Unearthly challenge : Question and Answer
polycounter lvl 17
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-September 4th 2008 to October 27 2008-
Anything and everything you'll need to begin your entry can be read here. Some highlights of the specs & rules include:
:icon_arrow: Each entry will begin from a choice out of 89 concepts provided by some of this industries top studios & artists
:icon_arrow: Broad technical restrictions
:icon_arrow: Post a link to your intended concept or embed it into your posts so we know which one you are basing this off.
:icon_arrow: Render in any 3D application or video game engine of your choice
:icon_arrow: Teams of up to 3 people maximum! Name your team and make a logo if you wish
:icon_arrow: Priceless exposure: Have your entry seen by all of our sponsors & judges
:icon_arrow: Please create your wip threads with the following format.
Unearthly Challenge | Team Name | Name of Environment
More info to come....
Replies
:icon_arrow:Lightmap resolution doesn't count towards your final texture resolution and should likely be half of your texture resolution, 2048x2048, for this competition. Fred will update the rules with actual specifics.
:icon_arrow:Standard texture passes apply: diffuse, spec, normal, bump, height, detail, emissive, parallax, opacity and so on. Fred will update the rules with actual specifics.
:icon_arrow:You're encouraged to alter and break from the concept as much as you can while still maintaining some of its elements. The judges should be able to look at the concept, then look at your beauty renders, and see the connection. There's some hellacious* looking environments in there... imagine what the GA guys will have to do to make it look 'Good'. They're require a HUGE overhaul in lighting, props, look, wear, all of that.
:icon_arrow:You can draw over concepts if it makes planning your work that much better, no ones feelings will get hurt
:icon_arrow:If you have a concept artist on your team thats awesome, part of me wishes I did for my team. You're encouraged to add, remove, edit, or update your concepts environment. Don't forget you need a center of focus, it has to look evil, and it shouldn't be a direct copy of your concept. Lots of stuff to get creative with!
:icon_arrow:1x4096x4096 texture space is huge. To put it in perspective, here's an image showing a 4096x4096 @ half-resolution. The smallest squares are 512x512 textures. TONS OF SPACE!
:icon_arrow:It's only up to 250,000. If you can make an amazing scene for this competition in, say, 60,000 triangles then by all means. We just wanted the free to be there for people who wanted to do sprawling environments like a forest, lava worlds, huge landscapes, etc.
:icon_arrow:As for mixing 2 environments together, you cannot do that. However, because you can update a concept as you need it to be for your idea you're welcome to bring over elements from another in to your chosen concept. So long as 'the concept can be seen in your environment' I would think you are fine to do with it what you will.
:icon_arrow:Threads @ Polycount for this should be titled as such: UNEARTHLY CHALLENGE | Team Name | Name of your environment*
*If you don't have a name for your environment yet you can always edit your title later to update it.
I just updated the original post with this information, but I thought I'd do it again in a reply so its get the proper attention.
Additional rules / answers to some questions about what is or is not allowed:
:icon_arrow:Simple skyboxes are acceptable. The texture resolution for your skybox must not exceed a resolution of 1024x1024 per side, so 1024x1024x6. The resolution of your skybox will not count towards the allocated 4096x4096 of texture space for this contest. Additionally, the triangle count of your skybox, if it should have a need for such a thing, will not count towards your final triangle count.
:icon_arrow:Skyportals / 'advanced skyboxes' are not acceptable. Any additional geometry/textures you'd like to be used for your scenes background or sky should be considered a part of your allocated texture resolution or triangle count and will be developed as such.
:icon_arrow:Water/liquid is acceptable. The texture resolution for your water/liquid will be counted towards the allocated 4096x4096 texture space for this competition. Additionally, the triangles for the mesh used for your water will count towards your final triangle count.
NOTE: If you use BSP for your environment, you must factor those triangles into your final triangle count.
:icon_arrow:FX / Particle emitters are acceptable.The texture resolution for the effects you use will count towards your allocated 4096x4096 texture space for this contest. Additionally, the triangle count used for your FX will count towards your final triangle count.
:icon_arrow:Environment/cube maps & masks are acceptable.The combined resolution of your environment maps will not count towards your allocated 4096x4096 texture resolution for this contest. However, the combined texture resolution of your environment/cube masks will count towards your allocated 4096x4096 texture space for this contest.
:icon_arrow:The use of constant RGB material nodes to alter your texture is acceptable. We're not going to force you to use a new texture just to get a new texture with its colour tinted.
:icon_arrow:Texturing blending & multiple UV's are acceptable. Just be sure to show the textures/masks you use being counted for in your allocated 4096x4096 texture for each pass.
Can you still pick a concept that someone else has already said they are using?
Looking forward to the challenge.
Pat
And welcome to the boards.
-caseyjones
I believe the big chickens are more vehicle/structure like than characters. But at the same time, if someone does choose it, they can alter it quite a bit to create their environment
Do I need to add a "2d" in my title or what.
Nah... no worries for that. Just put it in your first post some where or something.
Also, are we aiming to essentially have a "beauty" shot and then a completely seperate sheet for the modeling sheet? - Im a bit new to environment modeling sheets so I was wondering if any references/resources as to how we should approach these could be put up.
Would a model sheet be something more akin to; http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/events/4/concepts/images/concept_23.html - with a breakdown on the seperate components?
- Im so fucking stoked for this, its gunna rock. \o/
I assume it would be fine long as you do not use any constant rgb colors. Instead you would use small color swatches that pull from your total texture resolution. Or if you decide to use cubic reflection maps they are part of your total 4096 resolution.
Any other operations are can be replicated in max or any 3d software that supports directx.
Can I use a tiling 1024 texture just for my rocks as a standalone texture, or do I need to put the 1024 texture inside the big 4096 texture (making it harder to tile it)?
Thanks in advance
You can break it up anyway you need to but all the combined foot print for one pass can not be over 4096.... or so I was told
Here's a break down of what that resolution gets you, if you consider the smallest square to be 512x512 pixels:
4096x4096
EDIT: Sidenote, Fred and I are going over skybox, water, and FX details to iron out what we'll go with for the final rules, but my above statements still stand at this point. Whatever we come up with won't stray far from what I had written.
I think adam answered this in another thread.... I believe he said you can but of course the poly count and textures you use go towards your final budget
Can we put in skeletons? Do these count as characters?
skeletons count as a statue is what Fred said over on Game Artisans. So yes but they have to be like dead skeletons. Not the re-animated, walking around, Evil Dead types...
No. If you create collision for any reason it will not be counted towards your limits.
Is that like.. each sheet can only have 1 camera angle, or could we render one sheet with a 1100*1100 full size render of everything and a second sheet with say... 4 x 275*275 different close up shots?
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/events/4/team2/view_entries.html
Who do I speak to about getting that fixed?
You get 2 images, 2 final frames, 2 final compositions, etc.
2x renders that can't exceed 1100x1000 pixels in any direction. You cannot split that resolution amongst multiple renders.
Just when I wanted to post my entry =(
am i allowed to build a whole city out of them?
They wouldn't be a focal point, they would more be like brinks in walls..
Mines goin to be like a nazi thing. With flags and stuff, like in those hitler parades.
Unearthly Challenge | Good-natured | Name of Environment
to
Unearthly Challenge | Good-natured | Holy Place
Additional rules / answers to some questions about what is or is not allowed:
:icon_arrow:Simple skyboxes are acceptable.The texture resolution for your skybox must not exceed a resolution of 1024x1024 per side, so 1024x1024x6. The resolution of your skybox will not count towards the allocated 4096x4096 of texture space for this contest. Additionally, the triangle count of your skybox, if it should have a need for such a thing, will not count towards your final triangle count.
:icon_arrow:Skyportals / 'advanced skyboxes' are not acceptable. Any additional geometry/textures you'd like to be used for your scenes background or sky should be considered a part of your allocated texture resolution or triangle count and will be developed as such.
:icon_arrow:Water/liquid is acceptable. The texture resolution for your water/liquid will be counted towards the allocated 4096x4096 texture space for this competition. Additionally, the triangles for the mesh* used for your water will count towards your final triangle count.
:icon_arrow:FX / Particle emitters are acceptable.The texture resolution for the effects you use will count towards your allocated 4096x4096 texture space for this contest. Additionally, the triangle count used for your FX will count towards your final triangle count.
:icon_arrow:Environment/cube maps & masks are acceptable.The combined resolution of your environment maps will not count towards your allocated 4096x4096 texture resolution for this contest. However, the combined texture resolution of your environment/cube masks will count towards your allocated 4096x4096 texture space for this contest.
:icon_arrow:The use of constant RGB material nodes to alter your texture is acceptable. We're not going to force you to use a new texture just to get a new texture with its colour tinted.
:icon_arrow:Texturing blending & multiple UV's are acceptable. Just be sure to show the textures/masks you use being counted for in your allocated 4096x4096 texture for each pass.
-caseyjones
I saw that noone answered this so I'l have a go. If I am mistaken in this please correct me. But what I understand from the rules is that you can start from scratch and you have the abillity to create up to 3 environment concepts and each concept can win a place in the prize ranks. so you can win up to 3 prizes.
You will aim for: "1 beautishot; final rendering/painting of the environment, 1 model sheet; which should display additional details you might not see from that 1 shot, so if you have an eyecatcher of a building then you need to clearify visually how it will look from an other perspective. and 1 sketch sheet with thumbnails etc." per entry
yeah, looks like it. As long as it's different
Why not? It becomes a triangulated mesh at compile time, and you can count the triangles of that mesh.
You can also export the BSP-optimised mesh to a 3d package to get an exact triangle count (well, you can with ETQW's EditWorld anyway).
It's all triangles in the end, I see no reason why BSP should be disallowed as a starting point or filler for a scene.
Currently all my stuff is brushwork and patch work. I could export it all to models, but it would make no sense - the resulting mesh would be exactly the same number of triangles, with exactly the same amount of texture coordinates.
This sounds like a pointless restriction to me, unless there is a really good reason for it? I can't think of any.
-caseyjones
Not that any of my visual elements will be BSP, but theres a couple secondary background things (like some floors) that would just make it easier if I could create some shapes with BSP and drop down a tiling texture.