Calling all animators! (Animation contest is live!!!)

[teh lag]

If you can animate and have 3DS, here's a chance to show some skill and play with some new toys.

The Rules
Follow these or we won't count your entry.

Final submissions must consist of the source .max file (any version will do) and a render in video form (no .gifs please) of the animation. Submission .max files are to be sent to the judges via PM, but feel free to post the video anywhere you want.
Contestants must use the rig(s) provided.
Contestants must use the render setup provided (minor changes like resolution are fine, just don't replace the materials or lighting or background or something like that).
Animation rig may be modified to the contestant's preference (re-organizing bones, custom IK rigs, etc are fine).
Geometry may be modified only if it is necessary for the animation. This means that you can detach parts if you want them to move or duplicate them if you need more of them, but you may not import outside geometry or edit things for purely visual appeal. This competition is about animation not modeling.


Scoring
Entries are judged on a 20-point scale from 4 criteria, 5 points each. The entry with the highest combined score from all judges wins.

1) Creativity - Did your animation go beyond copying something? Is it something we haven't seen before?
2) Definition - are your motions clear or sloppy? Do moving parts slide around aimlessly? Good animations have strong, well-placed movement.
3)Smoothness - Does it jump around? Is it unnatural or does it flow the way you would expect it to?
4) Execution - Overall, does your animation "work"? Does it have any flaws? Is the quality consistent? Is there any significant clipping?


Materials
Download for the materials will be provided at the start of each week. For now they are public - If someone really wants to be a shithead and upload things that are made public exclusively for the competition or use them for something else, I can't stop them anyway. If it's a problem, action will be taken (they won't be open for public download for one). This is meant to be something fun. Please be mature about it. Do not fuck this up.

1/29/10 - Create a reload animation for the Halo 1 Fuel Rod Gun and the provided FP rig. The model has been edited for flexibility and you are free to make further adjustments as long as they follow the rules. First-place prize is a $15 donation to the site in their name. Second-place prize is a $5 donation.

CONTEST 1 IS OVER. Jackal Stomper (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20315&p=517199&viewfull=1#post517199)'s entry won first; ODX (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20315&p=517064&viewfull=1#post517064)'s entry won second.

3/1/10 - Hell on Two Legs
Create an animation (yes, anything) using the provided rigs of the Hellhound and Hellbringer/Loki BattleMech chassis. You are not obligated to use both of them, but it would probably improve your chances of winning. You may alter the rigs, geometry, and render settings as you wish within reason. For this competition, you may also use any outside props or environments that you want, but if it is not something that is readily available (you should be able to figure out what that means) or something you created specifically for this competition you are required to post it in the thread so others can use it as well. Submission deadline will be decided as entries begin coming in. First-place prize is a $15 donation to the site in their name and second-place prize is a $5 donation, unless someone steps in with something else.
Materials are here (tehlag.modacity.net/one/notpix/Animation Contest 3-1-10.rar).
http://tehlag.modacity.net/one/pix/hellhoundcompetitionrender.png
http://tehlag.modacity.net/one/pix/lokicompetitionrender.png

[ICEE]

I'm not much of a competition guy, but I'd be up for this. Prizes could be little things like small donations to the site in credit to our name, avatar size enhancement, maybe even cheap steam games as gifts.

[annihilation]

I'm up for it.

[SnaFuBAR]

totally down for thi- wait, shit....

:saddowns:

[teh lag]

I'd still need some people to judge...

For prizes, so far people have said something along the lines of either donation to the site in the winners' name ($15 for first place, $5 for second?) or a gift card (steam, xbl, etc). Any other ideas?

[Dwood]

Let's start out without prizes, just to get it going, because if someone sent me a rig that could go into Halo already or something, I would do it for no other reason than the learning experience.

E: And I bet that goes with a bunch of other people here as well.

[Daishi]

I would do it simply because I'd have a halo rig. Currently I'm animating with CSS default hands...and frankly I could care less about that. I'd be up for it...although biped animations are anything but my forte.

[Advancebo]

50 dollar visa gift cards.

[Chainsy]

I would be happy to judge and supply the gifts to the winners. :realsmug:

And when I mean gifts, I mean game design books and among other things of that nature.

[teh lag]

I would do it simply because I'd have a halo rig. Currently I'm animating with CSS default hands...and frankly I could care less about that. I'd be up for it...although biped animations are anything but my forte.

That's part of what I'm hoping the appeal will be. It'll be a chance for people to play with assets they wouldn't be able to use otherwise. Ex: I was just talking with Seraphim about using things from Metroid Online and he was fine with it.


50 dollar visa gift cards.

Well, the idea is that it's a small competition with small prizes. I'm shooting for something bi-weekly, so I think $50 every 2 weeks is a bit much.


And when I mean gifts, I mean game design books and among other things of that nature.

That would actually be really cool to have. Then again, the above mentioned problem of making this a quick affair.

Maybe have prizes vary based on the difficulty of the challenge? General FP would be a donation, a full FP set or a biped anim could be one of the bigger things.

[Corndogman]

I don't do much about animation, I know more about modeling. But I'd be up for this. It would give me a chance/motivation to practice animating.

E: Hell, I'd take a bar of rep as a prize, tbh.

[annihilation]

I like the small donation idea.

[Llama Juice]

I dislike the donation idea unless if money is actually donated to the site by someone. I'm at the bottom of the top 10 donators, I don't wanna get booted 'cause someone won a contest :P.

Also, I'd be up for this if it was anything other than animations... ugh.

You guys have fun though :P

[Chainsy]

Llama I made a contest thread a while back for just that but no one entered.:smith:

[ICEE]

I'll judge if you like. My schedules a little booked for me to be competing at my full potential anyways

[FRain]

I'll do it!

[Inferno]

So like we are given a setup and we can animate ANYTHING we want?

I think I'll have blind come up with something related to tree stumps and I will animate it.

[kid908]

I'll give it a try. but you can have gifts later, just a bi-weekly community challenge is fun itself.

[ODX]

Sounds interesting, although I can only do FP. Right now my Windows is broke and my parents are being lazy in eBay-ing a simple new one, so I can't animate and haven't been able to for a while D:

:words:... with a render setup.Whoa whoa, I don't exactly like the idea of having a pre-made render setup. Although it would help limit people from making insane backgrounds where you can't tell what the hell is going on, I find rendering to be part of an animators art, as it gives a feel and mood depending on the background and lighting.

[kid908]

Whoa whoa, I don't exactly like the idea of having a pre-made render setup. Although it would help limit people from making insane backgrounds where you can't tell what the hell is going on, I find rendering to be part of an animators art, as it gives a feel and mood depending on the background and lighting.

I'm fine with pre render setup. It lets the judges have a precise lighting in every entry and lets them focus on the actual animation itself.


Rendering isn't really part of an animator's art as I see it. You should have some basic skills in all 5 fields (concept, modeling, texture creation, shaders creation, and rendering), but I still see them as separate fields. I mean, you're not going to go to a modeler and ask them to create a detailed concept art or go to a texture artist and ask them to make high poly models for norms. Same thing for the rest.

[Llama Juice]

You should have some basic skills in all 5 fields (concept, modeling, texture creation, shaders creation, and rendering)

Who rigs the character?


Llama I made a contest thread a while back for just that but no one entered.:smith:

You mean when I was working on my student game, or when I was touching up my demo reel?.... I've had less than no free time haha.

[rossmum]

I'm not an animator, but I wish I was.

I'll have to settle for helping with references :smith:

[ImBrokeRU]

Count me in. Created an account here just for this XD.
Just to clarify. You are supplying us with the fp rig and weapon am i rite? Or can we choose?

[ODX]

Just to clarify. You are supplying us with the fp rig and weapon am i rite? Or can we choose?They/Teh Lag will supply the rig and weapon, and then you are to just make any kind of animation with it. One, and only one, or many, and then you choose one.

I'm fine with pre render setup. It lets the judges have a precise lighting in every entry and lets them focus on the actual animation itself. Eh, I suppose so, and I guess it would be fair so that animators with better rendering abilities can't like, cheat and make it look better or something.

[kid908]

Who rigs the character?

Animator. They know how they want the models to move and what part should move.

[ImBrokeRU]

They/Teh Lag will supply the rig and weapon, and then you are to just make any kind of animation with it. One, and only one, or many, and then you choose one.
Thanks for the info ODX. Also, if you can ever get on xfire, i want to ask you something.

[teh lag]

I've come up with some completely arbitrary rules - any thoughts?

Scoring is out of 20 points based on 4 categories, 5 points each:
Definition - Are the motions clear? Do moving parts slide around aimlessly?
Smoothness - Does it jump around? Is it too mechanical?
Creativity - Is it something other than a copy of a well-established style?
Execution - Overall, does the animation "work"? Is there any significant clipping or things noticeably out-of-place?

Contestants may alter the animation rigs provided to suit their preferences (ex: if they want to make their own IK setup) but may not import or create any new geometry or significantly alter the render setup (if you want to do it at a higher/lower resolution nobody will freak out). People who wish to enter PM the person providing that week's materials once the week's challenge is announced. Final submissions consist of a render of the animation and the source .max file.

I'd like to start as soon as possible - I'm prepping my FP ODST rig and a few weapons for general consumption and hopefully the first challenge can begin this weekend. This week's prize will just be a $15 donation for first place and $5 for second - eventually I'll progress to gift cards and such but for now I'll keep it simple.

[Advancebo]

Will any of the stuff used be released to the public? Or is that on the animator's choice? Or the owner's choice?

[ICEE]

everything used in the competition is going to be public, I believe

[Dwood]

Will the rig be ready to go ingame? ie do we plan to have parts of the competition be putting the anims ingame?

[ODX]

Will the rig be ready to go ingame? ie do we plan to have parts of the competition be putting the anims ingame?Make the animation, render it. Submit that (well, show the render, don't be selfish), and a .max file.

Keep it simple.

[teh lag]

Yeah, this isn't for in-game stuff. I wouldn't want to see anything that's publicly available exclusively for the competition to show up in people's Youtube videos showcasing their latest CE escapades. It's there so you can get to use something fresh, not so you can have a free SMG for your mod.

[BobtheGreatII]

This would be neat. I've done a few animations in my day. Doing it for a competition would be fun.

[teh lag]

Alright, this thing.

The plan is to give stuff out tomorrow and have the submission deadline be the end of next weekend (by midnight Feb 7th).

Now - the challenge is tentatively doing a Fuel Rod cannon reload, but if you guys can think of something else you'd like to do - trying to get away from the generic "reload the h3 assault rifle in the h3 way" - I'd gladly use it instead.

[Chainsy]

Why not alternate between 3rd person anims one week then fp the next. That way you can get creative and escape the generic reload bullshit.

[ICEE]

thats already part of the plan. We're going to have a variety of fp, third person, some cinematic stuff... etc.

Also, we're really pulling for creativity rather than copies. I personally would like to see a lot of moving parts utilized. We're giving you a versatile model here.

[n00ber]

Alright, this thing.

The plan is to give stuff out tomorrow and have the submission deadline be the end of next weekend (by midnight Feb 7th).

Now - the challenge is tentatively doing a Fuel Rod cannon reload, but if you guys can think of something else you'd like to do - trying to get away from the generic "reload the h3 assault rifle in the h3 way" - I'd gladly use it instead.

so the h1 model with the h1 rig?

[ICEE]

H1 model with an ODST rig made by teh lag.

[n00ber]

H1 model with an ODST rig made by teh lag.

then where can i get the rig?

[ICEE]

I believe lag will be uploading it soon

[teh lag]

OP updated with rules, the first challenge, and download link for the materials.

And I mean what I say in there about the materials.

If someone really wants to be a shithead and upload things that are made public exclusively for the competition or use them for something else, I can't stop them. If it's a problem, action will be taken (they won't be open for public download for one). This is meant to be something fun. Please be mature about it. Do not fuck this up.

NOW LET'S SEE SOME GODDAMN CREATIVITY

[Dwood]

Downloaded, i'll give it a whirl. Hopefully you don't mind entry level anims but I'll do my best to make it look all right.

[kid908]

Just a heads up that there were some minor error loading some of the textures.

Also can I just these rigs to animate and export ONLY the animation into halo? No model, just use the rig since it's better setup than my old one?

[Dwood]

If I read the rules right then I don't think that lag cares about the animation itself going ingame... He just doesn't want to see the assets going in game, even though I could be totally wrong.

[teh lag]

Just a heads up that there were some minor error loading some of the textures.

Also can I just these rigs to animate and export ONLY the animation into halo? No model, just use the rig since it's better setup than my old one?

Can you elaborate? Is it just a case of having to browse for them in the folders in the rar or are there actually some missing ones?


If I read the rules right then I don't think that lag cares about the animation itself going ingame... He just doesn't want to see the assets going in game, even though I could be totally wrong.

And yeah, use the rig to animate whatever you want. If you don't have a better one you can use it to export animations to CE. But yeah, don't put the model itself in other things.

[kid908]

Can you elaborate? Is it just a case of having to browse for them in the folders in the rar or are there actually some missing ones?

I believed 1 set of the cubemaps is missing, Mirror surface. IDK if that was the cov_metal_black cubemap or not. And there were also some browsing involved, but that was easy to fix. I wasn't sure which cubemap you wanted to use.


And yeah, use the rig to animate whatever you want. If you don't have a better one you can use it to export animations to CE. But yeah, don't put the model itself in other things.

Cool, thx..

[teh lag]

Just a reminder that entries are due by the end of tomorrow (within 12 hours of then, anyhow). Entries require a .max file sent via PM and a rendered video - not necessarily posted in this thread, but it would be nice if you showed off your work. I hope that this ends up popular - we've got some pretty neat things lined up for future competitions if it does.

[kid908]

Just need to add some finishing touches to my animation and render it. Just hope render on my compt doesn't take forever.

[Llama Juice]

Cant you just playblast or something in 3ds max? (basically a viewport render type thing)

[ODX]

I hope that this ends up popular - we've got some pretty neat things lined up for future competitions if it does.From what I know there's quite a few animators in the community, I'm deeply saddened that I can't do this weeks competition though D: (Computer's all screwy, going to nag parents for super real until we get more shit done)

There's a few animators (I believe) over at Halomaps that you might want to alert to this for next week or whenever the next competition is as well.

[kid908]

Well here's my submission. It's quite a long reload, but the FRG is quite an overpowered gun. There's a few changes to the gun, but nothing too major. I'm not an animator so hope that it's not too sloppy. C&C.


BHTpT_WcDPQ

[Avalanche]

Well here's my submission. It's quite a long reload, but the FRG is quite an overpowered gun. There's a few changes to the gun, but nothing too major. I'm not an animator so hope that it's not too sloppy. C&C.

video

It seems like he is putting rounds into the FRG through the panels?

[kid908]

It seems like he is putting rounds into the FRG through the panels?

Built upon of the idea of the needler growing crystal projectiles. You put in source crystal which is the basis for the ammunition. It no longer overheats.

[teh lag]

Definitely getting high marks for creativity there - I especially like how the gun folds in. I think you main problem (besides the rather odd method of reloading - creative but difficult to understand at first) is movement definition and your finer motions like on the fingers. When the spent rods are removed, the body of the gun reacts but it seems fairly forced; like it "has to" move as a result but has no purpose or natural flow to it. The gun seems to just move around from pose to pose while the new crystals are put in, again without purpose (but with a fair amount of smoothness at least). The origin pose needs a lot of work, and while a few awkward moments seem more the fault of my rig (which doesn't seem to have held up very well - my apologies for that) you should have put more effort into the details: finger positioning, individual poses, etc. Good concept, but lackluster execution.

Looking at the max file: you're in the habit of putting rotation and position frames at the same times; this is something you should try to break. It's easier, but yields unnatural results. It's not necessarily bad to have them at the same time but you definitely shouldn't have it for all your frames. Split them up - even by axis if necessary (you can delete individual axis components of keyframes) and you generally get a far more refined result.

From a more conceptual perspective: if it was me, I would have made it more apparent that there was a relationship between the rods inserted into the vents and the rods at the back. I went "wait, what?" a few times before finally getting it. The crystals were too small imo. Remember that the FRG is designed to be handled by grunts, which hardly appear dexterous enough to handle something so small. We're getting into personal animation design preference here, but I would have maybe had the vents slide up and have far thicker "crystals" inserted. Also remember that you've got two smaller-than-a-pinky crystals becoming 8 or 9 comparatively giant rods at the back. Even when you're being creative, remember to keep at least basic visual logic. Also remember that if nothing is moving, nothing seems to be happening (at least when you don't have the benefit of sound effects). I would have had some sort of response in the gun's position to the rods coming out of the back; the more you can "explain" what's going on with your animation the better.

[t3h m00kz]

I don't have much time to myself lately, but if overtime slows down soon I may do an animation for the pistol, just for the lolz. I've got a crazy idea, loosely based on some stuff Icee did at some point... may not come out too great, but I'll try.

[Dwood]

I'll try to make an anim and get it in here by monday but I probably won't be able to. we'll see.

[teh lag]

I'm willing to extend this to the end of Monday if it'll get some more people in.


I don't have much time to myself lately, but if overtime slows down soon I may do an animation for the pistol, just for the lolz. I've got a crazy idea, loosely based on some stuff Icee did at some point... may not come out too great, but I'll try.

This week's contest uses the FRG though :raise:

[t3h m00kz]

ffffffff

[Inferno]

I'm willing to extend this to the end of Monday if it'll get some more people in.



This week's contest uses the FRG though :raise:

Lol if I had a computer that worked I might.

[teh lag]

Seeing as how there's only one submission right now, I'm extending this until we get a few more. Come on, people!

[ODX]

Sup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-035hFQU_g

[FRain]

aw, shit, i forgot about this. I'll be done soon, just give me a few hours.

[ICEE]

ODX, its smooth for sure and well executed, but no points for creativity.

[Heathen]

quick, someone make a revolver loader for it.

[JackalStomper]

Ok I've been sitting on the fence about this contest for quite some time now. Today though I was bored and thought "what the hell". So I made this in two hours and well...

c5L2ONq-rVw

Could be better, but my concern on this matter is minimal.

(Can't get youtube tags to work :X)

[sdavis117]

Does that gun float by itself for part of the animation? On the part where you are putting the gun back together, neither of the hands are supporting the gun.

[TVTyrant]

I thought it was kind of obvious that the right hand had come back to the grip...

[Llama Juice]

Yea, with the motions that the gun was doing when you couldnt see the hands I just assumed that the other hand picked up the gun. worked for me, probably my favorite entry so far.

[JackalStomper]

Hand DOES come back on the gun before left hand makes the leap, shouldn't matter though, not being visible at all... :raise:


One (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3128383/Pictures/Random/1.JPG)
Two (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3128383/Pictures/Random/2.JPG)
Three (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3128383/Pictures/Random/3.JPG)

[annihilation]

The FRG always comes out white.
I'm not even sure how to get them both in the same scene.
:saddowns:

E: Am I allowed to change the veiwport mode so long as I put it back when I'm done?

[ICEE]

@ Annhilation: use the merge scene function to get them in the same scene. And you can do whatever you want to the scene as long as it renders from FP.

[annihilation]

Now it's missing some textures. :ugh:
Well, I can still do the animation if that's not an issue.

[teh lag]

Now it's missing some textures. :ugh:
Well, I can still do the animation if that's not an issue.

The needed textures come in the .rar file. When you open a scene and textures are missing, there's a dialog that comes up with a "browse" button which lets you specify where they are.

[ODX]

I think, I loaded up the scene with the Fuel Rod first, the merged in the arms, making sure to move the Fuel Rod textures over to a different material sphere thingie in the material editor window.

Oh, and it's 'white' because of the render settings and the specular of the gun, etc. I (yes, I admit it, I fucked with the rendering a bit) changed around the ambient and tint a bit to make it look better.

[Corndogman]

I might have an entry Thursday or Friday. I'm just messing around right now but I might finish an actual animation when I have time.

[FRain]

Here's my entry i promised

(i know about the clipping errors, dont kill me my comp sucks and displayed in viewport at 14fps)

pP8D_8u40lU

also no points for creativity

[JackalStomper]

I like it, you seemed to pay a lot of attention to the overall motion of the animation. But it has some logic problems, like when you shoot the rods when firing, and it eats them up when you reload it... what will be tossed out at the start of the animation??? There also seems to be some hyper extension on the left arm during the end.

At the end, the gun's motion reacts a little unrealistic. Seeing as how you mount the end of it on your shoulder when firing, I doubt it would pitch back like it does when readying it.

I wouldn't say NO points for creativity, but definitely not a lot.

Isn't clipping fun? :allears:

[ODX]

(i know about the clipping errors, dont kill me my comp sucks and displayed in viewport at 14fps)Oh please, my computer probably has less than that (it's a 2003 computer) but that's still no excuse, just go through the animation slowly and look for any major clipping that needs fixing.

Oh, also, when he's putting the gun back to the origin I can clearly see the fuel rod rounds sticking out from the bottom >_>

[Inferno]

I'm entering this contest. Will upload video today hopefully.

[Inferno]

How are the origins?
http://codebrainshideout.net/inferno/images/sup%20bre.png
http://codebrainshideout.net/inferno/images/sup%20bro.png

I haven't animated anything like this in a long time and I'm not sure if these are exactly right.

I'm not using wrist controllers. I hate them.

[ICEE]

You should really post it in first person. I'm interested to see how you do without wrist controllers though

[Inferno]

edit- After comparing mine a bit I noticed mine was way too fucking high. Adjusting.
http://codebrainshideout.net/inferno/images/sup%20pro.png


edit 2-

Updated!
http://codebrainshideout.net/inferno/images/sup%20mro.png

[ICEE]

I take that back, you shouldn't post it here until you have a complete animation.

[teh lag]

how the hell can you NOT animate with IK, enjoy your uneven motions???

and yeah I don't think judges should give crit before an entry is made unless something is completely and utterly wrong with something someone shows them (like your left thumb, which has a giant hole next to it wtf)

[Inferno]

Not having control of all the limbs drives me crazy. I need to manually position each arm/wrist/finger in the keyframe then adjust the speeds.

I'll animate this tomorrow. I have to go do stuff.

[ODX]

Not having control of all the limbs drives me crazy. I need to manually position each arm/wrist/finger in the keyframe then adjust the speeds.This sounds really interesting- let's see how you fare.

[Inferno]

R25Lqw1kTVg

Old animations. No IK. I used a couple of link constraints and that's about it.

edit-

BTW. I am a 100% self taught animator. I learned to animate by importing the halo 1 AR and pistol and picking them apart to figure out how they did it. I've never watched or read any tutorials. I've picked up some tips here and there though.

[ICEE]

wrong thread for dis

[Llama Juice]

The only thing IK is really needed for is when you're touching something... which for something like this that'd be ideal IMO For other stuff like just a normal walking animation, I prefer FK 'cause you get a much more natural motion in the swing of the arms and such (legs should nearly always be IK of course).

I'd enter this contest, but I don't have max :/

[teh lag]

Alright, I think you guys have had enough time. If you want to submit something, do it by the end of the weekend. The next contest will start immediately afterwards.

I've got four potential things set up for the next contest. They are:
CMT Brute biped rig (animating something like taking cover or a GOW-style mantle)
ODST biped rig (same deal)
CMT Elite FP rig (some anim for some weapon yet to be determined)
Hellhound (http://tehlag.modacity.net/one/pix/Hellhoundpose01.png) rig (open-ended, just make whatever you want with it)

Which would you guys prefer?

[ThePlague]

I'd probably enter the contest if I could animate the Hellhound. I already have some ideas on what to do with it.

[ODX]

I'm not exactly sure to be honest. Sure, I would love the Elite FP arms, but we just had almost an entire month to play around with the ODST ones and getting a new rig so soon is actually kind of overwhelming (at least to me, as I have like, 12 different rigs >_> ).

Switch off between 3rd person and FP each time would be a nice idea. Could go with more people trying some 3p stuff in this community.

[JackalStomper]

I'm leaning towards third person, it would be more refreshing then having another FP animation back to back with this ODST one. The open ended hellbound sounds interesting, a lot more you could do with that then a mantle over cover =/

[il Duce Primo]

I actually would like to try a 3rd person thing with the brute because you could also put more creative character into the brute's motions.

[Dwood]

I'm leaning towards the brute biped or the hellhound rigs- Depends on how the hellhound is rigged, however.

[teh lag]

Pretty standard IK rig. Of course, it's got constraints so things can't bend more than they should.

http://tehlag.modacity.net/one/pix/hellhoundrig.PNG

Pelvis\body, upper torso, legs, toes, and arm cannon targets (independent and combined) have movement, as well as the IK swivel angles for the legs.

Brute is your typical CE biped. ODST is also a standard biped, but has toes and fingers unlike most things for CE.

[FRain]

I have no objection to any of those. Although it would be nice if the brute had some fingahz.

[Dwood]

I'd be good with either brute or Hellhound, then. Brute needs a better angry animation anyways.

[teh lag]

Hey hey, it's results time.

Second place goes to ODX. Though it completely lacked creativity, his animation was fairly well made.
First place goes to Jackal Stomper. Creativity was his asset - that combined with an animation that wasn't bad (but, not exceptionally good either) meant he ended up with the most points.

An honorable mention goes to Kid, whose animation caused some conflict regarding whether it or ODX's deserved first; though it was certainly lacking its high creativity made it a very serious contender. Better luck next time.

Nice job you two, and thanks to everyone for entering. Donation prizes will be given out later this week.

Next competition will begin as soon as I can get the materials together. I'm going with the Hellhound rig - and adding the Hellbringer for more flexibility.

[teh lag]

New contest starts now.


3/1/10 - Hell on Two Legs
Create an animation (yes, anything) using the provided rigs of the Hellhound and Hellbringer/Loki BattleMech chassis. You are not obligated to use both of them, but it would probably improve your chances of winning. You may alter the rigs, geometry, and render settings as you wish within reason. For this competition, you may also use any outside props or environments that you want, but if it is not something that is readily available (you should be able to figure out what that means) or something you created specifically for this competition you are required to post it in the thread prior to submission so other entrants can use it as well. Submission deadline will be decided as entries begin coming in. First-place prize is a $15 donation and second-place prize is a $5 donation, unless someone steps in with something else.
Materials are here (tehlag.modacity.net/one/notpix/Animation Contest 3-1-10.rar).
http://tehlag.modacity.net/one/pix/hellhoundcompetitionrender.png
http://tehlag.modacity.net/one/pix/lokicompetitionrender.png

[HDoan]

This is all I got.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vdF8FwbwzY
4vdF8FwbwzY

[teh lag]

I actually like that. If you could maybe expand on it a little that'd be cool, but I guess I'll take off the 30 second limit anyway if it's just going to discourage people.

[HDoan]

Is anyone else entering this?

[Phopojijo]

You know FBX format would really widen your audience. I believe it's stable enough now.

[teh lag]

I'll try it out then, thanks. Are IK, link constraints and all that carried over? I remember about a year ago Whiplash tried rigging one of my mechs and sent it to me in FBX format, but the IK and such didn't work properly.