many times someone posed.
For this to work, there'd have to be a lot more contests, and I doubt the people running them have that kind of time unfortunately, but one can dream ;)
It would be nice if we had some way to share things; poses, textures, followup work, for any given contest in an organized way rather then someone posting a random post. I agree with others that we don't need a place to store stuff at Daz necessarily as we could link to a place like ShareCG, etc.. In fact it would probably be better if there were links out rather then stored locally so DAZ doesn't have to worry about any potential liability or maintenance issues. However, something a little more organized in the way of a followup topic would help. Perhaps one forum area just for contests.
I thought we were all supposed to be newcomers to enter the contests, although some do have more skills that others or maybe they're just quicker learners. Getting green boxes lured me out of lurkdom. Entering contests (and winning) is a horse of a different color.
Since we don't have galleries at the moment, any one can open a thread to show their work in the Art Studio.
Yes, that's why I believe there would have to be a lot more contests for it to work (as in a lot more often) for it to work. If it isn't fun though, it isn't worth it.
The part about the post boxes encouraging you to become involved is a good point. I wouldn't change that feature if it helps encourage people :)
The part about people being new is tricky. Many of us might not have had time to really participate in a meaningful way in 3D graphics till recently for instance, but might have had other involvement that contributes to our art. Photography, 2D art, crafts, gardening, hairdressing or modeling even. Anything artistic can contribute to our artwork in 3D... so, if we bring in skills from other areas but haven't a lot of hours under our belt doing 3D are we new?
And as for sharing stuff, as long as you are giving it away, that is what the freepository is for. You load your offering up somewhere, and then post a link to it in the freepository.
How about something to do with weather effects, such as rain, fog, lightning? I don't even know if Studio can do these.
Yes, it can.. with advanced shaders.. hard one to build a contest around specific effects since many people wouldn't have these. But, a general 'atmospheric' contest where one could use whatever they have at their disposal like creative lighting maybe.
Yes, that's why I believe there would have to be a lot more contests for it to work (as in a lot more often) for it to work. If it isn't fun though, it isn't worth it.
The part about the post boxes encouraging you to become involved is a good point. I wouldn't change that feature if it helps encourage people :)
The part about people being new is tricky. Many of us might not have had time to really participate in a meaningful way in 3D graphics till recently for instance, but might have had other involvement that contributes to our art. Photography, 2D art, crafts, gardening, hairdressing or modeling even. Anything artistic can contribute to our artwork in 3D... so, if we bring in skills from other areas but haven't a lot of hours under our belt doing 3D are we new?
For me, fun is playing with dials for my own amusement. Contests are scary, as is exposing my lack of knowledge.
I don't think bringing in skills from other areas would disqualify anyone from being new. Never using Studio before definitely would qualify one as new. A large part of it depends on the person's own assessment of their skills and comfort level. Some of may consider ourselves new for years; others jump right into the other forums without giving it a second thought.
The point about sharing was more about an organized 'easy to find' followup to the contests. Something a little easier to find, even 6 months later, then random posts.
So put them all in one thread
Well I definitely agree that the emphasis should be on the participating and in encouraging involvement rather then winning. That's the main reason I believe there would need to be a lot of contests, so that the 'winning' wasn't too competitive. The idea would be to encourage people to participate in each of the different areas to some degree, and to get some recognition that the put forth a good effort at that level. Which brings up another good point. Many of the artists I think might feel advanced in one area but intermediate in another and a beginner in another. Something like this could possibly encourage people to step out of their comfort zone and participate a little in other areas they might not otherwise.
Btw,sometimes we learn best helping others. It engages us in the process in a way that working on our own doesn't. Doing the piece was fun and important but so was interacting as a group.
I fiddled with, and often fought with posing before the contest. Like a lot of people here (from watching their work develop) I gained a lot of confidence and experience, specifically because of the group involvement, that I wouldn't have otherwise.
Gedd do you have any idea how much it takes to get even one contest organised and running. The CV team is not that big.
No, I don't have any idea.. but I figured however much it took it was more than what the team setting them up had. So, wishful thinking.
I should have started out a long time ago with saying thank you all for taking the time :)
No need for 3D software for that.... Photoshop will do it. :coolgrin:
Gedd, I love this idea, although I agree with the consensus that it's probably not feasible right now, at least not exactly as you described it. But if you consider all the different contests that happen here...New User, weekly Platinum Club contests, monthly galleries (once they start up again), RRRR, Freepository contests, and various one-off contests, it may not be necessary to introduce additional intermediate or advanced-level contests. What if all of these existing contests gave out "badges" to winners...something like the letters under your name that you mentioned? I've seen this sort of thing on other forums.
Another take on this concept is certifications...if you win a new user contest or otherwise demonstrate a certain level of skill in a given discipline, the powers that be (maybe forum moderators?) can decide to give you a certification in that discipline. It would be nice for advanced members to be able to "collect" certifications, and nice for new users to be able to see who are the recognized experts in various areas... This would be like making someone a Peer Mentor, but that status should be publicly viewable.
Don't know whether the forums have the ability to do this sort of thing, but I think it would be cool.
For me, fun is playing with dials for my own amusement. Contests are scary, as is exposing my lack of knowledge.
I don't think bringing in skills from other areas would disqualify anyone from being new. Never using Studio before definitely would qualify one as new. A large part of it depends on the person's own assessment of their skills and comfort level. Some of may consider ourselves new for years; others jump right into the other forums without giving it a second thought.
Yeah, at first I had mixed feelings about the fact that "New User" isn't really defined, and in effect the contest is open to anyone aside from those who have already won it twice, but after thinking about it, I think this is probably a good thing. It's better to include people who might not necessarily be "new" in terms of join date, but still consider themselves beginners when it comes to using the software.
Personally, I've been using DAZ Studio for almost half a year, but with no prior 3D experience (and lacking talent in other visual arts) I definitely still consider myself a "new user" and probably will for a while. I've become fairly comfortable using presets and pre-made items (poses, textures, shaders and surface settings, lighting, cameras, and of course models), but I'm only beginning to venture into the realm of attempting to do some of these things from scratch.
If
you findone finds this contest intimidating, it might help to think of it as a workshop rather than a competition. Yes, there's a prize, but it's more about learning new skills rather than winning or losing. Prior to this contest I'd never done a pose from scratch, and had only infrequently attempted to modify preset poses. I've learned so much in this contest--I'm proud of my first entry and have high hopes for my second. Not sure whether I'll be in the running for a prize--I see lots of excellent entries and WIP's--but if I am, it's primarily due to the what I've learned in the effort. And if not, at least I've expanded my skills and raised the bar in terms of my own work. So either way, I definitely consider this a big win!I understand where you are coming from, though. This is the first new user contest I've actually entered, but it's the third or fourth one I've thought about entering! The skill level shown by new user entries can be remarkably high. But if you enter, you might surprise yourself with how well you can do... :)
Edit: I should clarify that some of the above is intended as general advice to those who might be intimidated, rather than directed specifically towards you, AtticAnne. I know that you are participating already, and I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with it! :)
Saw this in the news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18977143 and thought it would be a cool idea for a new user contest: recreate a historical figure using DAZ models. Could possibly be expanded to include contemporary celebrities and/or fictional characters. Maybe this has been done before, though...?
That one might be hard to get going. Not all New users would have the Morph sets needed to do a contest like that.
We actually did one similar last year. We gave them links to known photos of the DAZ_Staff and told them to use deformers etc to make caricatures. We had some fantastic results.
I keep forgetting Deformers. And I just helped AtticAnne get into them. DUH.
Yes we didn't get a massive amount of entries, but the ones we did get were terrific. My fav was our Cindy, sadly missed, although Britney is great as well.
http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/postimages/origimage_1_2859009.jpg
That's true, although there are good free morph sets out there, like DieTrying's morphs for V4, and SickleYield's Genesis conversion of these.
Links:
http://www.sharecg.com/v/58061/browse/11/Poser/182-Morphs-for-Victoria-4
http://www.sharecg.com/v/58198/
Maybe you're right, though...maybe it would be better as a non-New-User contest. A general contest, or maybe even one of Gedd's hypothetical intermediate-level contests...
Thanks for remembering, Jaderail. I think D-formers or parameter sliders could be fun.
We did a deformers contest that went so so. We didn't have a lot of participation. I think it was a little to advanced to be suited for a new user contest. We may revisit it though sometime in the future.
IIRC we got some great entries, there just weren't very many of them. It was the lowest amount of entries for any of the contests we ran last year...
Yep it sure was
Idea for future contest: using the new features of DS4.5, such as instancing, motion blur, push modifier, and geometry shell. Some of these I've attempted without much success; others I've yet to try because I don't know where to start.
Not sure how this would work for those who use other software, though...if the same features exist in other programs, it might not be an issue. Could possibly include DSON/Genesis for Poser users, also.
I would like to see the maximum size of the entries increase. A maximum of 800 pixels means that a lot of detail is being lost during compression when resizing.