Blender World Cup 2010 – Like you’ve never seen it before
The BWC has changed its challenge each year, and the topics always come out of the blue. It has spanned 7 years and has included competitive rounds, animation challenges, and a whole pile of different yearly topics.
However it has never before ventured into ‘reality’…. ok it is an art competition after-all, so reality is optional.
Think challenging!
Think Sculpting!
Think Character!
Think Sketching and Scanning heaps of stuff from around the house.
Think Larger than Life
THINK STOP MOTION!
Visit the official site for more info on the topic.
The deadline is the 1st Sept 2010
More on the challenge
With such a huge number of companies taking Blender seriously, it seemed a perfect time in history to show the world that Blender is great, and that Blender is not alone!
This year the BWC challenges the community to step outside their comfort zone and use Blender in conjunction with a photo-realistic renderer to achieve something that is both artistic and realistic all at the same time.
For any questions on the challenge, please visit the official site, or ask them in the blenderartists.org forum.
— A few people visited the competition site before it was publicly announced and had opinions on the original rules. Needless to say, we do listen, and the rules have changed since then. However, I’m still interested if anyone feels that they want to enter, but that the rules would stop you from doing so. Please let me know. —
Enjoy the Challenge.
will there be vidoes of it as i cant go ?
also i soooo wish i go take part :(
well thats life
Altaken, I’m really curious about why yafaray is not mentioned as an alternative rendering engine for your contest, could you answer this please?
aren’t the renders produced by YafaRay realistic enought? isn’t it an open source engine like Luxrender?
UUh I’m excited. I might actually this year. But i agree with Alvaro Luna; why isn’t Yafaray mentioned?
Rules
All software tools can be use in this competition to achieve your desired result with the following requirements.
…
An alternative to using Indigo renderer is Lux Renderer if you wish to use only open source packages.
_________________
I think/hope that LuxRender is listed only as an example …
Hi I was checking the prizes and I don’t know if I translated it right : http://bwc.blenderartists.org/2010/prizes.php
What is “BWC 1st place glass”?
@dede
They have not confirmed yet the final prizes… I think glass refers to the actual “trophy” lol…
—
This competition always ends up with great submissions ! and blender+indigo is like my favorite combination if your doing stills … i just love the way indigo manages textures and the final output… not to mention you can have multiple light groups and render like 3 scenes into one !
Maybe i’ll submit something !
#JotaSolano
I thought so,
Well I’ll download Indigo and try to work with it.
I usually try to think positively and to count each single word of mine…
…but…hey..just a moment!…this time…well…doesn’t it sound like “too much of a sponsoring” and sort of an advertising “brochure” for Indigo renderer to you?…
…OK..I know…Indigo is a fast and capable renderer…but,does the name “Octane” says something to you?…99$ for the (beta) version?…compared to …550$ or so…for a “former evangelist” of the “free ware” philosophy?…who treated all the rest of the community as free beta-testers for years?…who all suddenly-and unshamingly-cooperated with the “ex-leader” of the only true alternative to its “go commercial” threat?…(Luxrender/Radiance…of course…)
…and now…this company pays the rent for Blender?…oh really?…
…look my friend…please think about this>if you are dreaming of the ideal world of the true “open source” ,altruistic Utopia…of a world where sharing software is the rule of happiness (but,on the other,paying for the hardware is not taken into account and is considered as a self-explanable necessity and a “not so significant detail”…)then…or you are still too young to know …either you…well…still sleeping literally…:)
…things are simple and straightforward enough,allow me to say my friend…nowadays e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e and e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g is just a “money hunter” …more or less…so… the real question is not about “if”…it is about >>> “how much”…it seems that the foundation needs some more…bt,at least,why it just doesn’t let us know?…
..having that said…let me pose a question to all of you in the community…Do you really feel happy when hearing that a private company demands ,in a way, its product to be -almost- the one e-x-c-l-u-s-i-v-e-l-y used for the final renders and ONLY IF ( …lol…) someone insists on using a (B-class?…) “open source alternative”…well…ONLY then…OK…let him …hmm…try …how they use to say that?…”Luxrender”?…OK…whatever…he may use that “thing” there…
…”Yafaray”…”hmm what’s that?…A Swahili word maybe?…”…
…before you think that I am a “troll” or something….(!!!…:))) please try to think about this>>>
“…OK”(…the “sponsors” assure me…)…”if you can’t afford the full version of the renderer,just try the “free” one and we will order the renders (…????) so that the are compliant to the high standards (!!!…) “…well (laughing…) >>> Are we serious???…the ( …quite simple…) logic behind the “rules” could be>”Since we develop an OPEN SOURCE & FREE software,we greatly encourage the participants to use ANY OPEN SOURCE render engine they think that would do the job for them,and IF some of them insist on using a commercial renderer…then a “special” competition (and award) for those people has been planned to take place…” …is that making sense?…
(…between you and me,my friend…if the VERY same file would be rendered with Indigo and Luxrender…which rendering do you really think would have better chances to win?…need to think too much for the answer?…-)))
…so,my friend…
…do you really feel happy and an active member of a community when hearing that some “550$” Vray-wannabe renderers becoming the “bosses” behind the scene (…at the backstage?…)…
…Honestly,my friend…I would prefer one million times to donate some of my hard -earned money rather,than allowing to Blender to participate to this cheap “sponsoring” comedy show,in the future!…
…you see,my friend,donating but as a c-o-m-m-u-n-i-t-y of users…artists…professionals…enthusiasts…whatever…and NOT as a company’s logo (and using some cheap marketinistic tricks,as well…)…well…this is something>>>totally different…
…otherwise…I don’t see why we still think we are using an “open source” (that it IS…)…”free” (that is IS ,as well…)
“software jewel” (that it IS Blender,n question by far the best “open source” app of its kind!…) if we allow some awful “money chasing” “hawks” to make profit (and build image…) on our backs?…
…really sad about what I read…hope I didn’t make you bored…sorry for my bad english…
…as I said,I prefer to think positively…but this is not possible,I prefer to speak unpleasantly that to act craftily…you know…:)
y did i read the whole post slobodan
Well i think i see yor point
and you know what… i kinda agree
“…so,my friend…
…do you really feel happy and an active member of a community when hearing that some “550$” Vray-wannabe renderers becoming the “bosses” behind the scene (…at the backstage?…)…
…Honestly,my friend…I would prefer one million times to donate some of my hard -earned money rather,than allowing to Blender to participate to this cheap “sponsoring” comedy show,in the future!…”
VERY TRUE!!!
Well good job no matter
what anyone else says
EDIT I REALLY AGREE WITH YOU ACTUALLY THAT LAST PARAGRAGH HITS HARD
DOUBLE EDIT YOU KNOW WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ HIS POST
@Slobodan
That is honestly the worst post I’ve ever seen in my life. I hope your internet connection dies so I never have to encounter anything like that again.
It’s good to see that there is such passion out there for the BWC, and Blender as an open source package. It also makes me proud that people are standing up for their values. I have updated the rules to reflect this.
However, I would like to explain how the BWC works behind the scenes in order to clear up some things. I perhaps take it all for granted, without realising that nobody else knows what is going on.
1) The Blender World Cup has 3 key goals which I have religiously stuck to over the past 7 years.
a) To give BlenderHeads a chance to challenge themselves and learn something new while getting rewarded for their efforts.
b) To promote what Blender can achieve to an international audience
c) To support the commercial adoption of Blender.
2) I have never made profit from this event, and no money has ever changed hands (in fact it costs me money each year) Why? Because I love to see what this community can achieve. And know that Blender rivals the best.
3) I research and approach sponsors each year to request sponsorship. I have never had a sponsor approach the BWC and impose any restrictions on what the BWC contestants can or can’t do.
4) I set the rules, and try to keep them as open as possible. By the sounds of it people love the fact that the competition is open, and have stood up to say they want to keep it this way.
5) I try to choose a topic that relates in some way to the prize? Why? Because then the winner of the competition will value and use the prize they win.
6) The BWC has always focused on getting commercial sponsors, and will continue to do so. The businesses that surround and support Blender are crucial to Blender’s adoption commercially.
I did a lot of research before contacting Indigo for sponsorship, and am honestly really excited that they chose to sponsor the competition this year. I am also incredibly happy that other businesses that support Blender have continued to offer sponsorship of the competition including Blender Cookie.
I’ve heard what people have said, and it has resulted in a competition that is now more open than in all previous years.
Cheers and good luck,
On to the art!
P.s. Check the updated rules for renderer questions.
@clecle What is “BWC 1st place glass”?
It is like one of these glasses from the early BWC competition many years ago when Blender may or may not have had an Undo button!
http://battles.mudpuddle.co.nz/index.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=9
In 2006 we had glasses made until 2011(and back until 2004)!, Once we run out we will get some nice expensive trophies made out of solid gold! since the competition will deserve something more grand.
The prizes aren’t confirmed yet. I will work on getting more stuff over the following months.
Enjoy!
Oh well
Alltaken, your ‘rules’ text is a bit misleading. YafaRay does have unbiased algorithms like path tracing or bidirectional, and you can make photonmapping converge pretty much like an unbiased algorithm with enough photons and small radius (and a very powerful computer). In any case, Luxrender and Indigo are espectral & progessive engines, those are the real differences. Your text is contributing to the false mite of the ‘unbiased’ engines superiority. Every engine, even the most ‘unbiased’ ones, use shorcuts and dirty tricks anyway.
My advice for the next time: don’t let sponsors dictacte the rules of your contest. There are people running much more important 3D contests with really big sponsors (software vendors as well), and they don’t run into this kind of silly discriminations (CGtalk for instance)
It is your contest and you set the rules, but I get the distinctive feeling from your rules that the so called ‘unbiased’ engines are put in a superior category than the biased ones (well Blender isn’t even biased), which is wrong. The quality of a render engine depends on many things, it is not all about rendering algorithms. Besides, you will likely find that the flexibility of Blender internal and is faster render times, will produce much better artwork than the entries into the so called ‘unbiased’ category.
Anyway good luck with your contest, and next time you & Indigo guys be more carefull about raising these kind of complains. Best regards.
Alvaro.
i believe Slobodan had very good points
@Slobodan; Stay off the vodka, open doors and try weighing your words, that’ll make a count unnecessary…
ps.
You might be my brother, but I choose my own friends; I value what is said, not who’s saying it. ;)
@Mr blender > …happy to know that we are sharing some common values and an unpretending concern about Blender’s future…thank you…
@ TNA > thank you for your kind words but your clever arguments (…) haven’t exactly convinced me yet,to be honest!…-))
@Altaken 1> Generic and subjective (no comment on “generalities”…should it be?…)
2> Pointless (did I say this (making personal profit) happened?…well…I don’t think so!…do you really think that this was my point?…)
3>Well not exactly obvious at least..
4>Generic and misleading (what is this?…kinda “mass psychology” based risk analysis?…-)
5> I completely agree…but…only under one condition…if those “businesses” there were some high end Studios,then there would be some validity to this argument…on the contrary…sponsoring “businesses” are now just “substitutes” for a (unduly,imho…) missing fundamental feature of Blender…yeap!…that’s right…a premium,high end internal (or open source integrated as a plug-in…) renderer!…so …what kind of “help” could those businesses there have to offer towards the “commercial adoption” of our beloved Blender?…I really wonder…
…anyway…this was the most “revealing of intentions” statement you made…and it greatly helped in understanding some things ,I guess…
…please…have in mind…contestants,here,seem to be treated as they would be a “massive” human resource voluntarily consenting in aligning their rendering output options according to their “ad hoc” and “de facto” “proposed” (but essentially imposed…) “sponsor”…who (the sponsor) does have a brand a-n-d a “king size” trademark at first place,on their competition’s official site…I wonder…where is it,Blender’s trademark on that page really? …(even a primitive marketing “semantics” practice would require this to be present and “king size” as well!..
…where is it,also,the link to yafaray’s site (in “technical Details” section…I found the other one…)?…(…forgotten perhaps?…-))
…although (commercially thinking and speaking) organizing things in such a way,could have,perhaps a certain point…but…please have in mind >>> this is the very f-i-r-s-t time in BWC’s history,where e-x-t-e-r-n-a-l renderers come into play!…in other words providing p-l-u-r-a-l-i-s-m in the “propsed” rendering solutions would be a great way to show Blender’s wide compatibility and,also,would provide a better “challenging environment” for “Art’s sake”…don’t you think that this first time is also a very crucial one?…
…imho.as Alvaro Luna brilliantly noticed,before,the whole thing seems as an attempt for the (so called) “photo realistic” unbiased render engines to be promoted (in fact,for just one of them…considering that Luxrender has still a long way of development to go,he is still a “baby”…at the s-a-m-e time,when,Indigo has adopted GPU rendering (correct me,if I’m wrong…)) over the “classic” ones…
…and …OK…it’s fine with that…BUT…then,again,why they just don’t “propose” other unbiased solutions as well?…(I don’t want to mention them in here…I am n-o-t reperesenting a-n-y-o-n-e of them…)…that is…the future of going rendering photorealistic with Blender is depending solely on a single (commercial) application???….or what?…and could this be the only way?…well…please allow me to have a different opinion,as for this!…
@Alvaro Luna > …you got it right,allow me to say, Alvaro…completely agree with you…your statement has some really strong points IMO…very well written as well…
@anon > thank you…
@nobody > (smiling…) well…have you ever thought of the possibility that,having stayed off the vodka for quite some time,could be the reason for being able to write these things?…-) …
…as for your “ps” …totally agree…I do respect the way you’re talking…
…last but not least…I have n-o-t-h-i-n-g at all against Indiogo or a-n-y other proprietary software…please have this in mind…it just happened that Indigo appears to have tried to present itself as the predominant solution for Blender…and that’s all..it could be a-n-y other (commercial) package as well…
…and the o-n-l-y thing that cares me (and hundreds of thousands like me,perhaps…) is the future of our beloved Blender…nothing more than that…is that make sense?…
…once more,I apologize for my terrible English…thank you for taking the time…
All the best to you…
Slobodan
@Slobodan
I know you don’t speak English as your native language but you shouldn’t use ellipsis every 5th word and you don’t need to spell everything out with hyphens nor use so many quotation marks.
It makes your posts unbearable to read.
The rules seem a little shady, not least because Indigo is featured so prominently, but yafaray, octane or maxwell escape mention entirely.
It just seems counter to the spirit that’s valued so much in the blender community, basically. It’s not weird to see a contest set up this way, it’s weird to see a BLENDER contest set up this way.
Oh well, I might enter using lux because I like it, but there’s no way I can afford an indigo license, so there’s no point in my using the demo really.
I think Slobodan is doing a very good job as most people dont take the time to look towards Blenders future. He is a non english person writing ,in english, posts no else wants to think about, meaning he is actually doing what needs to be done
Slobodan keep up the good work
From the Rules section:
>Category 1: Unbiased
>People using renderers such as Indigo, or the open source Lux Renderer
>can enter this category. Post production on Unbiased Renderers will be
>limited to adjusting the levels/colour balance and removing grain from an image.
>This does not limit your use of textures, or matte paintings in any way.
In my opinion, “renderers such as __A__, or __B__” means you can use other unbiased renderers as well. Maybe explicitly adding “, or any other unbiased renderer” would clean things up for people whose native language is not English.
Also, it is nice that Indigo has allowed users of the Trial version to get full renders out for this competition, so you don’t have to buy a license to compete. If you want Maxwell et. al. to be mentioned just as prominently, why not contact them and ask for similar terms? :)
For a 3D-Tool to be successful it has to integrate into existing pipelines, which most of the time contain commercial/closed source tools. Every serious 3D professional knows this.
Because of that I really appreciate the rules this year.
If Indigo is the sponsor of this whole contest why not?
They even allowed to use Luxrender as an unbiased alternative, so why complain?
This whole “Commercial tools are evil!”- thinking is actually doing harm to blenders development and is one of the reasons why Blender is often not taken seriously along many professionals.
I think I was one of those people who saw the site early and had an opinion when the render engine was just only indigo. This changed to indigo and lux
Now I see there is a cat b that allows for any renderer so I will go with that. But cat a makes me chuckle a bit if I used lux in direct lighting or photonmapping mode how would anyone know I used an biased method. And if someone uses path tracing with yafaray does that not qualify as unbiased. It makes me chuckle when people confuse progressive rendering with unbiased, when in reality for most modern render engines unbiased or biased is a surface intergrator away.
I have some ideas brewing so I will enter cat b.
Hello to all. Firstly I’m gonna enter the competition this year. Its gonna be quite a challenge as even though we have about 3 months, to find some time to work for the competition is gonna be tricky.
Until now I’ve only used Yafaray as my main renderer, luxrender is looking good too but not tried it yet. My point is that most of us uses free renderer as its hard to make our work profitable. Lets be frank, to get a job that pays, you must be good, and even if you are good enough theres a lot of swindler (thiefs) out there. I personally fell on 2 recently. We do hope that with competition like one Blender is gonna be more accepted by professionals. Thats the main grey spot today as companies mostly take you seriously if you uses the popular payable software out there.
I’m not againts the fact that someone makes money from his hard work, and its great that Indigo is gonna be sponsoring the competition. But without free renderer like Yafaray I would not even had a slight chance to make some work. Investing $600 for most of us is just not possible.
I’ve only been able to support Blender once by using the e-shop. I’ll like to do it more often but just can’t. We want it or not, money does everything. I’ll encourage everyone if you can support Blender please do.
Wish you all good luck for the competition, and hope that we’ll all get better and with more experience when its over.