CGSociety

"Uplift Universe CGChallenge XXII Video Awards"

CGSociety Special Feature, 7 July 2008

While we are in a CGChallenge mood, have a look back at the incredible Video results of the the CGChallenge XXII, Uplift Universe: Alien Relations. Also, link thru from there to check the Individual Image winning entries.

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CGSociety :: Special Feature, Paul Hellard 7 July 2008

The winners of the Individual Video, Team Video and many Special Skill categories for CGSociety’s CGChallenge XXII have been announced.

The judging was tight and the quality was high in the Individual Video, the Team Video category section, and in the Special Skill categories, listed below. The theme explores the interactions of aliens and humans, and the competing artists showed their talents for creating some crazy altercations. Judged by industry veterans as well as previous winners of the CGSociety CGChallenges, the winners are below.

The CGSociety teamed up with internationally acclaimed author David Brin for this challenge. To see the winners of the Individual Image entries, Click here.

Teams were invited to enter Videos while individual entrants could enter into either Image or Video categories. Here now are the winners of the Video Individual Master Award, Video Individual Excellence, Video Team Master and Video Team Excellence. Also the nine special skills awards up for grabs: Modeling, Texturing, Animation, Lighting, Visual Effects, Landscape/Matte Painting, Art Direction, Compositing and Editing, and Best Character.

The Judges

CGSociety would also like to warmly thank the sponsors: BOXX Technologies, SOFTIMAGE, NVIDIA, Wacom, Autodesk, Pixologic, Luxology, e-on Software, REALVIZ, Corel, Stash, Gnomon Workshop, ImagineFX and Ballistic Publishing.

Video Team Master & Art Direction
ThE-ShiFT (ThE-ShiFT) - ‘Inspection’
‘Inspection’ is a short movie ThE-ShiFT crew had thought about seven years ago while chatting over pizza. A preliminary storyboard was even drawn up, but Gianfranco and Emiliano were both too busy working, and they admit they didn’t know how to produce something themselves, so the project was frozen.

“In the beginning the story was about a guy with bronchial asthma who gets caught by some mysterious figure that we later discover are aliens that just kidnap him for an inspection of the human species,” says Emiliano.

“When the Challenge popped up with the ‘Alien Relations’ and ‘Uplift’ themes, I thought to just add the part where our character gets uplifted by some alien creatures, to our EON-inspired story. Inspirations for this project have been a lot and are all those things that hit me and leave me breathless. I wanted to follow a quite hard storyline to underline that the evolution process is often a violent and painful path.

Giuliano Panaccio, Emiliano Colantoni, Marco Stellabotte, Gianfranco Sgura, D-image Studio, Daniele Napolitano, Silvia Stellabotte, David Bonelli, Alvise Avati, Maura Casale and Gianluca Palma say they “owe CGSociety challenges a lot because the first one they took part in, EON, had been the spark for us to open our own facility and since then we've faced and surpassed a lot of problems and difficulties, but The ShiFT is working and going always better so we're really happy of our past choices!”

For the Video Team Master Award, ThE-ShiFT wins a BOXX Workstation, SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Autodesk Maya or 3ds Max, 4 x NVIDIA Quadro FX3700, Autodesk Mudbox, six annual free subscriptions to ImagineFX Magazine, 12 Ballistic Books and six annual CGSociety memberships or extensions.

For the Art Direction prize they win SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Corel Painter X, Stash 6-pack Bundle, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing Machine Phase and an annual CGSociety Membership.

Video Team Excellence & Animation
Three Legged Dog Productions (moljnir) - ‘Coffee Break’

‘Coffee Break’ is this team’s first production as a group. Mike McCain, Zhi Min Chen, Will Nichols, Joon Kim, Matt Titus, Troy Johnsen, Michael Carson, Ryan Sluman, Christine Bian, Danny Dahlquist and Eric Huang all met in the animation program at the University of Washington, and had been talking about making a short together for a while.

“We really liked the human-alien interaction theme,” says Mike McCain, “and wanted to do something fun with it, while still putting a strong focus on story and characters. Since aliens are typically portrayed as having technology vastly superior to our own, we thought it'd be a clever twist to tell a story showing that sometimes, simple human technology is better. Any why not show this in an unexpected environment, like an office? We took care to design our characters and visual style to be relatively simple to render, while still fun and supportive of the story. So we decided to keep a plain white background with simple, brightly colored props and characters. We were later inspired by seeing Speed Racer to play with our background colors in compositing.”

“The forum was always extremely active and supportive, and it was really cool seeing everyone's work progress from concept to completion. This production was a great learning experience for all of us. “While there were certainly plenty of pitfalls, late nights and greasy pizza breaks along the way, we're very happy with the product we ended up with and are excited for future endeavors.”

For the Video Team Excellence Award, Three Legged Productions wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Autodesk Mudbox, two NVIDIA Quadro FX3700s, two Stash 6-pack Bundles, a Gnomon Digital Bundle, six annual subscriptions to ImagineFX Magazine, six Ballistic Books, and six annual CGSociety Memberships and for the Animation Award, they win SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Pixologic ZBrush, a Stash 6-pack Bundle, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing’s Oddworld Inhabitants and an annual CGSociety Membership.

Judges’ comments:
Taino: Nice story, well polished, with great animation.

CGTalk thread
Coffee Break VIDEO

Video Individual Master
and Visual FX Prize
Grzegorz Jonkajtys (grzesiekj) - ‘Legacy’

“When I read about the Uplift competition, I knew I wanted to give it a try," says Grzegorz Jonkajtys. "I started on my main character even before the story was complete. In fact, I had my model ready and partly textured, when I changed the story completely to this rather post-apocalyptic short."

“Working on this piece was real fun. The interaction with the many competitors was great. Of course the deadline was hard to meet, since I worked in this in the evenings and weekends, but it also made it feel real. This is exactly how the industry works. You have to make the deadline, so you need to make smart decisions about how far you want to go with your shots, etc."

“Using real photography as background plates was an easy decision for me. I have always enjoyed mixing real plates and CG, matching lighting, compositing is great fun to do, but it also made the process simpler. I didn't have to model and texture ground, rocks, grass etc. I didn't have enough time to create simulated smoke effects in CG, so I used real ones. All this sped up my work, and also made the short look more realistic."

As the Video Individual Master, Grzegorz wins a BOXX Workstation, SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Autodesk Maya or 3ds Max, Vue 6 xStream, Luxology modo, a one year CGS Membership or extension, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine and a Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Series Bundle.

For the Visual FX prize, Grzegorz wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, a Stash six-pack Bundle, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, a one year CGS Membership or extension, a Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Series Bundle and a copy of Ballistic Publishing’s VESAGE.

Judges’ comments:
Taino:Great lighting, music, and overall mood. Animation was simple but well paced.

CGTalk thread
Legacy VIDEO



	Video Individual Excellence Brajan Martinovic (SittingDucky) - ‘Sacrifice’ Brajan Martinovic describes this piece as just a bit of fun. He didn't have time to put any sound in, but he says, “I guess that would be fun too to do later.” The idea evolved into a video when he developed other characters that he then wanted to include and they wouldn't fit into a still image. “The entire plot was reworked and I started animating a POV shot of the alien being kicked around by humans. This becomes the opening shot,” says Martinovic. “Everything I did in the film was a new step for me. The models and textures were the most detailed I’ve ever done, and some new rigging techniques allowed me more control during animation. Especially the facial rigs; they used a lot of helper objects to drive the skin combined with morph targets.” “The rendering was done in simple scanline as a beauty pass, multiplied by an MRay AO shader, followed by experimenting in compositing. I did a lot of color tweaks and DOF. Gotta love compositing!” “This was my first CGChallenge, but I guess the other ones were as crazy as this one! It was difficult but really enjoyable and I learned a lot. I submitted the final entry 20 minutes before the end! It was great to compete with so many pros and well known names here, and yet to feel I was in such a friendly and helping environment!” As Video Individual Excellence Prize winner, Brajan wins SOFTIMAGE\|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Autodesk Mudbox, Vue 6 Infinite, Luxology modo, a Stash 6-pack, a CGS Membership or extension, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine and Ballistic Publishing’s CGChallenge Book Bundle. CGTalk thread Sacrifice VIDEO



Best Character Alperen Kahraman (akahraman) - ‘The Old Man with his Pets’ "The challenge concept seemed so sympathetic to me and I guess that showed in my piece. One morning I suddenly dreamed about a lovely scene as I drew. It was just like a flash before my eyes. I was imagining the place, characters, mood, ambience, light and even the words they spoke. I didn't have any doubt about it." Judges comments: Mathias Kollros: Impressive execution compared with a big portion of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" kind of humor. Alperen Kahraman wins SOFTIMAGE\|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Pixologic ZBrush, a Stash 6-pack Bundle, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Concept Artand a CGSociety annual membership. CGTalk thread

Compositing and Editing
Tyson Ibele (ivanisavich) - ‘Matrioshka’

‘Matrioshka’ was conceived based on an idea Tyson had a long time ago about an alien encountering a human in a dark hallway. During the competition, he fleshed out the rest of the details and then put the concept into practice.He took inspiration from a lot of horror movies he’d seen, as well many of his fellow CG artists.

“The challenge experience was very fun,” says Tyson. “It was great seeing the WIP aspects of my competitors' work, and it kept me on my toes throughout the entire process. Being able to give and receive feedback during all stages of the contest contributed greatly to the quality of my final entry (and I'm sure it helped contribute to the excellent quality of the other entered pieces).”

Judges comments:
Taino:Great editing and presentation. My only issue was the last shot where it ends with the alien leaves the door, it left me with a confused and disconnected from the rest of the trailer, as if it was an after thought. It had a dynamic first shot but weak end shot.

Tyson Ibele wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Realviz ImageModeler, a Stash 6-pack Bundle, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing EXPOSÉ 5, CGSociety Membership



Concept Art Björn Norberg (Norberg) ‘Uplift Universe’ It was about a week til deadline when Björn Norberg joined the challenge. “The feedback from all the other artists is why I like these challenges so much, he says. “And to see everyone’s different approaches on the same theme, was really inspiring. I wanted to create a dark scene with a grim lighting. I kept the mist from my first sketch simply because I didn’t have time to detail the background. I took a few photos of myself to get the anatomy correct and for the alien guy I looked at pictures of Alien, Predator and Lou Ferrigno as ‘The Hulk.’ Thanks a lot for all the support and encouragement during this challenge. It really helps keeping you motivated.” Björn Norberg wins SOFTIMAGE\|XSI 6.5 Essentials, a Wacom Cintiq 12WX, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing's d'artiste - Concept Art and a CGSociety Membership CGTalk thread

Digital Painting
Daniel Bayona, (chilombiano) 'Love is in the air'

Daniel Bayona grew up between Colombia and the Soviet Union and always had books about the Russian space program and sci-fi around him. Jacques Cousteau and 50-60's comics like Tintin and the Trip to the Moon helped to get the tones. “Another thing that made me keep this piece simple was my damn useless laptop,” says Bayona. “I had to find some time to paint somewhere else to get this done, and I almost didn't.”

“There was so much support and feedback in the CGChallenge,” says Daniel. “The comments from the guys are what makes you finish the task. I never wrote back to many people. Sorry for that guys; I’m very thankful.”

Daniel Bayona works as a Digital Matte painter for ILM from the division in Singapore called DAG. Before that, he did everything from motion graphics, 3D, video games, etc. “From September 2007,” he says, “I've worked on ‘Transformers,’ ‘Spiderwick Chronicles,’ ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Indiana Jones 4’ and other cool projects coming to the beautiful Singapore.”

Daniel Bayona wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, a Wacom Cintiq 12WX, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Balistic Publishing's d'artiste - Digital Painting and a CGSociety Membership.

CGTalk thread



Landscape / Matte Painting Mathieu Didier (Jaba153) 'Trippin trankilo’ Since the beginning, Mathieu was looking to do an a-temporal situation, showing Aliens with the same habits and vices as humans. “So those guys are just hanging out the whole night before taking their place on the Transgalactic Express,” describes Mathieu Didier. For inspiration, Didier used to spend his life traveling as a graffiti artist since 1991 and traveling to paint was part of the job. "Work on this image was great fun, because it was the first time I’ve found time to apply all the skills that I've been learning since joining Lucasfilm Animation as Digital Matte and Concept Artist. Also, like for all previous challenges, it’s great to share knowledge and receive good crits and comments. Every challenge makes people improve in their work, so thanks again!" Mathieu Didier wins SOFTIMAGE\|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Corel Painter X, Vue 6 Infinite, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Matte Painting and a CGSociety membership. CGTalk thread

Lighting
Anthony Wolff, (jOuey) ‘The Six Million Dollar Cow’

Anthony Wolff is a concept artist working Kylotonn Studio in Paris. With influences from Ryan Church, Craig Mullins, Sparth, Paperblue works, his work is often inspired by nature, our world, movies, books, but mainly finds inspiration in the remaining of old civilizations, earth mysteries and astronomy.

“This is my first participation at the CGChallenge, and when I began to see the quality of the whole entries, I just couldn't imagine for one second I’d win a prize,” says Anthony.

Anthony Wolff wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Stitcher Unlimited, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing’s d'artiste Series Bundle, Ballistic Publishing Elemental 3 and a CGSociety membership.

CGTalk thread



Modeling Miguel Angelo CBT, (Malanjo) ‘Finito!’ Miguel Angelo CBT is a digital artist from Portugal (Tras-os-montes e Alto Douro). From a beginning in traditional art Miguel moved into digital with his passion intact. "I love Pop Art style, and a lot of Renaissance pieces too," says Miguel. "I think mixing these two styles is fantastic to achieve a good visual storytelling. I worked in digital media doing Graphic Design, TV advertise, Print, 3D, Motion Design, Digital Art and art in general. In the last few months my bet is on Character development and Composite." "Working on this piece was fantastic! I learnerd a lot with this exercise," he continues. "I developed modeling (organic and a little bit of mechanical, texturing, sculpting, light and composite. Watching the other users threads was really great, and to see how many great artists we had in the competition was even more impressive!! I learned a lot with them. And the guys from the video section! Autch! Really talented people out there!!" Miguel Angelo CBT wins SOFTIMAGE\|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Luxology modo, Autodesk Mudbox, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing’s d'artiste Character Modeling 1 & 2, and a CGSociety Membership. CGTalk thread

Sculpture
Jan Harcarik, (turbinea) ‘The Eclipse’

Originally from Slovakia, now living in Spain, Jan Harcarik has been working in game industry about seven years now as a level designer.  ”My experience of being in this competition was great and challenging,” he says. “Never before have I been able to put together more than  a still artwork, and this was my first attempt to create something for an animated short. Had to sacrifice a lot of  sleep but I learned a lot, and that's what this challenge is about.”

Jan Harcarik wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, a Wacom Cintiq 12WX, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing’s d'artiste - Character Modeling and an annual CGSociety membership or extension.



Texturing Andrzej Sykut, (azazel) ‘Trip to the souk’ “When I was a kid, I've spent few years living in Tobruk, Libya,” explains Andrzej Sykut. “Every time I saw local souk, it was full of life, full of colors, full of sunlight, smells and flies. At the beginning of a challenge, I was looking for a way of expressing relations between various races.” “First thing in my mind was war, some ultra-violent carnage 'Starship Troopers' style; but that was not something I wanted to do this time. Second idea was trade. Then I thought of Tobruk, and I was hooked. Next thing I did was look at tons of photos of souks, medinas and markets in Middle East. It was quite a while since I've seen such place with my own eyes, so some 'refreshing' was necessary. First thing I noticed on those photos, was the light, and the atmosphere. Lets say I was hooked even more by then.Another source of inspiration was my fondness of panoramic photography, and work of M.C. Escher; hence the very wide-angle camera, with curved perspective.” Andrzej Sykut wins SOFTIMAGE\|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Luxology modo, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing Essence - The Face: Book & DVD, Ballistic Publishing Ultimate: Klara DVD and an annual CGS Membership. Judges comments: Bob Eggleton:AMAZING colors and design!! Looked at this many times. Meng-Han Ho:awesome lighting, love it. CGTalk thread