@xotherrmik.....sorry for your health. Men, we re not much in naija oh...nothing bad should happen to your health. I wish you speedy recovery......@tymax.....okx is basically giving the idea.modelling the bump stones can be a really pain in the ass. And using displacement maps can be render intensive. True. I will try as much as possible to balance both of you up. Rendering with displacement maps is really processor intensive not only on characters but also on any other geometry. Using bump maps alone on the other hand gives the illusion of bump when viewed headon...but the bump detail is lost when viewed sideways...I m will participate if I had the time - I m curently engaged in a project...i give my idea...the way I ll do it...I use mudbox for sculpting...I model the character without any detail yet...then I can use a bump map(like the one okx created up there) to develop a vector displacement map. I can then use that to paint directly on my model to create that stoney effect on the skin..now its not just a bump texture that you see on render time. Its actual geometry displacement. At the end I ll texture the dents with ptex. Then every other thing follows...As regards system specs...there is really no other way..you have to get a good system... I started with a dual core, 2 gb ram...when I m renderring heavy scenes, max crashes on me...giving me this "out of memory error". That's basically my low Ram size and low video memory size. @tymax...Technically, crashing is as a result of low video memory(GPU). Right click on you desktop, go to screen resolution and then click advanced settings.. You ll see your card name. What you should look out for is the Dedicated video memory. Not shared... That's what 3d softwares use for interactive feedback from your viewport....but anyway let's leave that for another time...oh men...hope I ve not talked too much...lol...@participants. Please model the character to take a davinci pose for easy rigging, avoid triangles.and please WIPs!!!!!!....lol ..One love everybody.

[quote author=frankben4real]we have just been telling stories since the beginning of this thread yet no point to hold unto...please organizers too many opinion brings confusion.. the competitors don't even need to bring in their opinion it shows that the organizers are confused... let the organizers have a meeting and decide on what should be given for the project and throw to the floor and the work begin..... Seconded. Participants don't really have a choice. They re not suppose to tell what should be given to them. Moreover,this should not be taken as a hard rule. The point is the organizers should decide immediately and stop waiting and scanning through everybodys suggestion...but sincerely if you re going for a challenge , you should not suggest what should be given to you... @all. Are the organizers part of the participants?...if that should be yes...that means if I am one of the organizers,I will possibly suggest a shot that will show my greatest strength...so what say you all?

@all.....let's stop dragging it. Some of us might loss interest....who re the jugdes or is it by vote. Let's decide and flip to the next page.

spywareczar: My opinion: Let it be more of like a team work competition based on different 3D software users, there should be 4 teams, 3Ds Max (team 1), Blender (team 2), Maya (team 3), cinema 4D (team 4)... Each team should have not more than 5 members, 2 will handle modelling, the other 3 will handle texturing, lighting, render and probably post production (except if its an animation)

. Haba....how can 2 person model and 3 people rig,texture,animate,light,add vfx(if there is any) and render?...lol..but as I ve said...I support the team grouping idea. Let get a story, sounds and dialogs already recorded...now each team has the liberty of conceptualizing their own style of character that blends with the story. Again they also should have own way of spliting the worrk among themselve. We ll have fixed deadline for all teams to submit...how the winner is decided is decided,I ll leave that to you guys...personally, the money is not my problem...I don't know for my team members to be...I m interested in the unity in production...cheers...people.

OKX: Nice opinions.
mine is, why don't we go for a full production?

we can break it into sections, modeling and texturing, rigging and animating, lighting and rendering/post production.
that way it cuts across different artists areas of strength(s)/interests.
unless we feel we can sustain this and in future hold different challenges targeting the different production arms.

we could even have us form working 2 or 3-man teams to tackle d full project.

in as much as we r offering a token prize, the main aim of d exercise is to encourage artists synergizing their strengths to output quality work.

i also dig the idea of all nairaland votes counting as one vote.

i would also encourage those of us with access to foreign/experienced artists to explore the option of them popping in as additional judges.
it shouldn't be a case of d blind assessing the blind, lol.

. Seconded...and if its this way.....sounds and dialogs should come in...and let the competition begin.