THE Sculpting Challenge 018: Video Game Character

[Freespace-3DT]

Video Game Character

Welcome to THE Eighteenth Speed Sculpting Challenge. Whether you're new to sculpting, to the Threedy forums, or you're a seasoned veteran, come and join in on the Sculpting madness – there's plenty of fun and learning to be had by all!

The Rules:

1. The competition will run until the 20th of Septenber 2009, 12:00 PM GMT+0 (For information about GMT click here); the time between now and then will be allocated to creating and submitting the entries, followed by several days of judging and voting for the entries – at which point the next competition should start.

2. You will be supplying your own base mesh for the competition, from which you will start sculpting. You can create your base mesh in any application ( 3dsmax, Maya, XSI, Cinema4D, Zspheres in Zbrush, etc ) using any technique, with no limits other than the number of meshes used. In this challenge, you must use only two base meshes, whatever they may be. Do not use an already made base mesh, you must build it specifically for this challenge.

3. There will be a time limit for the sculpting. Spend no longer than the allocated time limit, then post a screen-grab of your model. No cheating – we are relying on your honesty here!

4. Do not add any meshes other than those sanctioned in this competition brief.

5. You will have to supply a wireframe screenshot of your base mesh/meshes along with your final entry image ( see rule 7 ).

6. No rendering, texturing, lighting or rigging – let's keep it all about the high-res sculpt! What we are looking for is the quality of the sculpt you can produce "under pressure". If your entry is not complete, you can still post as long as it's recognisable and on topic.

7. For your final entry, post a screen-grab from your software with your finished work in it, along with your screenshot of the base meshes used ( see rule 5 ). It's fine to present this stuff nicely, with nice labelling etc., but do not add any post-production to the images themselves. These images must be uploaded to our servers by using the "Manage Attachments" button on the forum reply page. Do not link to external image files. Larger than the maximum size or posts containing links to external images (other than for reference materials) will be removed and the poster disqualified.

8. You can create multiple sculpts, but you can have only one final entry for each competition.

9. Do not create your own WIP thread. Simply post all WIP screen-grabs in here and your FINAL entry in the Submissions thread here.

These rules apply to everybody taking part – there will be NO exceptions!

The Prizes:

1st Place: 3 x 3DTotal products from the 3DTotal Shop. These can include our books, ebooks, texture DVDs, Shorts DVDs, training products and 12 month subscriptions to 2DArtist Magazine and 3DCreative Magazine.

2nd Place: 2 x 3DTotal products from the 3DTotal Shop (see above).

3rd Place: 1 x 3DTotal product from the 3DTotal Shop (see above).

Note: We do unfortunately have to limit prizes to 1 book per winner per challenge, due to high postage costs for heavier items. Please note that we cannot offer any non-3DTotal products as prizes, such as the Design Studio Press books, the 3D Printed models, the Anatomy Models or the Artist Busts.

Plus! don't forget the status that comes along with a 1st place Speed Sculpting Winner is always pretty cool! The award you receive is also polished and shiny.

The Brief:

Time limit: 6 hours ( base mesh creation included )

Start Date: 1st September 2009

Deadline: 20th September 2009 ( possibility of extension ), 12:00 PM GMT+0 (For information about GMT click here)

Subject: Video Game Character

There is one driving force that unites most of us digital artists together. No, it's not the latest uber-computer with more GB of RAM than craters on Mars. No, it's not driving naked with a huge flag waving out of... ( oh wait, I should delete this ). The true thing that brings us together is our love for video games!

For some of us ( myself included ) it's what started us down this path in the first place. For others, it's a source of fun and periodic relaxation. For those few who truly immerse themselves into the universe of their video games, it is living a life of unhinged posibility in another world, fighting some one else's wars and living their adventures. But it all comes down to interacting with and playing a character. So naturally we would associate games with the characters that stood out for us the most.

Who is your favourite video game character? There are so many that it would be a shame for me to name a select few for examples. Remember him/her/it ( hence forth referred to as "it" ), visualise it, create a base mesh for it and sculpt it. Feel free to add your own twist to its appearance if you feel like doing so ( call it artist's license ).

This challenge brings a big change to the rules of the game ( see rules 2 and 5 ), meaning that you will be making your very own base mesh for this. In this challenge, you will be able to create two base meshes ( though you can choose to only have one ). The meshes can be anything from someone's head, body, weapon to whatever you can imagine as long as the result will be on topic. Your final character can be only a bust ( head + chest ), but full a body sculpt is highly recommended.

The six hours are both for base mesh creation and sculpting, so don't waste time on minor details unless you've got minutes to spare. Block your mesh out, use reference, check proportions, and keep adding details in controlled iterations, as you subdivide further toward infinity.

You have the option to sculpt a pedestal for your character, regardless if you used one or two base meshes for the sculpt.

[mastein]

huhuhuh nice theme!
always good to get back into games!

[Freespace-3DT]

Bring it on, mastein Goku's a video game character too, I guess

[Joseph Pomeisl]

ineteresting topic; the rule change seems to have come at a very appropriate time. Good luck to everyone. Hope I can get in on this one...

[buzz001]

So, the base mesh could be a full body or just a portrait sculpt.

[NeoGeo]

Does the time limit include the time you spent modeling the base mesh, or just sculpting time?


NVM i'm blind

[Freespace-3DT]

Joseph: Looking forward to it, man.

buzz001: Depends on you.

NeoGeo: Time limit includes all. We're looking for more sketchy sculpts, with crispy details only if you can manage the time appropriately.

[buzz001]

Good, the base mesh will kill my time. I'll give it the all college try.

[Freespace-3DT]

Remeber what awesome things people would sculpt from a simple cube, in our earlier challenges.

Don't take too long on doing an intricate base mesh, it's the sculpt that counts. But now you've got the freedom to do things that you could not with predefined meshes. ( This very topic is a good example )

[buzz001]

You make a good point Freespace

[Pedro Toledo]

Does it mean that you have to create an unique basemesh for this contest? I like to start from a very neutral basemesh that I use for most of my humanoid characters. It is pretty simple, based on Montecristo's mesh that was used on some SSC.
Is it ok to use it?

[Freespace-3DT]

You need to make your very own mesh for this, Pedro.

A tip is you can build over that mesh of yours.

[mastein]

haehaeh you know what sucks?
I just started a new DBZ project this week hahaha
If i had wait a few days, i could enter this challange with it ^^

Good Luck all!!

[liquidbear]

omfg i love this
This is will make the challenges alot more fun and creative can not wait to start plus im getting my new cintiq 21Ux in a week or 2 so i will enter a few times me thinks

[Freespace-3DT]

mastein: Start over

liquidbear: Awesome! Cintiq rules, I'll get one of those one day too. Don't forget that, at the moment, this challenge is shorter than our recent ones, so don't miss out!