OTOY Forums

Hi all,

The current apocalypse competition is not very successfull.
Unlike our previous 2 competitions, this one is just not yielding a lot of entries.

What could be the problem ?

* are people tired of it ?
* is it the fact that we have chosen a (maybe rather difficult) apocalypse theme ?

What could be done ?
It's a bit tough for us to give away thousands of dollars of prizes when there are only 20 entries or so...

Could we maybe extend it and remove the theme ? maybe make it an open ended competition, with no theme, submit anything you like ?

Please comment,
Thanks,
Radiance

hard to answer, for once, like in previous contests, many people wait till the last day to submit their entries, which makes it hard to figure out how many will there be, others could be waiting to the 2.6 beta, (I'm among those to finish my current entry, althou if it doesn't come in time I could work something out). The theme could be opened, I thought, anyway, that other themes "were posible" but you got "brownie points" for sticking to theme, I wouldn't mind a more open theme, but I have to say that it has been great fun creating a scene with a theme in mind.
To somehow measure how many people are going to try (which is a different thing than deliver) could answer in the contest thread stating the intend to participate and their general theme/idea, then they could go back to that post to edit and add the images.
I've always thought that the more we were compiting the better, mainly cause we learn a lot from each other (or at least I do) and also it usually pushes you to improve your own work, I could be days watching Enrico's renders and wouldn't get bored (and many others as talented as him) and they always make me want to learn more. So if it needs to be extended I wouldn't mind (much )
Just my 2 cents

I think the problem might be with the theme.
In my case when I found out about the competition I instantly remembered all those great matte paintings of post apocalyptic ruined cities,
rusted cars, trains, overgrown damp landscapes and other scenes with lots of objects and lots of detail.

Maybe it's just me but when you google "apocalypse" this is basically what you get either.
I guess people have gotten a little intimidated cause it would be very hard to achieve with Octane(I mean the look and possible amount of geometry to deal with).
I know you can post any entry but the theme is the theme.

As to the prizes if you're not satisfied you could possibly cancel or reduce some,
extending the competition won't make it much better imho.

Although I said I might enter I just haven't got around to it, sorry.
Now Xmas is upon me and I don't have spare time for a respectible effort.

Possibly the competition theme was too epic and a bit daunting for novice artistes, perhaps the prizes didn't suit everyone (for instance some of the gpu don't fit my case and my power supply is insufficient), and maybe the competition lasted too long to retain enthusiasm/focus....

For me the theme is a bit narrow - I am not so much into guns and destruction. Of course you could tackle the theme differently with a twist but some images will pop up in your mind when you hear 'appocalypse'.
I would love to see the competition with an more open theme (or without).
The reasons for the little participation could be the following:

1. Many people waited for the new 2.6 version to play with new features for the competition.
2. The theme might be interesting for only a part of the user group.
3. Christmas season is usually free time but you spend this time mostly with your family not having the GPUs around.

I would keep the deadline and remove the theme.

I'm just in the process of finalizing my work, which took me a lot of time and was (mostly) done for this competition (theme). If it will be canceled or anything like that, I would be really disappointed

I don't know why people think about massive scenes with razed cities when you say "apocalypse". I think this topic is totally great and flexible, so you could create anything and still be in line with the competition title; from rendering a simple bacteria that supposedly wiped out the human civilization, to a sun going supernova. No need for big geometry scenes and burning cities. I'm doing a soldier character, for example. Just think out of the "archviz box"...

Removing the theme & extending it will just result in moar studio car & random archviz renders, which I suppose RS has already enough in their Octane gallery? Backing up now and changing the rules will be a real kick in the face for those of us who worked hard on the themed competition. In the extreme chance that this is done, all those who conform to the tittle should have 50% more chance of winning, but I hope it wont come to this. The competition should be completed as stated.

Just a hint for the future; the next time set a rule of "midterm evaluation", where those committed to the competition must post their WIP halfway through the term, to show that they are serious about it. This way you'll get the number of people that will probably complete the task at the end. And 50% more time for making decisions like this one here.

Also all participants must open a WIP thread (for each their entry) in a specially created competition sub forum.

Hi Matej,
I agree with you that it would be a bit unfair to change the rules after you have done much work. I am also working on the Competition interpreting the theme kind of far off the standart path.
On the other side I can understand the situation of RS.
I think that the whole release of 2.6 and the MaxPlugin was / is distracting the concentration on the artwork entries.
I don't think that all the work is useless if they would remove the theme. We have seen too much archviz and cars, so something different will stand out anyway.

I don't think removing the theme is necessary (but I understand that RS would want to generate as many renders per competition as possible). Practically any render can be steered toward the "apocalypse" theme. You have a car model? You can pimp it up to look like the car of the Devil, or something (put goat horns on it and do some "hellish" texturing - not a lot of work). Just think a bit out of the standard "serious" work you usually do for the clients.

People probably didn't realize this (even though Radiance mentioned on the first page that you don't need to be soooo strict about the theme - ie. razed burning cities - and can do practically anything, just steer it toward the theme) and were intimidated by the "apocalypse" title. But such competitions are also about creativity and personal challenge, so having a topic or guideline to follow is a good thing.

I would not mind a small extension of the competition deadline (though we already had 4 months to move our ass), but IMO the topic should stay.

damn, i totally agree with matej
i never participate to the octane's contest but this time i would try with an animation.
it's about one week that i spent my night on this and i planning to start the final rendering at 1920 during 24-25-26 december. Please let me know if it's unuseful
ciao beppe