The LOTR Image Contest - Bring In 2009 With Some Brilliant Talent

rcallicotte · December 08, 2008, 06:33:44 PM

The poll for deciding which film / book we would like to create images for was completed yesterday and LOTR won. This means you can take from any of the LOTR scenes whether from the books (any of the books) or from film. Go wild.

I'll setup a site in the Image Section in two weeks for Final Renders, though I suspect that will be too early for most of us. Feel free to post your WIPs in the Image Section under your own titles and direct us with links from this thread. This thread is also for discussions to assist in ideas and suggestions to help as we can.

Rules and Clarity -

Any content from the LOTR can be used, whether from the novel or from the books and this includes any of the offshoots from the main trilogy.

I would prefer to keep one location for all of the final images for the contest to make it easier to vote. The contest will last until January 15th.

Here are the rules we have agreed upon for this upcoming contest, which will begin on December 7th after 10AM and be finished by January 15th. If by apparent consensus this date is too sudden, we will extend the date to January 31st.

* We can work in teams, but only one entry is allowed per team
* We can work as individuals, but only one entry is allowed per individual
* You can create something in a group and at the same time work on something as an individual, but this will mean only two possible entries including both group and individual entry
* The theme of this contest will be based upon the LOTR series and our final entry (or entries) will be a recreation of a still image (or images) only - no animation
* Postwork is allowed
* The final basic rendered image must be accomplished within TG2 only; any work outside of TG2 must compliment the basic render in TG2 - this is critical to the integrity of the contest

rcallicotte · December 08, 2008, 06:47:47 PM

http://www.framecaplib.com/lotrlib.htm

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/LOTR:Featured_pictures

http://www.tednasmith.com/tolkien.html

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/images/Children-of-Hurin-Calendar-2008.jpg

lonewolf · December 08, 2008, 11:36:54 PM

If anyone is intersted I have 1 of the argonath stone guards in high res. It's in 3ds though, and it crashes when I try to convert it.
http://www.patriotresource.com/lotr/places/argonath.html
The one on the right I have.

Iain

Tangled-Universe · December 09, 2008, 03:07:27 AM

Quote from: lonewolf on December 08, 2008, 11:36:54 PM
If anyone is intersted I have 1 of the argonath stone guards in high res. It's in 3ds though, and it crashes when I try to convert it.
http://www.patriotresource.com/lotr/places/argonath.html
The one on the right I have.

Iain

Hi Iain,

I'd be interested to see if I can make good use of it. I think the reference-picture can be reproduced quite accurately

Please PM me how you'd like to exchange the file(s). Thanks!

Martin

dandelO · December 09, 2008, 05:29:09 AM

That's the scene I'm working on for the moment too. I've managed to get the Argonath statue into TG by converting it to .obj in Carrara.
I had to remove a lot of the unseen parts to export it though, the original .3ds file was about 17mb, the converted .obj is still 72mb, even with the edits to shrink it.
It's working well so far though...

Tangled-Universe · December 09, 2008, 06:21:28 AM

Quote from: dandelO on December 09, 2008, 05:29:09 AM
That's the scene I'm working on for the moment too. I've managed to get the Argonath statue into TG by converting it to .obj in Carrara.
I had to remove a lot of the unseen parts to export it though, the original .3ds file was about 17mb, the converted .obj is still 72mb, even with the edits to shrink it.
It's working well so far though...

That sounds good, do you mind sharing that model with me? I can imagine this is a strange question because this is a contest now

If you feel like I'm too much competition that way or want too keep it strictly for yourself I can understand that

Perhaps it might be interested to work as a duo on that scene?
I have 3 weeks of from next monday and I'm planning to put some serious effort into this contest.
Just let me know please.

Martin

dandelO · December 09, 2008, 07:43:12 AM

At 72mb it's a bit large for tossing around. Here's the link to the original .3ds on Turbosquid though, it's free but there are no credits so I don't know who's it is... http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/260843 - 17mb.

QuoteIf you feel like I'm too much competition that way or want too keep it strictly for yourself I can understand that

Ha-ha! I like that. There's nothing quite like being good, and knowing it, eh, TU?

I've never actually done a collab' before, might be interesting, indeed. I'll see how it goes...
Feel free to do the Argonath scene though, I have 3 scenes started from different LOTR locations, I haven't quite settled on any one yet.

Tangled-Universe · December 09, 2008, 07:53:27 AM

Quote from: dandelO on December 09, 2008, 07:43:12 AM
At 72mb it's a bit large for tossing around. Here's the link to the original .3ds on Turbosquid though, it's free but there are no credits so I don't know who's it is... http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/260843 - 17mb.

QuoteIf you feel like I'm too much competition that way or want too keep it strictly for yourself I can understand that

Ha-ha! I like that. There's nothing quite like being good, and knowing it, eh, TU?

I've never actually done a collab' before, might be interesting, indeed. I'll see how it goes...
Feel free to do the Argonath scene though, I have 3 scenes started from different LOTR locations, I haven't quite settled on any one yet.

Haha, well that's not how I really meant it though, but now you mention it seems so

lol...
I meant that sharing this with me would give me a head-start. It would save me a lot of work which I honestly can't do myself.
(I'm not familiar with modeling etc.) See what I mean

By the way, you could upload it at megaupload for example. Don't know about your uploadspeed etc. Just a suggestion

Thanks for the link anyhow. I'll see how my machine handles the original file.
And thanks for allowing me to work on the scene

lol
However, I'm still interested in the collab, so just let me know when you feel up to it.

Martin

cyphyr · December 09, 2008, 12:37:30 PM

Great

~!! we're up an runnin'

I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this one, got a couple of ideas but I'm still unsure which way forward.
Hurrumph

rendering a test anim at the moment, 600 frames @ 20 min a frame, gona be a while till I can start posting WIP's

Quote from: calico on December 08, 2008, 06:33:44 PM
...
* Postwork is allowed
* The final basic rendered image must be accomplished within TG2 only; any work outside of TG2 must compliment the basic render in TG2 - this is critical to the integrity of the contest

I was wondering weather something like my last image would be considered in bounds or not?

Good luck everyone

Richard

rcallicotte · December 09, 2008, 02:00:45 PM

@cyphyr - My take and opinion is that your image has been basically rendered in TG2, right? This would be what we're looking for. Objects can be added, even if the objects are added outside of TG2...and this could get tricky. So that's why I said in the contest rules and clarity that we should have the basic image rendered in TG2. This means, for example, that rendering 75% of the image in VRay and then Photoshopping TG2 in where it looks good isn't a representative example of creating something in TG2.

Right?

cyphyr · December 09, 2008, 02:07:45 PM

I'm happy with this, (would have been happy either way), its just good to know how far I can push the proverbial boat out.
cheers
Richard

dandelO · December 09, 2008, 05:38:14 PM

TU(and anyone else, of course): Here's the MEGAUPLOAD link to the .obj... http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CGNS7XKO

I've managed to fold it up, calabi-yau style, into a mere 15mb in Winrar, my fingers are sore from all that folding!

There are more single parts than the .obj reader can assign still, I think. I've just been bypassing the multishader completely and putting rock shader-trees into the input directly. This way your shaders will cover the entire model instead of just its parts.

gregsandor · December 10, 2008, 01:36:14 PM

Here's a site that might be useful: Middle Earth DEM Project

http://www.me-dem.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

rcallicotte · December 14, 2008, 10:51:58 AM

This might be helpful in finding a location you wish to find a DEM to translate to TER - http://asni.net/lotr_map.html

A good program to translate DEM to TER is 3DEM and 3DEM is free - http://www.visualizationsoftware.com/3dem.html

arisdemos · December 14, 2008, 04:32:38 PM

To Big Ben, Calico or anyone else concerned: Does anyone have some understanding of the operational status of the donated collective terrains of New Zealand? I have been attmpting to use these terrains both in group assembly (via the BB TGD) and as individual terrains, and cannot seem to keep the Beta program stable enough to make much headway. Jo has sent BB a message saying as I interpret it that the group of terrains is essentially overloading TG2, but no further dialogue of any solution has yet to be made available.

When I attempt to handle the terrain downloads individually I seem to run into problems in how these terrains set on the planet surface. The setting of the ocean or bathemetry levels in the individual terrain/TGD is also not working well for me due to either my own lack of experience in setting them up or possibly the Beta program is not working right. Are you suggesting in your latest post here that anyone getting started on their contest WIP should just forget the BB Terrains and get the appropriate DEM from the NZ group and start off from scratch?