Seems like we some interest in creating a monthly contest. This would be a good thread to flesh out some details.
Seems like we some interest in creating a monthly contest. This would be a good thread to flesh out some details.
I think this new thread/contest is a beautiful idea I'll see what resources/prizes SW can put towards it. Until then, let's use this Visualize forum thread to post the models and subsequent rendered images. Then share tips/tricks used to sharpen each other's skillset. I'm eager to learn from you all as well!
Rob Rodríguez any models you have in your bank to kick off with?
Notifying others who expressed interest in this monthly contest or recently posted in the main thread: Chris Mowatt, Scott Ellery, Jeremy Grigsby, Mark Jackson, Rich Fagioli, Richie More, Alexander Smith, Kevin Pymm, Kevin Schlaepfer, Baris Kilinc, Michael Dirisio
Hey Brian,
I'll provide the first model. I'll post it up Monday morning.
Rob
This sounds like fun!
Let's come up with some loose guidelines. I think maybe we should be able to modify the model supplied. Maybe the person that uploads the model can provide the guidelines to make it interesting. I'm glad I had this thought today. I think it's going to be fun.
Love to see it. I've seen your work and it's very impressive.... Thanks !
I think this is a wonderful idea. I know there are very talented people on this site and I would love to see some of their work so I can pick up some tips from the pro's.
As far as I know this is just something for fun and not an official contest. I hope you'll join in!
Jeremy Grigsby I understand. I go back to the days when Rob Rodríguez and later on Deepak Gupta had them.
This may motivate me to get back into Visualize.
I have a Chess set model Chris Cunningham might like to use!
I'm in. Please provide details of how we proceed. Dates and obviously the data...
Hi Everyone.
Apologies for not pitching in sooner. I think this is a fantastic idea and I would love to engage with the process myself. My only thoughts on this at the moment are that perhaps we should offer a decent length of time such as a month per project. This is essentially going to be extra-curricular, so people are going to need time to dedicate to it.
Secondly as far as the starting models are concerned. I wonder if we might run into trouble, given that there may be some of us who aren't using the most current version of SW or some who aren't SW users at all for their modelling. Additionally, as another member quite rightly said on this subject some weeks ago, the quality of your renders is very much also driven by the quality of your modelling, SW or other platform.
So perhaps what might be a good idea is to issue a brief and a submission date and let us all model how we want to model as well as render how we want to render.
As we know, SW and SWV are an integrated platform and as far as I'm concerned (though it sounds contradictory to my earlier assertions about others who model in other platforms) one of the biggest selling points into the SW/SWV community is that link between the two.
Finally a bit of 'proper incentivisation is never a bad thing in my opinion, perhaps not as a prize for each submission but at the end of a year or every 6 months.... That might drive repeat submissions and greater engagement.
Hope you are all enjoying your weekends.
Maybe it could be a sldprt file and a step file for those that don't model in Solidworks?
When you add the model, should you give us some guidelines? Are we able to modify to model, and if so how much? Is there a style of rendering desired for the model? Should the final render come directly out of visualize and no post processing? This should be fun.
THE MODEL:
Searching through my files of possible models to use for the contest I came up with 4 options based on this criteria
I have chosen one of the 4 models for the 1st contest and have 3 others we can use for future contests.
This model was provided to me by SolidWorks corporate and I believe it was modeled by Mark Schneider (of model mania fame). It's been used in many a demo and we also used the model in the PhotoWorks / PhotoView 360 Rendering Guides when they were available. The model was included with the guides when you purchased them so its been publicly available for about 10 yrs. This model has good detail and is very representative of a great CAD model.
You can download the SVPJ file for the Miter Saw here (35mb download) Dropbox - Miter Saw_render contest.svpj
I was asked to place this disclaimer with the model:
By participating in this customer-ran Visualize render contest, you agree to the following terms:
THE RULES:
Based on the feedback given by others in this thread here are the rules:
Small model modifications will be allowed to achieve a more realistic rendering. Please keep model edits to a minimum.
You are free to add anything else to the scene as long as the model provided is the main focus of the rendering.
Any combination of materials / decals and Visualize settings can be used to achieve your rendering.
The use of 3rd party photo editing software is permitted to post process your rendering.
Photo editing software can be used to create decals and materials.
Each contestant will be permitted to submit two entries per contest. The entries must use the same Visualize material settings and must be different views (ex front view & back view)
Each entry should be 2400 x 1800 pixels (8" x 6" @ 300dpi print quality)
To give everyone time lets make the entry submission date by Friday May, 18th at 12am Eastern Standard Time. Entries can be submitted in posts to this thread.
Good luck and happy rendering!
I'm with Alexander on the working time being longer than a week. My opinion is that two weeks minimum, but a month would be better. I have a heavy work load and would be working on this during free evenings. I want to do this as it sounds like a lot of fun for a guy like me (yes I'm a nerd and weird in other ways too). I looked at my work load and realized a one week time frame would tough after all. I work late many days and would not have time if we had only one week to work on it most workweeks. I don't want to submit a weak entry if one week to work on it.
Yes, my vote would a monthly contest. I'm working 70-80 hours a week now so I don't have much time to spare
Good idea.Love to see the different solutions and renders.
I like these rules. However I think if we ban post image editing then we should consider banning pre-production modeling and tweaking of the original model. It should be either exclusively Visualize or Visualize + additional software. If we go exclusively Visualize then we can add in effects and other models but not alter the original model. If we go the path of Visualize + additional software then we can edit original model plus post production. Some people have skills at modeling and others have skills at post production.
Agree on a monthly contest. We as a community can vote by each person casting 2 likes across all submissions. That way everyone who would like to participate is able to.
I thought since it's a visualize contest we would say what visualize could do with the final render. Maybe if we limit it to just color or level adjustments in post production it would be acceptable.
Sounds fair to me. Lets say its Visualize only. No model mods and no post processing in an image editor. Anyone else care to weigh in on this?
Side note. Looks like the miter saw model approval is in the works and should be coming soon. One requirement though. I'll be providing a SVPJ file rather than a model file. I'll create it using appearance/grouping from the SW model.
This would mean regardless of what we decide as the rules the first model won't be able to be modified.
Matt/Chris brings up a good point. If post processing is not allowed, then pre tweaking of the file should not be allowed. Some people don't use software like Photoshop, and some people don't use CAD. Either allow tweaking where people can use their other skills, or ban tweaking all together.
What kind of edits are typically done in photoshop?
I would love to have a base model given each month to render from. Each month could have a theme. It would be nice to have a little prize every once in awhile. Maybe we could get some business to buy into it.