New User Challenge Ideas Thread

DAZ_ann0314

Please post to this thread any ideas/thoughts you have on changes or ideas you feel would make this challenge more fun or engaging. You may also include topics you feel may be missing, or even changes to the order you feel may be good for learning or any other ideas I've not covered. It is our intention to revamp the challenge a bit and I can think of no better people to ask than those that have participated in past months. 

We thank you so much for your participation and we cannot wait to see what ideas you may have 

Aki3d

Well I have participated in the past challenges but the people who haven't should post here to explain why they don't like it anymore.
I'm quiet shure that it will not change this year. I can just speculate about the reason nearly no one is interested anymore.
Perhaps the whole idea of "beginners" getting help to become better doesn't work anymore.
Perhaps having a different technical "theme" every month doesn't work anymore.
Perhaps all the beginners doing AI now.
There is no real interaction between the members. I remember when I was still posting my renders in the gallery.
I gave it up because there was nearly never an interesting comment. 
If I'm right, there are 3 different contests here every month.
The new user challenge, the freebie challenge and the rrr stuff.
The new user challenge seems to be the least popular, which I don't understand.
The rrr challenge made never a lot of sense to me. You have to spend much more time to generate and find and document the chosen products
for your meaningless "funny" render than for your actual 3d work. I have participated a few times and also won something but I found it very anoying. The freeby challenge is a nice idea but comes also with a lot of extra work. 
Perhaps a simple render challenge without any technical specification, just a theme like nature, urban life, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, comedy, animals, realism etc. would have engaged more people.
And of course a higher prize would make the people being more interest in a challenge.
All this is just a speculation.
For me it is fine the way it is, just with more people being interested and commenting and asking questions.
A category "animated gifs" I would like to have, but there is always a problem with the preview. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.
And a winners decision in between a reasonable timeframe is also much appreciated.
A decision which comes a few month later or never can be something very annoying.

 

 

 

Alias52

My problem has been a matter of time and a more than a bit of motivation. I have really enjoyed entering these challenges over the years and engaging with other artists. I would love to have a bit more time to join in with some challenges but my work flow gets very interrupted until the Summer. I would think that the rise of AI has dented the rate of new users entering but there are definitely people out there who are giving it a go for the first time. Maybe some people posting for the first few times could be contacted by Mods and pointed this way. I agree with Aki that there may need to be more freestyle challenges on a theme. If enough are interested, the excellent tutorials can be used by those interested in pushing a bit further. I have learnt so much participating that perhaps there can be a, "Pushing the boundaries" award if people go above and beyond. Generating interest is key to success after all. 

lina.catfish

Hello!

In January, I thought of participating for the second time - and when didn't because I had too less time. Very banal reasons with which the challanges themself have nothing to do. Anyway.
There are two problems I see: DS depends on assets. There is no alternative if you want to create something. If you're starting out with 3D and DS is your first contact, it takes time to collect stuff, or you just need money to buy it.
So maybe it would be interesting to do a kitbash challenge with items from different origins and formats – how to import, scale, texture. AI is relevant for people who want *some outcome*. For process-oriented craftsmen, AI will never be an alternative. And I doubt that there are many people interested in AI "art" if it is clear that it is AI-generated. Or do any of you remember the last big world chess championship of supercomputers? Who play so much better than humans, faster and more intelligent?

Second: The step-by-step challenges – starting with composition and later with more specialised DS functions – are a good idea when all new users start in January. But they don't. Opening up the challenges to themes instead of special features could be great. "Could" because there are many 3D challenges that have nothing more than themes. Does the world really need another one?

DAZ_ann0314

Thank you to those who replied.  It is appreciated. I'll discuss some of this with the team over the coming months and see if we can revamp things some to give more time and possibly add in more free months.

 

The overall goal of the challenge has always been to try to help people learn, and we want to keep that goal, but there is always more than one way to get to a destination. 

Elor

I re-read some of the first mails Daz sent me after I created my account: maybe I missed it (I think I have kept all emails from Daz, but I can't be sure), but I didn't see any information about the monthly new user challenges in them.

Speaking about them in one email sent to people who just created their account could maybe lead to more people taking part in a challenge?

It's also maybe possible to offer to subscribe to a monthly newsletter about them?

yuyu.atem

Hi! I don't know if it would be easy to share on the forum, but it would be great to have an animation section. If possible, as a subject in its own right, the theme of which would change every month, exactly like the current "single image" new user challenge, but dedicated to animation. Or failing that, at least as a theme of a specific month for the current new user challenge.

I propose that beacause, even if knowledges about rendering are usefull in animation, there are some animations technics that, I think, cannont be learned just by traing on single image rendering. For example, animating the camera can be much more difficult than it could like: sometimes, I spent several days trying to get the camera animation that I wanted, so I think a new user animation challenge could be great, to learn animation technics.

Thank you in advance!

sueya

I've been doing these new user challenges for a while . I 've got less time on my hands than I used to so I don't do them very often now.

I agree with @lina.catfish suggestion about kitbashing challenges I too can't afford to spend a lot on DAZ products. Also I have a lot of clothes for G2 and G3 which I don't use much now Maybe kitbashing challenges which concentrate on converting, scaling and texturing old items would encourage me to use them more.

Also I have recently got an upcycled computer with a graphics card which can be used for Iray. I am therefore starting to learn how to use Iray rendering so I have been doing challenges again to help me learn more about using Iray.  

Maybe themed challenges would be a good idea, but I usually only do them if they allow me to use the products I have. 

 

LaPartita

I love participating in these challenges, but wasn't really sure where I qualify anymore. I've been doing this long enough that I'm not a beginner, but I keep walking away for a while and then coming back and feel like I'm starting from almost scratch again due to advances/changes. Oftentimes, as well, the intermediate category has been too technical from me or I' too demanding in terms of time to learn. Ultimately, I just stopped checking the challenges. It's pure chance that I stopped by today and saw this.

Maybe you could add a "Beginnermediate" level? 

DAZ_ann0314

LaPartita said:

I love participating in these challenges, but wasn't really sure where I qualify anymore. I've been doing this long enough that I'm not a beginner, but I keep walking away for a while and then coming back and feel like I'm starting from almost scratch again due to advances/changes. Oftentimes, as well, the intermediate category has been too technical from me or I' too demanding in terms of time to learn. Ultimately, I just stopped checking the challenges. It's pure chance that I stopped by today and saw this.

Maybe you could add a "Beginnermediate" level? 

You get to choose where you are at and which level you participate in. Over the years we've discussed how that should work but at the end of the day the only person that can really say where you are at or what feels comfortable is the person. 

That said, if there are specific Intermediate challenges where you think more help is needed, please let us know. Often, the topics sound more complex or difficult but they sound more complex or technical than what they are. I would give them a shot and see. And if you are confused, then just let us know and we can try to clarify things. But honestly, we are fine no matter where you choose to enter. The point is to learn/practice/meet new friends and maybe learn some new things (either from the tutorials, the Volunteers, or each other) and to have a nice and enjoyable time. That's the important stuff  

DAZ_ann0314

sueya said:

I've been doing these new user challenges for a while . I 've got less time on my hands than I used to so I don't do them very often now.

I agree with @lina.catfish suggestion about kitbashing challenges I too can't afford to spend a lot on DAZ products. Also I have a lot of clothes for G2 and G3 which I don't use much now Maybe kitbashing challenges which concentrate on converting, scaling and texturing old items would encourage me to use them more.

Also I have recently got an upcycled computer with a graphics card which can be used for Iray. I am therefore starting to learn how to use Iray rendering so I have been doing challenges again to help me learn more about using Iray.  

Maybe themed challenges would be a good idea, but I usually only do them if they allow me to use the products I have. 

 

Thanks so much for the ideas. That is really helpful! 

Since it is on topic, there is another Challenge/Contest in the Forums Called the RRRR Contest that is really good for that which you can find in Art Studio: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/categories/art-studio which you may really enjoy
I highly suggest checking it out to any of you if you have not seen it  But Totte is known for his Kit Bashing skills and his contest lends itself nicely to practicing that. 

That said, you can do that with any of the challenges in the New User Challenge. While we have a "topic focus", how you approach it is always your own. So we have had many people that have done kitbashing. The challenges specifically catering more to that are the following challenges:

Scenes, Landscapes, and Working Modularly in March
Materials and next level Kitbashing in November

That said, we also get a lot of kitbashing entries in the "Open Render Challenge" months as well. 

Also, I hope people know they can use whatever they have. The only requirements are to use Daz Studio or one of the other Programs mentioned in the Challenges, and then the overall theme/focus (so work on a specific technique while making the image). But you can use all free items from the Freebies Forums: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/categories/freebies (They also have Contests there as well BTW), you can use older items (I have things going back to V3 that I use in renders LOL), etc. I just wanted to be sure to clarify that incase people didn't realize.

That said, if you feel like there is something specifically missing from the challenges, please let us know. We don't necessarily go over things like clothing refitting etc but thats generally because a lot has to do with what tools you are using to do it (purchased items, DS itself, etc) which makes that a bit harder to cover as a topic for the challenge. But we could maybe try to work it in (as a general topic) somewhere for those that want the practice 

DAZ_ann0314

yuyu.atem said:

Hi! I don't know if it would be easy to share on the forum, but it would be great to have an animation section. If possible, as a subject in its own right, the theme of which would change every month, exactly like the current "single image" new user challenge, but dedicated to animation. Or failing that, at least as a theme of a specific month for the current new user challenge.

I propose that beacause, even if knowledges about rendering are usefull in animation, there are some animations technics that, I think, cannont be learned just by traing on single image rendering. For example, animating the camera can be much more difficult than it could like: sometimes, I spent several days trying to get the camera animation that I wanted, so I think a new user animation challenge could be great, to learn animation technics.

Thank you in advance!

That is a really fun idea. I'll have to think on how we could maybe work that in.