Planetside Software Forums

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 will put up an official site in the Images section in about two weeks.  I would prefer to keep one location for all of the 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

[edit on Tuesday - I cannot change the poll to reflect a general request I've accepted, since the poll went live this last Sunday.  But, it's a good request.  So, we are counting any votes in LOTR as one category, just as there is only one entry for the other film / novel categories.  So, any vote for LOTR will be added up at the end of the poll as counting for LOTR as if it is only one listing.]

I voted star wars, it has some cool locations. That planet yoda ends up on has lots of vegetation which may be a challenge for us and for terragen.

Any images to accompany the choices?

I can't decide between the Shire or Minas Tirith. I'll hold my vote just now...

dandelO, I'm in the same place except I haven't narrowed it down to two yet.  LOL

Mohawk, once we decide which one we want we can supply images or, better yet for Planetside's site, provide URLs to images to give a full perspective of the location.  Was there a place you were wondering about and don't know what the location looks like? 

I've heard of about 4 of them ;D

If you do a search on the names, you should be able to find some images on the Net.  If not, let me know which ones you can't find and I'll do some searches to find images.

Quote from: PG on November 30, 2008, 05:27:50 PM
I've heard of about 4 of them ;D

I'll wait and see then... I voted Pirates of the Caribbean, because I know some of the island shots from the 2nd part were done in Vue, and we can do better than them for sure (if Floraworks helps out with loads and loads of free plants  ;)).

I hate to be a last minute sticky wicket, but aren't all the choices of your movie sets all rather unified under the kiddy shows genre. Although some really dynamic scenery is generously available in most these suggested movies, still their subject matter is somewhat (in my opinion) rather trite and generally unrelated to any real scientific,political or geologic reality.

Perhaps you could let the general audience here have a choice of some  more adult/contemporay movie themes. Movie themes that deal with current world problems such as islamic jihad, depletion of economic resources, and even such serious fodder as political  oppression and rape in Darfur. Admittadly these reality based movies are not the subjects for pleasant nappy times, but many people and movies tend toward a creative effort/work that can possibly solve som real life problems.

I like many of the movies that you list, and would agree that their landscapes are to say the least very dramatic and impressively CG augmented, and usually the geopgraphy/space is beautifully illustrated on an epic scale. Given all this I would still like to see some additions that are perhaps historically/politically themed such as Apochalypto, 10,000 BC, Bordertown, and Troy to name a few. Just a thought, and I do hope I haven't dribbled down anybody's leg with this suggetion.

I say, this should be the first of many contests, subsequent themes and topics can, and should, be tackled in following contests.

I'm happy to go with the selection posted so far but I also understand that it is pretty closed-in to a couple of random films plus a plethora of LOTR themes.
Why not just a single LOTR, a single Independence Day, etc? Every contestant could then pick what that film means to them, as a whole, and translate a scene that speaks to them from that movie into rendered format.

Well, this could be good.  It would have been better to mention this before...I'm hoping that people would actually like the idea and go with it.  What do you think?  One chosen location, where people get to vote to choose that location...and then we can all be clearly delineated to the same playground.  It challenges who we are as artists and can be real fun. 

You could add some other ideas before the today's end and I would add your films into the list.   Should I add Independence Day?  I can't help but think of LOTR as being TG2 territory (no pun intended) and that's likely why so many in the previous thread mentioned it.  It's sort of natural, I think.  But, it doesn't look like anyone has even voted for anything LOTR yet. 

Quote from: dandelO on November 30, 2008, 08:36:00 PM
I say, this should be the first of many contests, subsequent themes and topics can, and should, be tackled in following contests.

I'm happy to go with the selection posted so far but I also understand that it is pretty closed-in to a couple of random films plus a plethora of LOTR themes.
Why not just a single LOTR, a single Independence Day, etc? Every contestant could then pick what that film means to them, as a whole, and translate a scene that speaks to them from that movie into rendered format.

I agree with DandelO. I think let the poll choose the movie, and let each of us choose the scene we fancy. I think ts way it will appeal to more people, and hopefully get more entries. Has anyone thought of advertising the idea on other, popular art websites, in order to attract new users? I have seen a lot of people keen on learning terragen but have been put of for reasons such as a supposedly "Difficult" interface, yet this might be the motivation they need.

I think participation is the key. If only one LOTR location is allowed, you'll seriously limit interest I am afraid. I voted anyway.

Think we should just get stuck in really, we could discuss what were going to do for ages and still not do anything lol!!
The only thing to bare in mind is that a lot of the locations require quite extensive modeling outside Terragen itself which although not a problem in itself will take the chalange off in a different direction. One thing I've noticed is that Terragen really shows up good and bad modeling. For me I think the most chalanging might be Hobbiton, (fitting all thoes hobbit doors precisely to their hobbit mounds etc) or maybe Rivendell ( oh I dont know lol!!?) Voted anyway, good luck everybody;)
richard

If you get ideas from this list and want to create something, it's no big deal.

However, if you want to have a buy-in for this contest, vote.  The majority of votes will go toward what most of us are interested in doing.

If one of the bottom (MYST through STAR WARS) choices is what wins, I'll have a three-day poll ready on Sunday at 10AM (GMT -6) for a choice of locations from this selection.  That will be what the focus of our contest is.  Maybe we could invite others from other sites to join us.  Seems like creativity could flourish for this.

I just realized I might be blocking creativity by rejecting a good idea.  How many people would rather see this be about a film or novel (already listed above) than about a specific location within a film or novel?  Please let me know, since it would just be a matter of adding up all of the votes for LOTR and changing the poll to reflect just films or novels. 

No votes will be lost, no matter what we do.

How reasonable is it if I just move all of the LOTR into one category in the poll?  This has already been mentioned and it could be better for creativity to include only one entry per film / novel. 

If no one reasonably objects to this, I'll move all of the present votes separated out into the various locations for LOTR into one category in the poll for LOTR.  This will leave categories of movies or novels only and no specific locations designated within this poll.  The winning film or novel will then be open to everyone's discretion in that (winning) world to create from whichever scene is desirable within that winning category.

I say make it a movie / novel based contest. Change the LOTR into 1 catagory.

Iain

I agree with Lonewolf, make LOTR into one catagory.  I also partially agree with Arisdemos, perhaps you could take some of the room that LOTR leaves when it's cleaned up and add some movies/novels(fiction or non) that contain a bit of historical significance - Although I wouldn't go overboard with that, one of the great things about Terragen II, of course, is the ability to capture something from imagination and make it physically tangible, for all to see and enjoy.

Lonewolf, which movies/novels would be good to place in there?

Quote from: Esgalachoir on December 02, 2008, 12:08:52 AM
I agree with Lonewolf, make LOTR into one catagory.  I also partially agree with Arisdemos, perhaps you could take some of the room that LOTR leaves when it's cleaned up and add some movies/novels(fiction or non) that contain a bit of historical significance - Although I wouldn't go overboard with that, one of the great things about Terragen II, of course, is the ability to capture something from imagination and make it physically tangible, for all to see and enjoy.

Since I can't remove items, LOTR now counts as one category.  I don't mind adding a couple more items, but the poll still only goes until Sunday at 10AM (GMT -6).

OK, now I'll vote then, I think...

Done.

Bit late I know but how about some of the shots from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", some stunning locations there.
Richard

Yeah.  Sorry to be a bit of a roadblock.  This should be better.

Quote from: dandelO on December 02, 2008, 07:46:26 AM
OK, now I'll vote then, I think...

Done.

Rivendell... THE spot to recreate.   :o

Just a bump for the poll.   ;D

Looks like it's going to be a LOTR theme then, so far, at least. How original! :D

And, whatever subject wins, if there is a film and novel for this topic, then someone can create from anywhere in the entire world / universe.  Sound good?

Quote from: dandelO on December 05, 2008, 09:53:07 AM
Looks like it's going to be a LOTR theme then, so far, at least. How original! :D

Last bump until Sunday.  Only have until 10AM (GMT-6) to select something for the contest.

4pm in the ol' country now, an I'm thinkin that makes 10AM (GMT-6) over the pond so do we have an accord now? By my count thats 21 votes (lotr) to 7 (potc) runner up. Is my enumeration correct ;)
richard

LOTR won with 23 votes.  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 will put up an official site in the Images section in about two weeks.  I would prefer to keep one location for all of the images for the contest to make it easier to vote.  The contest will last until January 15th.

Is a requirement of this contest that all work in progress is posted?
richard

<edit> maybe I should have said request rather that requirement</edit>

No.  Do you see an advantage or disadvantage either way?  People can always share what they're doing here.

Quote from: cyphyr on December 07, 2008, 11:47:53 AM
Is a requirement of this contest that all work in progress is posted?
richard

Yes of course :)
Since there is no prize (well, except for bragging rights lol ;D) the point of these contests is surely to share our knowledge and learn from each other. A WIP thread for each contestant will allow us to not only learn, but to also advise and critique each others work. Maybe its too complex to organize but I will show my working through the duration of the comp and hopefully some can learn from me and (from my point of view) I might actually get some decent critique and feedback so I will be better at the end than at the start :)
Just my penny worth
Richard
Ps I didn't mean that it should be a requirement, but rather a request that we share not only our finished work but also our journey :)

Yeah I think that's the best thing. There's a lot of things that keep coming up, new questions of exactly the same thing so if we can root them out then we can help each other to strengthen our skills in our weak areas while at the same time providing newcomers with access to, what would effectively be, tutorials.

Sharing what we know sounds like a great idea...and maybe someday Planetside will put on a contest similar to this with some sort of prize by some sponsors or...something.   ;D

Just had an I idea, probably daft, it was a good bottle of wine anyway ;)
How about presenting the challenge thus :)

Hi
I'm Peter Jackson and as you know I'm in negotiations regarding the forthcoming "Hobbit" movie. A large part of the movie will require virtual sets and set extensions. As such I require high quality visuals to advise and direct the team behind this creative effort. Using references from the LoTR Trilogy, Tolkien s Books and relevant source material please provide high quality location imagery of the locations mentioned throughout the LoTR universe.

etc. etc. ....

During the chalange we (the forumn members) could respond to each others threads as if we were Peter or his representative .....

Like I say, it was a good bottle of wine lol
What d'ya think :)

richard

I've had 3 LOTR scenes on the go for a few days now. I think I've settled on my final choice for this contest though. I think...

@cyphyr, uh...maybe let's talk about this in the morning.   ;D

@dandelO, I've already started working on some techniques and haven't chosen a scene yet.  We've got such a wonderfully broad choice of places. 

Err yeah sobered up now lol :D
Are you planning to formally announce the start of the contest?
richard