Weekend Challenge #200 Super Challenge (Week long)

To celebrate the 200th Weekend Challenge at http://blenderartists.org .The Blender World Cup, Weekend Challenge, and Monthly Challenge have been combined. The topic till the 26th is "Look what the cat dragged in" which focuses on comedy. A great selection of prizes are available for the winners to take away.

Look what the cat dragged in!

The Challenge to rule them all

Blender World Cup Entry Round (Blender Battles)
June Monthly Challenge (Blender Battles)
Weekend Challenge #200

The Challenge

Look what the cat dragged in!

Everyone loves to have a laugh. Follow the theme of the last two Blender World Cup entry rounds, Fun is what it is all about.

The wackiest, most creative, unlikeliest thing for a cat to have snagged and left on the doorstep.

Think Big
Think Tiny
Think Mutated
Think Juxtaposition
Think Creatively

You can use any style you like

Outcome
The expected outcome of this challenge is a single complete and self sufficient image, to be submitted for judging at one of these sizes.

Size: They can be either vertical or horizontal.
640x480 or 1280x960
They Must be Jpg's

Images can be submitted to the respective thread at http://blenderartists.org
If Image hosting is needed please feel free to upload to http://battles.mudpuddle.co.nz/index.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=13

All entered images will be copied (by myself) to Blender Battles gallery for prosperity and image linking.

Images may be used in the future for promotion of Blender Battles, but no money will be earned from these images unless a separate agreement is made.

Software Rules
Most modelling needs to be done in Blender (yes CVS is ok). Rendering can be done in Yafray, Blender, or a mixture of both. (you must state which it was done in)
Post processing is allowed, and [B]expected[/B]. (Gimp, Photoshop....)
If you use post processing, you must also provide an original render

Deadline
The Deadline is the End of the Month 26st June 0:00 GMT. Find the time in your location
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=5&day=26&year=2006&hour=0&min=0&sec=0&p1=0

Prize
The winner of the first round will get the choice of 1 month, Blender Bronze subscription at Respower super/farm. http://respower.com , Or one license to a 3d online gallery software package http://www.candointeractive.com/art/gallery/blender_art

The second place winner will receive the other prize.

We have a larger prize pool which will be finalised over the next few days between the first and the second round.

The Second round

The top 50% of entrants will go on to compete in the second round of competition.

This round has a huge prize pool yet to be finalised.

We have a 1 year Blender Bronze subscription at Respower super/farm. http://respower.com valued at $120

We have a Trophy this year for the second round winner

We have a number of Blender E-shop prizes.

If you are a company and wish to get involved with sponsorship of this competition you are most welcome. And can contact me by PM.

Tips and Tricks for Entries.

Research

Research is a must. Without it, you will be limiting your imagination to what you understand right now. Don't just research the topic you are designing for, research anything that offers inspiration, could be beetles, could be electronic components, could be anything.

Draw your Concept

Before you model in blender, perhaps draw your concept. it doesn't need to be a masterpiece, it just needs to serve as a Guide for your creativity. you will find you are spending less time thinking and resolving problems while modelling if you resolve them on paper.

Simplicity and Elegance

Sometimes modelling every single detail is not needed, a simple object made from 5 cleverly intersecting spheres or other simple shapes, may in fact look better than an elaborate model that took you weeks. Remember its in the lighting as much as the model, even a simple model can look amazing if well lit. We don't want entries to be laborious, we want them to be efficient and effective.

Create a simple model, get the lighting and camera angle correct. Sort out a background, and then add details as you need

Post Production

You are free and encouraged to use post production, don't feel you need to render the background at the same time as the foreground. If you do use post production (out of blender, i.e. Gimp or Photoshop) please include your original render also, we are all interested, and it will help prove the effectiveness of Post production, to convince others to use it in the future.