Grand Space Opera Challenge FAQ / Questions / Answers

[SuperXCM]

I'm worried too, i upload yersterday at 17h.. (here in belgium), and one day past, but no email....:shrug:
Hope there is no problem.

[PeterSanitra]

I dont`t have the mail confirmation, But my final image is showing on page 3 of final upload, so i hope it`s ok.

[Mibus]

Can I upload my final image in winrar file?

No, but WinRAR should be able to create a ZIP file.

Hey , I uploaded my final image to the ftp site and I got an email saying it was successful and a link was provided to look at my entry.
There are 2 problems , the link doesn't work and the link and message say my "Machine flesh" entry was sucessful.
Did I get entered correctly into the Grand space opera I am still not sure.

That was my mistake :blush: - I copy-pasted the email from the last challenge, but neglected to change the text. If you got the email, you're fine. If you want to double-check, then go to the Final Image page:
http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/final_image.php

I have the question about the judged resolution. Highres pictures will be judged by the jury and by us? or lowres which will be uploaded in as a normal milestone? I asked and got the answer taht the on-line lowres milestones, but there are some sounds that the highres pictures are to be judged. I'm asking just to be sure(it makes difference in creating or not creating some details)

Judging will almost definately be done on the lower-res artwork, since it needs to be able to be easily viewed by the judges. You can, however, add any extra "touch ups" (not major changes!) to the high-res image to make it "better" for that resolution.

Is the final image jpeg also supposed to be print resolution as is the Tiff?

No, it has to be sized like the rest of the milestones.

The "You have not uploaded your final
FTP image. See HERE for upload information". .....Only rerouts
me back to the filesize requirements page.

That's an unfortunate side-effect of the checklist... it's automatically generated and inserted into a number of pages; unfortunately it isn't smart enough to realise that the person is already viewing the upload instructions and hide that part!

Sorry for being Unpatient, but yesterday I submited my final pic with the procedure u asked us to follow, but I should receive a confirmation of the submit, and I haven't, I am afraid that if something went wrong i may get desqualified, this was the first time in my life I used a FTP program to upload anything, so this is the reason of my worry

The emails are manual, not automated, and it was the weekend :-)

This is a very important question: Can I, once submited the Final Image, submit another version asking you to discard the old one?

Yes, just upload it again with the exact same name and details.

now, is this exactly what I type, for example does my filename have to be "42026_63943.zip" or is that just an example??

Type it exactly.

I was under the impression we'd be getting an e-mail with ftp instructions. We'll, about a day left and no e-mail. Did I not get on the list?

It mustn'tve been delivered properly - emails were sent a while ago; same day the "Challenge closing soon" post (plugged on the front page) was made. (Same content, too).

I dont`t have the mail confirmation, But my final image is showing on page 3 of final upload, so i hope it`s ok.

The emails aren't entirely automated, so emails weren't sent over the weekend.

The challenge will end soon, folks! I'll be sending the next set of "successfully uploaded" image emails soon - right after I make sure it says GSO not MachineFlesh! http://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[ArtisticVisions]

Judging will almost definately be done on the lower-res artwork, since it needs to be able to be easily viewed by the judges. You can, however, add any extra "touch ups" (not major changes!) to the high-res image to make it "better" for that resolution.
So then, the high-res Tiffs won't be judged at all? (by either the public or the Jury?)
I find this rather odd, as I would think judging the details and subtle "nuances" of the image would be better using the high-res Tiff over the low-res Jpeg. :shrug:

[Mibus]

So then, the high-res Tiffs won't be judged at all? (by either the public or the Jury?)
I find this rather odd, as I would think judging the details and subtle "nuances" of the image would be better using the high-res Tiff over the low-res Jpeg. :shrug:

Hm, I may have actually gotten the wrong end of the stick there, sorry...

Public judging should be by the JPEGs, though the Jury Judging looks like it should be by the TIFFs, though sampled down to a usable screen resolution.

Sorry about the confusion!

[Ilikesoup]

I'm new to using an FTP and have been trying to load my image for about 4 hours straight. Here's my particulars:

I'm using AOL for my FTP.
File is 1.9M, 300 dpi, 2000x1000
Saved file as SpaceOpera_Final.tif as a zipped file, originally done in photoshop elements
I've entered the Remote Filename in AOL's FTP as 82834_64353.zip

Anything obviously wrong here?
thanks in advance

[gulliver3]

congratulations Robert , Leigh and all administrators on this great challenge ,
you did a very great job...always present all along the way...:thumbsup:
thank's you...:applause::buttrock::bowdown::beer:

[CptObvious]

I uploaded final picture via ftp client. upload was succesful but when I refresh directory I see no file there :( is it wrong ? do I have to uplaod the file again ? there's not much time left damn

[Mibus]

I uploaded final picture via ftp client. upload was succesful but when I refresh directory I see no file there :( is it wrong ? do I have to uplaod the file again ?

The directory will always appear empty, it's a necessary security measure.

Saved file as SpaceOpera_Final.tif as a zipped file, originally done in photoshop elements
I've entered the Remote Filename in AOL's FTP as 82834_64353.zip

I can see the file size increasing since you're uploading now, but the file is actually a TIFF file, not a ZIP file! Make sure you ZIP it first or you'll have trouble. (If you have trouble ZIPPing it, let me know and I'll compress it on the server.

[Ilikesoup]

I can see the file size increasing since you're uploading now, but the file is actually a TIFF file, not a ZIP file! Make sure you ZIP it first or you'll have trouble. (If you have trouble ZIPPing it, let me know and I'll compress it on the server.

I thought I was zipping as I was saving the file as a tiff. It was one of the options I checked off. Sorry, I don't know any other way to do it. I'd be eternally grateful if you could compress it for me. Do you need me to upload again?

[Mibus]

I thought I was zipping as I was saving the file as a tiff. It was one of the options I checked off. Sorry, I don't know any other way to do it. I'd be eternally grateful if you could compress it for me. Do you need me to upload again?

Ilikesoup and I found out what the problem was; when we talk about ZIPping the image we aren't referring to TIFF's ability to store compressed image data. What we want is for the image to be saved uncompressed, then to use an external utility (WinZIP, 7-ZIP, StuffIt, etc) to then create a ZIP file containing the TIFF.

I hope everyone is keeping an eye on the time! Don't forget that submissions will close off automatically, so make sure your milestone and FTP submissions are all in.

:thumbsup:

[Mibus]

Note for entrants

You must submit a JPEG as well as a TIFF file else you won't be considered "finished" the challenge.

Save out your final image in the same sort of resolution you used for the other milestones (ie. screen res, not print res), and submit it just like you submitted all the other milestones.

Do NOT forget this, or you will not qualify!

If you need to check if you're "finished", check out your status on this page:
http://cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/status.php

[nemirc]

Hello smooth admin, I have a stupid question :blush:

How long till I can publish this on the "finished images" forum and "expose 3 consideration"? :arteest:

:bowdown: thank you

[Mibus]

How long till I can publish this on the "finished images" forum and "expose 3 consideration"? :arteest:

About as long as it takes you to post ;)

You can go ahead and do it now, if you like!

[nemirc]

Thanks man... :deal:

[Fahrija]

Hi Mibus,

I uploaded maybe a wrong file at first (maybe the jpg I used before at the milestone) :banghead: (misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#)cause I used Wise-Ftp for the first time.
On the final upload page I can see an image but below it sais:

If this image is not correct, please try refreshing your browser. If that does not work, try uploading it again!

I did upload the zip-file again but it still has the comment above. Maybe the first file I uploaded is still not deleted. what can I do?

best regards
Fahrija

[Mibus]

If you re-uploaded it, you should refresh the page - that text will never go away, you just have to look for the thumbnail image to change. If it hasn't changed, try a "super refresh" - normally you hold down the Shift key, and click the refresh button.

If it still is the wrong image, email me (robert@ballisticmedia.net).

[Fahrija]

One is for sure. I should read the sentence paitently. :banghead: (misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#)

There it sais IF...

I´m still a bit unconfident. :) I hope I made everything right. Do I get a confirmation?

Sorry for this inconvenience.:bowdown: (misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#)

Fahrija

[Mibus]

If you see a thumbnail, you're set for the TIFF upload.

I'm running another batch of emails off now.

Just don't forget to upload all of your milestones - including the JPEG Final Image - and you should be fine.

The status page here can be used for confirmation:
http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/status.php

[Fahrija]

Hi Mibus,

The thumbnail I see in the upload page is the right one. And It sais in the 2D Checklist: All wip images submitted. Must be on the right track.

Thank you very much!

[selenaart]

I´m having a troble of sending the final tif image.Every time when I press the "upload final image" it sends me to step 1 where I have to to log on.Then goes step 2 where I entering my porsonal informashion-adress, and so on.And when goes step 3 where I see the rules of how final image should be submited, on this page the only possible link to go forward is in the line "You have not yet uploaded your final TIFF image. See here for upload instructions." But after I press the link it sends me back to step 1:( What should I do?

[userBrian]

Every time I try to send my final zip file thru ftp I get this message
when I go to the submit process again to see if I submitted:
"There was an error loading your file. Please try uploading again".
And I'm informed I havent submitted my final tiff yet. Is there anyway to
know what the error is? I need to go to sleep, it is almost 3 a.m. here.
I have windows xp. I spent my last dollar buying stuffit but that helps as much
as it's name.

[Fahrija]

Hi seelenart,

I don´t know if there are any other possibility but you need a program like "Wise-FTP" or "perfect-ftp". In this program you can type in the information you see in Step3 (user/password/..) to connect your workstation with the cgnetworks-server.

Within this program you can upload your ziped tiff-file. The webpage in Step 3 does not contain any upload posibility. (as far as I know)

Fahrija

[userBrian]

Fahrija- The simple instructions don't tell you the first thing, That to enter the

final you type this address in the address bar: ftp://challenge.cgnetworks.com/

Then a pop up window asks for stuff like a password.
This stuff is in the FTP information you were given somewhere...
did you get the hostname,username,password and filename?
You compress your tiff with zip and change its name to the filename
which are numbers *****_*****.zip
Then you drag the zip into the big white window and a pop up
window shows the mailing is in progress. Then the zip
file name appears. But you have no idea if it "worked".
Then you have to go thru the submit pages in cgtalk to get the
error messages. Mine doesn't work.
Now, I use windows xp, and I was told this does a lalaland sooosooo
ok job of ftp. But I get the "There was an error loading your file.
Please try uploading again".

[CptObvious]

I uploaded my file yestreday at night. I still have a message on status screen:
"2D Checklist
You have submitted all WIP images
You have not yet uploaded your final TIFF image. See here for upload instructions."
Is it a default message, which will change after receiving submission email, or the file didn't upload correctly ?
I'm waiting both for email and reply :) Need to be sure everything is ok.

[Fahrija]

Hmm...

did you get the information about hostname,username,password ? because
you need them to upload the zip-file. This not clear for me when reading your reply?

If not then you find it here:
http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/final_image.php
In step 3 you get all information. - but you know this allready I think

I tried your link but I didn´t work at all with my browser

Fahrija

[userBrian]

Quote :

"did you get the information about hostname,username,password ? because
you need them to upload the zip-file. This not clear for me when reading your reply?"
My reply is Yes I did. I was asking if YOU did.

[Fahrija]

Yes I did, too.

[CptObvious]

Ok my fault! I had space before the zip file name :|
Now, just looking forward confiramtion.

[userBrian]

If the link I gave you doesn't work at all with your browser all

I can say is I have zero experience with ftp before this challenge.
The link works. What is your browser? I use win xp and Microsoft
Internet Explorer is my browser. Someone earlier suggested you try
some ftp programs. Sounds late in the game, but actually there is still
time, I hope. I took an hour off work to buy stuffit which does ftp uploads,
but there are no instructions in the manual on how to do anything at all!
It is totally useless!

[Fahrija]

I used Wise-FTP (but for the first time) and it worked fine. I use firefox as browser.

I think if you have still problems with the upload you get much better advice from mibus. I know he is not online at the moment but I´m not sure if my suggestions are misleading and this would be add just more confusion.

You mentioned stuffit > sounds like a mac-programm. Could be the source of error even if it exports zip-files. Can you use Winzip somewhere just to try it out.

[userBrian]

Fahrija-
Where do you get wise-ftp?
Stuffit "Deluxe" is a windows program.

So is your zip file up ok?

[Fahrija]

I´ve got a email- confirmation this morning. Seems to be everything o.k.

I´ve got it when I "bought" my domain because those programs are often used to make ftp-uploads. e.g. the whole content of websites. I don´t know if you can download it for free or a functional trial version.

[Fahrija]

I found a link with a fully functional 30-days-trial version.

http://www.wise-ftp.de/download.htm

[arturro]

I have uploaded my final tiff without any problems. userBrian: I used Total Commander for that, and did all the things from instructions given on the final submition page.


I have a question: I have uploaded my zipped tiff file in the morning, and now have made some small changes and uploaded it again. But i see still my old work there. Should I upload the corrected one again?

[userBrian]

Allright! I uploaded the final ok. I just re zipped the original tiff
and re sent it. When I checked the "submit final image" page,
the thumbnail was there. I just used win xp, and compressed it with stuffit.
Probably didn't need stuffit, xp comes with winzip. Maybe the problem
was originally clicking the tiff save with zip compression, as I read someone
did that and had a misunderstanding there.

[angel]

Are we supposed to name the tiff with the same number as the zip?
If so I need to re-upload:scream:

[userBrian]

SNoWs- Yes. The exact number and .zip

the usual name of the file you use is irrelevant here.
Then you can immediately check the submit final entry page
and see your thumbnail there.

[arturro]

I have a question: I have uploaded my zipped tiff file in the morning, and now have made some small changes and uploaded it again. But i see still my old work there. Should I upload the corrected one again?

To be more sure I have uploaded it again, but still there is an old thumb.... should I worry:)?

[angel]

I submitted succesfully and I can see the icon in the confirmation page but forgot to name the tiff with the number aaarrrrgh! allright let me reupload.

Thanks UserBrain.

[Fahrija]

[QUOTE=Mibus]If you re-uploaded it, you should refresh the page - that text will never go away, you just have to look for the thumbnail image to change. If it hasn't changed, try a "super refresh" - normally you hold down the Shift key, and click the refresh button.


Try this atrurro

[arturro]

thanks Fahrija, but it didn't work. I even have deleted the temporary internet files, history and coookies:) but still, I see my first upload there...

Maybe this as some influence: the zip names are the same, but the rirst uploaded tiff has other name than the next uploads(which have the name of the zip, this number)...?

[Shinwa]

I always feel so stupid when I have to ask internet questions lol

I uploaded my zip using dreamweaver, and I saw it in the online files, but I am not certain enough about ftp to feel comfortable just leaving it knowing it's there...is there any way to double check or something? I mean with the jpg I know automatically that it posts cause I see it on the site...but the server stuff makes me nervous about complications .... I hope I explained my question well enough lol

[CptObvious]

Does the tif filename matter ? I uploaded the_messenger.tif to zipped as 52390_65099.zip. I see the thumbnail at final_image page, but I didn't received any email notification(file sent ~6h ago). I ask for details, need to be 100% that I completed all the steps.
Or what if I see the thumbnail and didn't received email not. before 12 GMT ?

[Aethyrprime]

Wow talk about seeing the server is too busy message 1000 times too many today... somebody needs to either reboot the server or uncap the bandwidth a bit... this is maddening. I know you guys are trying your best, but I am concerned about getting things submitted on time with all this traffic.

[mmoir]

Some people have slightly larger Jpegs in their posts for the final image than I can achieve, no matter what image size I upload(1200 X ?), the image size remains the same (800 X ?)
For people to see my image I would like the jpeg to be as large as the screen will allow . Do you know how I can solve this.
Mike

[CptObvious]

got the notification :) now I'm sure everything's hunky dory, whoohuuu

[arturro]

I got the confirmation mail... cool:) but there is still a thumb of my first uploaded tiff... I have uploaded it now again, refreshed, deleted history, etc, and nothing changed:shrug:

[Sharga]

Even though I still had time left, it would not let me submit my final jpeg! This is a tad frustrating, especially if it somehow removes me from the challenge.

However, I did manage to send the tiff via FTP and it appears that it went through. No confirmation mail as of yet.

[Bakter]

I received it!!! :thumbsup: 1 hour later :)

[crazybread]

I seem to have a similar problem. I posted my final image 1 hour before end of contest ended. The problem I was having is that I could not upload my xxxxx_xxxx.zip? am I out? I'm no computer specialist, but I tried with two programs Cuteftp and Leechftp. there was always an error on the other side when I tried connecting. Does that mean I can't participate?

:sad:

[Aethyrprime]

Why can I not submit? WTF! It said you had until midnight tonight!?

[bolchover]

Hi

It's almost amusing that this is the second time I've tried submitting this message - the server was too busy to accept it firt time. It's taken an hour to submit last response (which failed) and go round and come back again to the reply box.

I'm rather frustrated with the major server problems. I simply haven't been able to upload the tiff despite trying for the last 6hrs. I submitted my final image as jpeg in wip thread about then. But since then I've been trying to load up the tiff without success (first time, crashed completely, second failed after 30%, and this time is chugging along at 1.2k/bs...). If, as it appears I'm not alone with this problem, and with problems submitting to this thread to let you know there's a problem (you have to laugh!), will you (please) be lenient and allow those who clealy submitted their final image jpeg well before the deadline (ie those who have clearly finished) to be allowed to have there late tiffs counted too??? Inthis way you can be strict and ensure nonoe has had extra time to finish their work, but be fair to those who have suffered du to teh overloaded servers.

It would hardly be right to penalise contestants for the failings of the servers... and don't say we should have been ready in plenty of time :) as 6 hrs to upload a measly 12mbs is more than enough - or ought to be!

I'd also take issue with fact that it was not possible (as far I could see and I'd read the final image faq a few times in teh last week or two) to know whether you needed to download an ftp client until you tried the final part of submitting the final image...I mean that screen that redirects you to ftp info site when you're ready to upload! Downloading an ftp client caused further delays which i could have easily avoided...

c'est la vie, perhaps, but it shouldn't, shouldn't, have to be...

Thanks for reading this anyhow,

Martin

[Aethyrprime]

All I know is if an site technical issue disqulaifies me from this contest I will be sooo freaking pissed ...

[vrf]

Looks like the submit entry page is pegging the deadline at 34 or so hours from now. I thought this thing was over.... :rolleyes:

[se7en-z3r0]

I uploaded my image before the deadline this morning but I put the wrong filename on it. I just uploaded it again with the correct filename but when I tried to go back to the final image page it says ...

FTP Information

Hostname: challenge.cgnetworks.com
Username: challenge6
Password: gso6tiff
filename: 129767_XXXXX.zip

There was an error loading your file. Please try uploading again

Please help I have spent a lot of time on this image. Thanks in advance.

[ArtisticVisions]

Oh thank God, I got my confermation email. (and I can view my Tiff as well) :applause:

From the sounds of it, it was a good thing I uploaded on Saturday instead of my initial plan of Sunday; doesn't make it fair if a person can't enter by deadline if the server is have problems. :shrug:

bolchover: Can't you just use IE to upload the zip file via FTP to the challenge servers?

vrf: I could be wrong, but wasn't the deadline also based on the time of where you live as well? (however, I could way off here: could a Mod maybe explain this?)

[bolchover]

agh! it's failed to upload again!!! It reached 9Mbs out of 12. I'll try submitting again now, but will have to leave it to look after its self, as I have to have some sleep before work tomorrow.

This is all just a tad frustrating...

[Leonard]

Hi all,

Due to the unexpectedly high number of people using CGTalk yesterday which overloaded our servers, preventing Grand Space Opera contestants from uploading their images, we are giving one day additional time to upload their final images.

If you have failed to complete the challenge with all the deliverables below by midnight 18 January (whole world) - you will not qualify for judging.


PLEASE READ CAREFULLY - IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE

Deliverables

Each challenger is required to submit images for the following milestones:

For 3D Stills:
Concept Sketch - JPG (online)
Modeling - JPG (online)
Texturing - JPG (online)
Lighting - JPG (online)
Rendering - JPG (online)
Post Effects and Compositing, JPG (online)
Final Image - JPG (online) AND print resolution TIF (FTP)

For 2D Illustrations:
Concept Sketch - JPG (online)
Line Art - JPG (online)
Coloring WIP - JPG (online)
Final Coloring - JPG (online)
Final Image - JPG (online) AND print resolution TIF (FTP)

Any challenger that does not submit the above images by midnight 18 January 2005 (whole world), will not qualify for final judging.

Thank you,

Leonard

[bolchover]

hi artisticvisions - well I'm running IE 6 in windows 98, and it wouldn't let me directly ftp, so I had to download the client program. I don't know why I couldn't directly - I spose might have been security settings or just my older platform?

At least the loading of this thread has speeded up now:rolleyes:

[arturro]

that's great, but I still cannot see my corrected final tiff, which I sent 3 times I think:) still I can see the first upload... (and yes, I refreshed, deleted temp, cookies, etc:))

[Mibus]

I´m having a troble of sending the final tif image.Every time when I press the "upload final image" it sends me to step 1 where I have to to log on.Then goes step 2 where I entering my porsonal informashion-adress, and so on.

You need to read the instructions on step 3, they give FTP details for you to upload your ZIPped TIFF image to.

I uploaded my file yestreday at night. I still have a message on status screen:
"2D Checklist
You have submitted all WIP images
You have not yet uploaded your final TIFF image. See here for upload instructions."
Is it a default message, which will change after receiving submission email, or the file didn't upload correctly ?

That message is given if you either haven't uploaded an image at all, or uploaded an image without using the exactly correct filename.

I have a question: I have uploaded my zipped tiff file in the morning, and now have made some small changes and uploaded it again. But i see still my old work there. Should I upload the corrected one again?

You should upload it again with the exact same filename.

Are we supposed to name the tiff with the same number as the zip?

Only the name of the ZIP file matters.

To be more sure I have uploaded it again, but still there is an old thumb.... should I worry?

You should be able to see the new thumb. Are you sure you used the exact same filename? If you did, email me.

I uploaded my zip using dreamweaver, and I saw it in the online files, but I am not certain enough about ftp to feel comfortable just leaving it knowing it's there...is there any way to double check or something?

Log in here:
http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/final_image.php

In step 3, you should see a thumbnail of your image if it worked.

but I didn't received any email notification

E-mail notifications are sent semi-manually, thus aren't immediate. You won't get them while I'm asleep ;-)

Wow talk about seeing the server is too busy message 1000 times too many today... somebody needs to either reboot the server or uncap the bandwidth a bit...

Other threads in the support forum are dealing with this, but for those of you who haven't read that far, we can't "uncap the bandwidth" - we already have multiple servers on 100Mbit connections that can handle the bandwidth; the problem has been the sheer number of visitors actually using the site!

Why can I not submit? WTF! It said you had until midnight tonight!?

The challenge was set to close Midnight GMT, which presumably isn't your timezone. This was stated on the instructions page, on posts about the challenge, as well as in the reminder emails sent recently. A countdown timer was also included for anyone unsure of when it would end! Because of the unexpected issues with the server, Leonard has extended the deadline slightly, which you can use to submit your final images.

[Aethyrprime]

Yeah I have been trying to submit for hours, but kept getting please wait 30 seconds and try again. then I had to leave, come back and it says sorry... thank the forum god leonard for extending, this contest sure is popular with so much traffic! :P

[Mibus]

filename: 129767_XXXXX.zip

Does the ZIP file have more than just the TIFF in it? That's a reasonably common cause.

Email me if it doesn't work when you finish the upload you're doing now, and I'll take a look.

hi artisticvisions - well I'm running IE 6 in windows 98, and it wouldn't let me directly ftp, so I had to download the client program. I don't know why I couldn't directly - I spose might have been security settings or just my older platform?

Probably the older platform - IE only got good FTP upload support with XP.

I use Leech FTP or FileZilla most of the time. Unfortunately we can only give minimal support for FTP, given the breadth of clients and platforms possible. However, there are a number of good tutorials available online if you aren't familiar with FTP.

robert@ballisticmedia.net

[arturro]

You should upload it again with the exact same filename.


yes, I did it... uploaded again and again with the same zip file name as well as the tiff file name... and the thumb is still from the first upload...


edit: sorry for trouble, I did it. Uploaded one more time and this time it worked.

[se7en-z3r0]

Thanks Mibus - got it worked out!

se7en

[crazybread]

Thanx Mibus. All is well. I uploaded the file and it shows that its there.

*****IMPORTANT******,

In my browser my ready zipped file appeared normally. that is XXXXX-XXXXX.zip. Only after in Cuteftp I noticed that it appears as XXXXX-XXXXX.zip.zip
I don'y know why but that is the reason my file was being rejected. If anyone else encounters this problem, just rename it in Cuteftp and try resending.

[Shinwa]

I'm sorry about the last minute thing - it must be hectic and hard on everyone :sad:

I checked my image and it came out as jibberish, so I re-uploaded it once, wasn't sure if it went through (no e-mail and it disappeard from the server folder) and tried again...waiting on the e-mail now, but I am worried because if it's the file itself that is the problem I may need to resave and re-upload again or something. ? Will I have time to correct this if it goes past the deadline? I've been trying to get the file working and uploaded since midnight last night.

and I am sorry if I am repeating questions I didn't see....you guys have a ton to read lol

[Mibus]

I checked my image and it came out as jibberish,

I took a look, check that you're only submitting a three-channel image (RGB). Remove any layers or alpha channels or masks or anything else that may be saving extra data to the file.

Because of the way the system works, it can't tell a "gibberish" file from a working one, so the system will consider you uploaded anyway. I'm doing a batch run of emails now, so you'll probably get an email confirmation soon - but it's best if you re-upload anyway, if that's OK. (Otherwise it can create issues with the jury judging later on).

Good luck all!

[francis001]

I checked my uploaded zip file and saw this. Does anyone know why? My tiff file has no alphas, it is saved with no compression as an RGB. This doesnt look quite as good as the color one. :P



http://www.teamgt.com/francis/temp/wtf.jpg

[Mibus]

francis001: Your uploaded image looks fine to me - did you get it fixed? Email me if you're still seeing the wrong thing.

[Xccelerant]

Having trouble uploading my final image for the GSO Challenge. I'm using Fetch on a Mac and when I try to log in to the ftp site I get a password error. Also tried Mac Safari using ftp://challenge.cgnetworks.com and I'm able to log in but when I go to add my final image filee zip it says that it can't be modified.

Thanks in advance...

[Mibus]

Having trouble uploading my final image for the GSO Challenge. I'm using Fetch on a Mac and when I try to log in to the ftp site I get a password error.

You're sure you're entering the username and password exactly - no extra capitalisation, spaces, dashes, etc.?

Also tried Mac Safari using ftp://challenge.cgnetworks.com (ftp://challenge.cgnetworks.com/) and I'm able to log in but when I go to add my final image filee zip it says that it can't be modified.

Safari doesn't support FTP uploads. Finder does, though, albeit slowly on my iBook.

Check this out:
http://www.creativemac.com/2002/09_sep/tutorials/ftposx020924.htm

Obviously change the address, username, and password appropriately!

[Shinwa]

Mibus thank you SO MUCH....I forgot that layer selections save as channels *smacks her forhead* until you commented on checking those again. It was wreaking havok on my whole system until I fixed it lol.


Thank you again! ;}:bowdown: :cool:

[CodeNothing]

UGH, sorry guys, im sure this is a dumb question, but what is FTP? I understand how to load the JPG to the forums, and i got the FTP info on the site... but what do i do with it? Im not a very computer savy guy. :shrug:

[Mibus]

FTP is a totally different way of transferring files over the internet. You need to use an FTP client to connect - you enter the host, username and password into the client, which then connects and lets you upload your image.

We unfortunately have to do it through FTP because the protocols that make web servers work aren't any good for uploading large files.

We don't - and can't - support everyone to learn FTP, but I can give you pointers to places that have information, and help you with specific problems.

http://www.ftpplanet.com/ftpresources/basics.htm

We have a very (very) rough set of instructions that we use for helping people upload stuff for books (which has a similar process):

http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/bsw/wt/step3b.php

(Note that the "host" part of the information in the second link is for uploading images for books, not the challenge - use the information we gave you in the Final Image page instead and it should all work).

Good luck;

[francis001]

Hi RObert

Thanks for looking into that for me. Hm, I uploaded the same file again, but it looks fine now. That's odd. Oh well...

[stefan]

I cant wait for new chalenge. I am happy that I participated on that one.

[Xccelerant]

Thanks for getting back to me Mibus,

Yes, I made sure I typed in the correct username and password. lol Did it about ten times, even copied and pasted from the final image submit page. Didn't work yesterday but just did it today and it worked.

You are correct about ftping through the finder on a Mac. Its so slow its like watching snails race.

Thanks

[SnakeFarlow]

HI, this me be a stupid question but: When will we know the results of the contest? and how would we know if we were elected or something like that.

[penumbrae]

There it goes a question: ¿CAN EXTEND THE SPACE OPERA ENTRIES TWO MORE WEEKS?????
I think one more day does'nt help very much

[arturro]

penumbrae: come on! man, chill out... the extra day was mainly for the people whou couldn't upload their images and/or were just finishing. I think you have enough time to create something good.

[theuni]

O.K. now you CGtalk guys did it. I have the feeling of a big black hole inside of me... there is something missing in my life now that the contest is over.

SnakeFarlow: I guess they will put up some kind of little corner in this forum where such information will be comunicated.

BTW CGTALK ADMINS: Maybe you could open a thread where all uploaded finals could be watched? No Post allowed just a simple final image gallery for GSO, could this be possible?

[ArtisticVisions]

penumbrae: Don't bet you life on it (come on, we all had three months to create an entry; deadlines are a given for a reason)

theuni: I think thats what they'll be doing for the public voting instead.

[Aethyrprime]

Anyone, know anything about the judging procedure? I assume there is a page dedicated to all the final submissions? Also how do we vote? Just curious.

[Aethyrprime]

At current time my submit page says this:

Time left: 0 days, 12 hours, 50 minutes, 4 seconds

Is this a correct count of time? Or does the contest end in 45 minutes?

[Mibus]

You are correct about ftping through the finder on a Mac. Its so slow its like watching snails race.

I have an 800MHz iBook with 256MB RAM - 10.2 crawled quite badly for me. As much as I loved using OSX, after a year I reformatted and now dual-boot Debian Linux and OS X. Linux is quite a bit faster on it, and is more comfortable for me since I'm more used to it - I still want more RAM though :)

When will we know the results of the contest? and how would we know if we were elected or something like that.

Public voting will probably start either this weekend or early next week. If you have succesfully submitted all of your milestones and your TIFFs - which I hope you all have - you'll be in the voting pages. (We have 250 final contestants so far!).

Results will be a few weeks later, I don't know exactly.

There it goes a question: CAN EXTEND THE SPACE OPERA ENTRIES TWO MORE WEEKS?????

Unfortunately, no. The challenge has been running for 90 days with a deadline set right at the beginning - changing it by two weeks would be unfair to everybody who has already gotten their work in. We extended the deadline by a day to allow a little extra time because of the huge server load delaying people.

O.K. now you CGtalk guys did it. I have the feeling of a big black hole inside of me... there is something missing in my life now that the contest is over.

That's OK, we're already planning the theme of the next one. We have a few possibilities, I think you guys will like them all :)

BTW CGTALK ADMINS: Maybe you could open a thread where all uploaded finals could be watched? No Post allowed just a simple final image gallery for GSO, could this be possible?

The voting pages will be available fairly soon, you'll be able to see them all then :)

Anyone, know anything about the judging procedure? I assume there is a page dedicated to all the final submissions? Also how do we vote? Just curious.

Public voting will be the same as for the last two challenges (Alienware and Machineflesh). You'll see a huge list of entry thumbnails - something like 14 pages worth - you click it, see a somewhat larger image. Just above and just below the image is a "vote" button. You can vote for any images you want, each person who votes for an image increases their score by one point.

BTW, your TIFF upload hasn't been registered - have you uploaded it yet? If you did, let me know what filename you called it so I can put it in the right spot. (If you've only uploaded it in the last few minutes, ignore this - it takes ages for the system to check everyone's uploads, it was last run about 5-10 minutes ago).

Time left: 0 days, 12 hours, 50 minutes, 4 seconds

Is this a correct count of time? Or does the contest end in 45 minutes?

The extra 12 hours is just a little bit of extra "grace period" - but for most of that, there will be nobody around to help you if you get stuck, so you really can't rely on it at all.

[Aethyrprime]

W00t, cause I was re-rendering a small portion of the image and wasn't sure wether I needed to just forget the changes and get that file up there or wether I can wait about 1.25 hours for the rendering to finish... if I have 12 hours thank the time setter, cause my entry is about to get better. There is only 1 tiff submission allowed correct, unlike the final jpg which the last one is the only one that counts?

[Mibus]

There is only 1 tiff submission allowed correct, unlike the final jpg which the last one is the only one that counts?

Not so - just upload the file using the exact same filename* and overwrite the older one.

* The same filename that's given to you in Step 3 of the Submit Final Image page

[ArtisticVisions]

Public voting will probably start either this weekend or early next week. If you have succesfully submitted all of your milestones and your TIFFs - which I hope you all have - you'll be in the voting pages. (We have 250 final contestants so far!).
Glad to hear that; I heard somewhere else that it might take 2-3 weeks for the voting to start.

[Mibus]

I heard somewhere else that it might take 2-3 weeks for the voting to start.

Nope. It took a lot longer for the last two challenges; we weren't nearly as well prepared and we had a lot of people wanting extensions because they didn't understand the rules.

That's why we've tried to be a lot more vocal and really make sure people know that if they don't make the deadline - even if it's because they didn't understand the rules - they're disqualified. It's really unfortunate, but otherwise we spend a week after the challenge (including some time *during* voting) helping people upload their "Final Image" JPEG or TIFF, or some other random milestone they missed. That then delays judging, is unfair to the people who got it in on time, etc.

Once Leo's small extension is over, that's it. We cannot accept any more entries, or it will delay judging - and we have a huge number of people that already want the voting to start! :)

[Sharga]

I submitted my final tiff last night via FTP but I still haven't seen any e-mail confirmation. Does this mean that it didn't go through?

[arturro]

Are you sure about the pictures judged by the jury? will it be the high res or on-lin efinal image? Or still you are not certian about it? And just to be on a safe side, if I have uploaded a few final versions milestones, the last one is the one for the public vote? And what about any comments, will they appear in the final entries pages? (I mean th estory for example or other details of the work). Thank you in advance for answers:)

[walrus]

...we're already planning the theme of the next one. We have a few possibilities, I think you guys will like them all :)

Have to say I can totally empathize with theuni. I'm new here so i have no idea: How long between contests? Will the next one start in two months? Half a year? I know you don't have an exact time but is this an annual thing? Semi-annual?

Thanks, both for a response, and for hosting the whole thing to start with!

-mike

[ArtisticVisions]

Well, this is my own guess, but I believe we'll see the next Challenge sometime in March.
(maybe?) :shrug:

[Mibus]

Are you sure about the pictures judged by the jury? will it be the high res or on-lin efinal image? Or still you are not certian about it? And just to be on a safe side, if I have uploaded a few final versions milestones, the last one is the one for the public vote? And what about any comments, will they appear in the final entries pages? (I mean th estory for example or other details of the work). Thank you in advance for answers:)

I haven't spoken further with Leo about it, but jury voting isn't for a while yet. Public voting is definately on the Final Image JPEG, and has the comments and other stuff listed much like when you view a challenger's information now.

Whatever thumbnail you see in the final image page is going to be what is considered your TIFF submission, so as long as that's the latest one, you're set.

Have to say I can totally empathize with theuni. I'm new here so i have no idea: How long between contests? Will the next one start in two months? Half a year? I know you don't have an exact time but is this an annual thing? Semi-annual?

We're going to be aiming for 3-4 a year, with a faster schedule for future challenges than past challenges. I can't really say more until the next challenge is announced, I don't know how final any of it is until then. (I can say that the gap before the next challenge shouldn't be too long at all :)).

[Sharga]

Erm, Mibus. Hate to sound like a dork, but did you get my final tiff?
Thanks. :D

[Mibus]

Erm, Mibus. Hate to sound like a dork, but did you get my final tiff?

Yeah. You should've gotten an email about it by now.

I haven't looked to make sure it loads OK, but it decompressed OK. (I'm just looking at a looong list of pass/fail automated tests here :)).

254 people completed the challenge so far!

[vrf]

I have to say I've been somewhat amused at the number of "final, final, final..., no really, this is the final" images that some artists have submitted, due to the time extension. The time extension was granted because of a server problem preventing some artists from uploading their final entries. But now we have an full on "tweak-out," with endless strings of final images. Some artists are still working quite hard to finish their milestones. A bit not fair, perhaps?

Anyhow, it's all kind of funny, but maybe I'm just tired...

(And I'm forced to admit I was tempted to go back and touch up some minor glitches, but I didn't feel it was in the spirit of the challenge.)

[Sharga]

Thanks a ton Mibus, you rock! I can't imagine how many times you've had to answer the same questions over and over for this contest alone, and yet you don't seem the least bit annoyed, I really appreciate that.

[Kylebrn]

Anyone, know anything about the judging procedure? I assume there is a page dedicated to all the final submissions? Also how do we vote? Just curious.


Phase 1: Public Voting/Scoring
Outcome: 15 shortlisted entries in each category (30 total)

Phase 2: Internal Judging
Use shortlisted entries, the internal judging will be weighted accordingly
50% - Jury scoring
25% - Public scoring (phase 1) weight
25% - Community interaction scoring (how well each shortlisted challenger interacted with the community, gave information about their work and helped others, how early they started submitting work in progress)





jury only has 50%.it looks like the guys most helpful in others threads will have major advantage too.Plus the peoples vote has some good weight.:)


Whens the voting starting :)

[KennyM]

Due to time limitations I had to up my final milestone jpeg image in a rather small format, from what I gather here now this will probably influence my "score" rather badly even if I added a link to the big one? since you say community voting happens based on the final thumb:surprised and not any posts on the forum or links...

or can I still try to compress and upload a big version in jpg based on the tiff?
hehe, certainly something I'll keep in mind next challenge :blush:

[Aethyrprime]

All uploaded on the final Tiff. at like 4:23 EST. Its now about 5:07 I just thought of coming in here and posting it up to let'cha know. Anyway, thanks a million cgtalk guys / gals. It has been a fantastic learning experience for me. I have grown alot as an artist and I just wanted to thank you all for challenging me to do what I always thought I could, but never finished anything of until now. For that I am eternally grateful. I will be back in future challenges and I hope that my teaching experience in real life can help me help the community as much as you all have helped me.

Peace..

Number of submission: 101041_74538.zip
Size: 64MB

[Aethyrprime]

Thanks but I knew that already Kylebrn I was actually referring to, what is the url of final sub page, voting date starts, notification of winner... you know the stuff not readily available "ATM". But thanks for playing... next... ;)_

[arturro]

just wondering... how you will be judgeing the community interactivity...? It's impossible for you to read all the posts and search the most helpful guys... or you have some clever way..? just my curiosity:)

[6800AD]

6800AD Uploaded my final image zip file on Monday but after checking it the image is grey and corrupted looking...I again uploaded it twice this morning but how will I know that you have received the proper file...the name of the file is 121100_65117.zip...Any help is greatly appreciated

[arturro]

6800AD: check it here by loging, confirming personal data and clicking on the thunbail: http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/final_image.php

if it's still the old one try to refresh your site holding shift(strong refresh). If it is still corrupted check if your tiff doesn't have any layers, alpha. etc. Just RBG:)

[6800AD]

I just had a look the file is still corrupted on the site but I'm resending it just now....the tiff did have layers on the channels part....didn't know about that....anyway I hope it loads properly will keep you posted...would be a shame to have all the effort wasted because of a glitch....Thanks for your help!
Cheers Mike

[6800AD]

Hey Arturro...A big thank you on the help! It was layers in the tiff file that were the issue....You saved me from myself
Cheers
Mike

[taavi]

Whatever thumbnail you see in the final image page is going to be what is considered your TIFF submission, so as long as that's the latest one, you're set.


Hi Mibus!
I happened to read this thread and one problem popped into my mind:some people (including me) have posted one (or2) pics afrter submitting final jpg to their thread.
I presonally added some close-ups from final pic. I understood that the final jpg on the thread will be visible during public voting? Is there still a change that i can use non-cropped and really "final" jpg during voting?
Sorry about my crappy english- i hope I managed to explain the problem :)

[SnakeFarlow]

Hi everyone!. I feel kind of boring since the challenge closed. A question: The public voting is only for members or its open to all the people?

[cgkrusty]

I have been watching the challenge page for the past few days and noticed a bunch of late entries and was wondering what was up... was it a time-zone thing... what?

Then, happily, I came here and realized that an extension had been granted because of upload problems etc.. I think that's cool, let everyone get their images in after they've worked so hard... I just would have preffered that everyone who entered the competition be notified of this extension.

One other thing, I also have some detail images that I'd like to post but don't want to screw up my Final image to be viewed.

Is there a way we can do this without jeoporadizing the final image to be viewed during the voting process?

Thanks for everything CGTalk-ers! This was my first challenge and I had a blast... it was very well set-up and supported.

Looking forward to the results and the next Challenge!

:bounce:

[ArtisticVisions]

Hmm, looks like voting is starting: (-link removed by me-)
Good luck all. :)

EDIT: Voting did not start yet (it was just a test of the system & organizing the entries together): public voting begins on Friday the 21st. :)

[angel]

Hmm, looks like voting is starting: http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php
Good luck all. :)

How the heck did you find that link? I don't see a button anywhere on the menu to get to that page.

[arturro]

Snows: the link shows up when you want to submit an milestone entry:)

so vote people: http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php

[cgkrusty]

How long does the voting (public) go on for?

How do you find a link to the Challenge voting page? Where is it from the main CGTalk site?

Good luck everyone!

[angel]

I think I'll hold on voting until it is public on CGT main page... They might still be working on it for all we know.

[ArtisticVisions]

SNoWs: I just found it off Lemog's thread this morning when I checked the threads. :)

Just thought I'd throw out this question to you all:
What do you look for in the entry you decide to vote for? Is it purely on what is the best looking image (from a technical standpoint) or do you look the entry that best expresses the theme of the Challenge?

[arturro]

SNoWs: I just found it off Lemog's thread this morning when I checked the threads. :)

Just thought I'd throw out this questions to you all:
What do you look for in the entry you decide to vote for? Is it purely on what is the best looking image (from a technical standpoint) or do you look the entry that best expresses the theme of the Challenge?

both:) but the expression and content is more importand to me... there are lot of great skilled artists, just look to the finished works gallery:) It wouldn't be good if someone made a grea timage not exactly to the subject and won the competition. The theme was given with a certain reason. There are a few really great and amazing works here, but which in my opinion don't fit exactly to the theme, and I won't vote for them.

[nemirc]

so... stupid question alert :rolleyes:

Do I have to pick one single image and vote for that image or can I pick more than one? If so, how many do I pick? :shrug:

[ArtisticVisions]

Do I have to pick one single image and vote for that image or can I pick more than one? If so, how many do I pick? :shrug:
I would think (and hope) that you could vote for more than one.

[Virtuoso]

Hey there guys,,,,,,,,,,,,,,what's up........I hear rumblings of a certain vote that got started......ArtisticVisions.................What are you Cg artist Columbo detective all in one .......;) ..How did you stumble upon that.

In the past you could vote to your hearts content,to whom ever you felt deserved a vote........Lets see whats up,I am sure an announcment is coming real soon,with some official news...........I have a feeling that my button voting finger will work real hard this time around,too many cool pieces........... Ok guys stay c:cool: :cool: l ....and I'll see you soon......:arteest:

[nemirc]

What do you look for in the entry you decide to vote for? Is it purely on what is the best looking image (from a technical standpoint) or do you look the entry that best expresses the theme of the Challenge?

To tell the truth I see these pictures with different eyes than other pictures (like some that you see in the finished works...). For me I treat these more like "movies" (even if it sounds kinda silly). I see everything from camera angle to types of characters, their positions, colors, expressions, atmosphere... then try to compare that to their original concept...

:bounce: it seems I have a lot to do to pick the image...

[LuisNCT]

How can I vote?? Anyone can explain?

[mmoir]

Hey all,
Can anyone who visits the CG Talk site vote or just the people who entered the contest. I have been looking at all the entries in the voting area ,very nice images.
With regards to how to vote on an image. I would vote on A-quality of the image and B- how well the image fits the Grand space opera theme. The images I would vote for would have to be strong in both of these categories. Although I would tend to vote for everyone who finished but if everyone did that we wouldn't solve much would we.
We will see what the mods say.
Mike

[ArtisticVisions]

Hey there guys,,,,,,,,,,,,,,what's up........I hear rumblings of a certain vote that got started......ArtisticVisions.................What are you Cg artist Columbo detective all in one .......;) ..How did you stumble upon that.
I just found the link when I checked Lemog's thread earlier, so I just thought I'd add it to the FAQs. (Columbo.... I wish.... :D )

Still amazes me that of the 1,800 who entered the Challenge, only a little over 250 finished an entry (and about half of that are competing in the 3D Challenge).

mmoir: Only members of CGTalk are able to vote.

[flyingP]

Robert, Leigh, Leonard or someone, not sure who started this with this voting issue at the moment, or where that link came from, but it would seem it's making a few members who can't seem to find their work in there anxious, would be cool if you guys could put in an official word and clean this mess up a bit :)

edit: OK in the meantime I know where the link came from, an official word would still be cool though :)

[Leonard]

Public voting starts this Friday. We are adding in all the entries that came in the last 24 hours now.

Dates:
21 - 27 Jan - Public voting
28 Jan - 3 Feb - Internal jury voting
28 Jan - 3 Feb - Public community award voting
14 Feb - Winners announced and notified

[arturro]

So the votes that we gave today are treated as a test of the system:)? And we will be voting again after friday?

[Dutchman]

Thanks for making it more clear, Leonard. :) So I think it's been a mistake to put that voting-link around here?! :)

Something I just saw on that (temporary?!) voting page ( http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php ), was that my last sended WIP was showed as final...:shrug: And because that last one was a close-up of the final, people may think that closeup is my final... (CLICK (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/view_entries.php?challenger=4689) > makes it more clear, maybe :) )

I'd really like if my 'real final' would be tumbnailed.... (otherwise people would not even be interested enough to open the link :shrug:)

Lots thanks for the time, and ofcourse for organizing this coooool challenge:bounce: ,
Gijs

[SUN]

14 Feb valendine day

:love: LOVE Winners :love:
:) :) :)

[ArtisticVisions]

Thanks for clearing that up, Leonard; at least the current list gives us a chance to look through the entries that have been currently uploaded and see the different types/styles of entries.

[essencedesign]

is it true that I read the public voting is based off of the Final Image JPEG...that would really suck guys...alot of people ( myself included) had to seriously compress both the size of out image and pixels to fit the 150 kb mark..........


...It is probably just a rumor flying around...I'm sure CGTALK has the ability to disply scaled versions of our Tiffs for voting........Right Guys... :shrug:

[Mibus]

I would think (and hope) that you could vote for more than one.

You can vote for as many as you like - you could even vote for all of them. Any image(s) you vote for get their score increased by one point.

How can I vote?? Anyone can explain?

It'll all be clear once we announce the voting.

Can anyone who visits the CG Talk site vote or just the people who entered the contest. I have been looking at all the entries in the voting area ,very nice images.

All registered CGTalk members will be able to vote.

Robert, Leigh, Leonard or someone, not sure who started this with this voting issue at the moment, or where that link came from, but it would seem it's making a few members who can't seem to find their work in there anxious, would be cool if you guys could put in an official word and clean this mess up a bit :)

The pages people saw weren't supposed to be live, thus didn't include everyone (since there were quite a few late entrants).

So the votes that we gave today are treated as a test of the system:)? And we will be voting again after friday?

Something like that :). You'll have to cast your votes again though.

was that my last sended WIP was showed as final...:shrug: And because that last one was a close-up of the final,

The most recent "Final Image" milestone is used for the thumbnail, since that way people can update their Final Image. I've changed your later ones to be Post Effects & Compositing, so they shouldn't show as the thumbnail when voting does open.

The voting page has been removed until the voting actually begins... I have to go through the database now and clean out the votes! :)

[Mibus]

is it true that I read the public voting is based off of the Final Image JPEG...that would really suck guys...alot of people ( myself included) had to seriously compress both the size of out image and pixels to fit the 150 kb mark..........

It was initially intended that we would use the JPEGs for the public voting - it's what we'd done in previous challenges without any problems.

I just had a nice long chat with Leo, we discussed what the possibilities are, and we've decided that the JPEGs will still be used to generate the thumbnails and the mid-sized images (516 wide), but the "large" images will be based from the TIFFs.

How's that? :)

[essencedesign]

Comprimise is good my friend... ;)

[Aethyrprime]

I just had a nice long chat with Leo, ... but the "large" images will be based from the TIFFs.
How's that? :)

Funtastic!!! :applause:W00tage, I was concerned about that because I had to super compress my image to fit, its 6000 pixels wide in the tiff,:twisted: so my textures end up looking like big blurs in the jpeg. Compression sux... ;) Anyway, thanks a bundle the shadows from her hair will now be visible on her face! :buttrock:

[Mibus]

Yow, it takes a while to resize and copy a few hundred print-res TIFFs :)

Both medium- and large- res "web" images are being generated from the TIFFs.

I'm excited about the quality of images with the challenge - and the sheer number of people who finished is higher than last time :)

[essencedesign]

Your going to do the mediums too :thumbsup: ....that's great..yes all of these images deserve to be seen in all of their GLoRY :eek: )))))

[Sharga]

Awesome! I love how the limits or usual rules for this contest keep getting stretched, makes it feel all the more important and a real privilege to be a part of it!

[scootermaya]

The page of all entries does'nt work any more !!:sad:

It was working yesterday ! :eek:

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php)

What's the new link ? (I've allready sent it to 60 people !)

[vrf]

The page of all entries does'nt work any more !!:sad:

It was working yesterday ! :eek:

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entries.php)

What's the new link ? (I've allready sent it to 60 people !)

60 PEOPLE? Yikes. Let me guess: "Quick, go vote for my CG piece!"

Leonard, Leigh, I'm sure you have some way to prevent that kind of vote padding, right?

[DimitrisLiatsos]

14 Feb valendine day





:love: LOVE Winners :love:
:) :) :)





HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA....oops ..sorry ...for useless post .....

[Versiden]

60 PEOPLE? Yikes. Let me guess: "Quick, go vote for my CG piece!"

Leonard, Leigh, I'm sure you have some way to prevent that kind of vote padding, right?

I agree..

maybe you could only restrict voting to active cgtalkers with over 25 posts.... what's stopping ppl from registering fake accounts and just voting for themselves?

[scootermaya]

Well , I thought it was actually open to the public so I've send this (broken) link to my friends familly and actual clients ...
Too bad !:sad:

I don't really get why this page was "on line" ! or why we allready have the "vote" button on the pictures ?

[Fahrija]

(I've allready sent it to 60 people


......somehow I knew that this would happen........unfortunatley this is not a good sign for an
objective vote.:curious: (misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#)

I just hope that´s not normal case.

best regards
Fahrija

[Don Pedro]

I agree..

maybe you could only restrict voting to active cgtalkers with over 25 posts.... what's stopping ppl from registering fake accounts and just voting for themselves?


Hey don't do that !

What about us, the "new" rising generation of ... you know what. I just don't want to post fifteen I-have-nothing-to-say-but-still-want-to-espress-my-ignorance posts (like this one) just to get a chance to vote for these masterpieces!

Even we are new and unexperienced we still have our rights :)

[arturro]

So maybe registration date caould be taken under consideration or IP of the computer? But I think that it is hard to make the public voting objective as there always are some relations between people... Besides I'm not sure how many people votes here, as I'm new to cgtalk(my entry was my first post), but there are 138626 registered users, so I don't think that a few votes added illegaly wuld change much... but of course it's unfair and should be unabled somehow.

And as far as "what should be judged by me, skills or content close to the subject" I think that people won't look much at the subject realisation. I know that the subject is a guide line and it's impossible to set the border between the subject_OK and subject_NOT_OK pictures. I will try to choose the best art works, and among of them I will choose these which in my eyes fit to the Grand SPace Opera theme.

[mistermac]

How about just counting votes of those registered pre-competition closing date? Would cut out the majority of canvassed votes.

Well I'll be judging on the quality of artwork primarily. The main intention I got from the brief was the whole grandness and pivotal moment thing, rather than only a sci-fi themed image with no sense of 'event' or narrative, which i'll use as a guide to picking my favourites as well.

Looking forward to seeing them all together.

[Gryphon]

Hmm somehow the idea of the judges finding 15 images and THEN there would be a public voting eases me a bit more....

just a thought.

[hectic]

hi, I`m looking forward to voting, there are plenty of awesome pieces in this challenge :scream: ... so sad I didn`t make it :sad: ... the theme was really great

well, maybe next time ... good luck to everyone :)

[Sharga]

Well , I thought it was actually open to the public so I've send this (broken) link to my friends familly and actual clients ...
Too bad !:sad:

I don't really get why this page was "on line" ! or why we allready have the "vote" button on the pictures ?

That's not exactly a fair way to go about it, getting votes from people just because they know you or are your freinds. It should be based soley on the quality of the image itself. Otherwise, it's just whoever has the most friends wins, even if they put together some 3 hour project. Well, I'm sure the higher-ups will know what to do to prevent this.

arturro- Your first post was for this contest and now you're past 1,000. Dang, that's a lot of posting. Nice job. :D

[taavi]

That's not exactly a fair way to go about it, getting votes from people just because they know you or are your freinds. It should be based soley on the quality of the image itself. Otherwise, it's just whoever has the most friends wins, even if they put together some 3 hour project. Well, I'm sure the higher-ups will know what to do to prevent this.

arturro- Your first post was for this contest and now you're past 1,000. Dang, that's a lot of posting. Nice job. :D

Sharga, You are right. The quoting should be as objective as possible. We have put a lot of spirit & ideas & time into our works. The cheating would be unbearable. :banghead:

Arturro, congrats indeed :) 1000+!
[B]

[theuni]

Hi everyone...:wavey:

I really can`t understand all those concerns about this public voting thing. Did no one read
how the judging system works...

50% - Jury scoring
25% - Public scoring (phase 1) weight
25% - Community interaction scoring

I would say this means it depends a lot on the voting of the Jury and I must say I really am
looking forward to this step... cause for me it`s a great honor when such "famous" people
watch & judge my artwork. BTW as a former webdesigner I could bet that this first voting page was just a WIP of the Admins or what do you guys think how this voting pages will be
done... by magic :) and for all those who takes this a little bit to serious don`t forget...
the journey is the reward :)

[ArtisticVisions]

I just had a nice long chat with Leo, we discussed what the possibilities are, and we've decided that the JPEGs will still be used to generate the thumbnails and the mid-sized images (516 wide), but the "large" images will be based from the TIFFs.

That's nice to know; even though I tried my best to minimize compression, I had to decrease the size of the image which resulted in a loss in the details of the entry (I know a lot of other people had similar issues about this as well). That should keep you guys busy till tomorrow. ;)

arturro: Geez, you've been one busy boy! :D

theuni: The first judging phase is the public voting: in order to move onto the second phase (the Jury voting and final scoring), you have to be in the 15 most voted entries as decided by the community.

[arturro]

yeah, I totaly loved the challenge:) You have no idea how much I have learnd. My 2nd work in 3d, and I'm very happy about it. And how was the public voting organized previoulsy? If it worked, then we should have no worries.

[arturro]

The first judging phase is the public voting: in order to move onto the second phase (the Jury voting and final scoring), you have to be in the 15 most voted entries as decided by the community.

I think that jury should receive more works than 15... I don't think it would be a problem for the jury to chose among the 30(for example) works... And it my opinion it would be more fair. But the best would be of course to give all the entries to the jury... or the half with most voted... I don't know:shrug: Now I just don't care about it, I'm a winner because I did it on time and made a huge 3d progress:twisted: Just would like to see the best works prized.

[ChrisThatGuy]

I like the idea of more entries making it to the judges. 30 or 40 sounds good, even if only the subsequent top 15 of those got whatever the prize is for the 'shortlisted' entries. I think it would just give more of a chance to those pieces that are really good, but maybe get less votes because their thumbnail is beside somthing bright and colourful that makes them look muted by comparison, or receive less attention because they're on the last page. There's a lot of really good stuff coming out of this contest, and it would be a shame for some of it to get passed over simply because of random thumbnail placement.

[mmoir]

I tend to agree with Arturro and ChrisThatGuy , maybe the top 30 or so for 3d and the same number for the 2d entries. Then the judges can pick the top 15 for the prizes . Someone else mentioned having the closing date for entries to the contest be at least a week before the closing date of the contest. I think this is a good idea whoever's it was. Just putting my 2 cents in about the contest.
Cgtalk, great job again with the contest, well run and organized, looking forward to the next one.
Mike

[arturro]

I hope that it will be changed. They wrote the judging rules before the competition. I think that there are much more final works than they have thought.

When the voting page was on-line I have downloaded the pictures that I like, There were apx. 50 of them, and I had no problmes with viewing them and deciding where to give my vote. So don't see the reason of such a small amount of works which gets to the jury.

So maybe we all could ask the great stuff on the other side of the competition to think about it? The more people would support that, the bigger chance they will change it...

[SnakeFarlow]

I am worried about the fake users, it is not about how many votes they can achieve, it is a moral subject we are talking about, CGnetwork should find a way to evade this kind of tricks. I like the idea that only the veterans could vote. Its very sad for those people that are beginining but I think that voting requires some judment, and it is a right that the user wins after 30 posts.

[cgkrusty]

I think the process is the process....

Have their been vote fixes in the past? Have you seen previous winners that you didn't think deserved it?

From what I've seen of the previous two challenges the winners, runners up and honourable mentioned pieces all seemed deserving to me and I have no problems with any of the grand prize winners. I think they are all exceptional works of art.

So... if you believe in, and accept the results of the previous challenges, why worry about this one?

The cream will rise, it always does. This system has three stages and I think they've created a great check and balance system. This system has evolved over the course of many challenges and, I would assume, will continue to do so.

Is it perfect, probably not... will some people be dissapointed, obviously.

At the end of the day though, I bet we all agree that the winners etc. all got what they deserved.

I would, however, LOVE to know where I placed regardless of where I end up (in terms of vote count etc.). It's always interesting to see how your work is recieved.

Thanks again CGTalk for all your efforts!

:thumbsup:

[arturro]

I think the process is the process....
Have their been vote fixes in the past? Have you seen previous winners that you didn't think deserved it?

From what I've seen of the previous two challenges the winners, runners up and honourable mentioned pieces all seemed deserving to me and I have no problems with any of the grand prize winners. I think they are all exceptional works of art.
:thumbsup:

I agree about that, and am sure that the winners will be the real winners.

But only my point is that I would be able to choose the best let's say 5 works. But I wouldn't be able to choose 15! Because in my opinion there are a few top class pictures and a bigger group of a bit lower class. And just I would like that jury get most of the works from the second group(from the first one, they surely will:)).

But I will second the cgtalk's crew decissipon as they have experience in that matter:buttrock:

[SnakeFarlow]

Arturro, I am agree with you. And CG crusty that explanation you gave its cool for me, and make me relax. This is my first challange, and I could not see the past challanges, but if you tell me that it was fair, i belive you. I think this time it would be the same.

[ArtisticVisions]

SnakeFarlow: I really don't think this will be as big a problem as some people are making it out to be. (at least, I hope most of the CG'ers around here wouldn't be that immature to resort to that type of cheating)

15 shortlisted enties do seem a bit small, I admit; however, 30-40 seems too much (personally, I think 20-25 would be plenty).
I think the point of such small number of "semifinalists" (so to speak) is that it forces you to look at each entry with an open mind and narrow the list down to the entries that you feel best expresses the theme of the Challenge.

[Mibus]

Well , I thought it was actually open to the public so I've send this (broken) link to my friends familly and actual clients ...

Erk... that page wasn't supposed to be found, it was only found through a previously-broken link on another page that suddenly sprang to life when the voting page was up. The voting page was available (if you knew to go there) because we were in the final stages of testing and cleaning up the design. It should go live again today.

When the voting page was on-line I have downloaded the pictures that I like, There were apx. 50 of them,

Do you mean 50 that you liked? There is well over 250 final images...

[arturro]

Do you mean 50 that you liked? There is well over 250 final images...

yes, I wrote that to somehow support my opinion that 15 works from each category is a bit small:) but as I wrote, you have experience in the challenges, so I will second your decission about the number of images which gets to the jury.

[walrus]

Not that it matters much - because as cgkrusty pointed out, the rules are the rules and we'll get good winners no matter what - but i too would like to see the "shortlisted" pool be somewhat larger. With so many members of CGTalk - new and old - able to vote, there is going to be a huge swarm of people who sweep in, vote for all of the coolest images, and leave again. It won't matter to many whether those images were done over the course of 3 months of constant communucation with one's peers - which really feels to me like the point of these challenges - or whether someone came in 2 days before the deadline, posted everything without talking to anyone, and then disappeared again, leaving no crits, just a really beautiful thumbnail.

I applaud CGTalk for organizing their contest around participants critting each other's work, and i learned a lot from the process and tried to be as active as possible. And i think it's good that participation will be 25% of the final scoring. So generally one could expect someone who didn't talk or listen not to win big anyhow... yet due to the order of the process, still gets rewarded over those who may have been very involved in the community spirit and did great art but had the 16th highest number of votes. I know there were certainly more than 15 people who were active and helpful with the contructive criticism and feedback and also produced fantastic images. So i think opening the pool up larger would be fairer to these people and to the theme of the contest (the participation theme, not 'Space Opera!')

But, like i said, no big deal, the rules are what they are and i'm sure it works. Just wanted to get that off my chest...! :D

-mike

[cgkrusty]

Mike;

I think those are good points but, at the end of the day 75% of the vote is still determined by the quality of the image. I have a feeling that community interaction will be used to determine placement (especially between the top three) if the image quality vote is really close. There are two separate prizes for those who went above and beyone in regards to participation but the main thrust of this competition is on the image.

One other point about the 15 qualifiers... each of these people get prizes. To increase that pool would be to increase the prize burden on CG talk and its sponsors something they may not be able to do.

I think having the general populace pick the qualifiers is a great method. There is no way these celebrity judges have time to go through almost 300 images to narrow down the images. I think 30 images is almost as many as they could handle. They're all extreamly busy working industry professionals who are volunteering for this task... and it's a tough one.

I do think that your point about the size of the community and the amount of entrants has some validity, but limits and quotas have to be created so that they can prepare their judges and prize packages.

Some deserving entrants may be left on the sidelines but that's the nature of this, and any, competition.

All I can do is wish everyone good luck and congratulate y'all for getting it done! There are hundreds who didn't. For that, we've all won a little something already!

:thumbsup:

[Kylebrn]

I think that the top 30 from each category 3D and 2D should be given to the judges.Otherwise some of the true best works wont get in possibly.I think with 30 or so this way the judges will get all the best and some of the best will not get overlooked.Also many of the true best wont get votes because of competition reasons,some people will not vote for the best because of it sad but true.But with 30 getting in this can be avoided.


I mean it's 25% peoples vote a weighted system and 25% community reaction or involvement and 50-% judges right?


Plus it's supposed to be a weighted vote.The peoples vote will have an effect along with the judges 50%.Plus community involvement will also carry 25 % as it should be.This way I think that the power is spread out well.And that if the judges think someone to them is in lets say 5th perhaps now because this 5th place person had better community reaction and involvement they could move up to 3rd or 4th or better.I like the weighted idea.

Oh and a thumbnail rotation idea is a must.It's only fair to everyone.Will you address this Mibus?
Good luck everyone.:)

[Mibus]

Oh and a thumbnail rotation idea is a must.It's only fair to everyone.Will you address this Mibus?

The default sort ordering is now pseudo-random; while not rotating it is at least not based on the username or real name :)

[SnakeFarlow]

ArtisticVisions : Yes you are right, this challange has show us what is to be legal and work hard by ourselfs, of course we recived help sometimes by our challenge friends. Anyway I have the same wish as you, hope that nobody be that inmature.

[Mibus]

Voting is open! :thumbsup:

http://cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=203872

[Fahrija]

Hi Mibus,

you did a wonderful job. :thumbsup::bowdown: (misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#)
The images are perfectly presented - Wow again!

best regards
Fahrija

[Aethyrprime]

Hey I had a question, are you planning on locking our GSO threads after voting? Because I plan to continue working on the art from my entry and updating it. I had to cut it short due to time, but that does not mean it is done to me. Anyway, thanks for running such an awesome contest. see ya around!

[Agostinuke]

Hi,

It's something on my side, or the "random" spreading of the projects in the voting page doesn't work?

Entries (Page 1 of 9)
[ All | 2D only | 3D only ]



Sort by: [ Random | Name | Username ]

[Agostinuke]

I would not like to drive bad feelings towards me, but I have to say something:

I don't understand the thing that only 15 (30 for the 2 categories) images will pass to the jury of experts.

Why they cannot handle all the 272 images (150 for 3D and 122 for 2D)??

I watched all of them, reading all the threads in about a couple of days. And I looked also to many threads that I subscribed to, and that didn't finished the work.

If people's vote determine which image will pass to the experts, and only 30 images will reach them, I can roughly calculate, even if I'm not an expert, that only about 9% (nine per cent) of the total works (hard works) posted will be considered by the jury of experts.

I could understand this method if there were 158,873 entries....but 272...

So the jury of experts' vote will count only 4.5% (4 dot five percent) on the final judgment. That is 50% (50 percent) of that 9% (9 percent) of projects submitted.

I'll suggest a rethinking on this subject to CgTalk administrators. And also to fix that "random problem" on the spreading of entries. Thank you.

With no resentment,

bye

ago-stino


EDIT, a couple of days after: I thought a little bit more about this; at the end, who cares? After 2 days I don't understand why I did all these calculations. Sorry.
Have a nice work, everybody.


.

[Aethyrprime]

I agree. I am sorry to say, but my judging has had to become very harsh after realizing the same thing. I have been begging for a remove vote button. I voted for some very beautiful entries, that had nothing to do with the theme and regretted it afterward, even some who are very ardent supporters of mine. I feel bad but I think this is going to become a popularity contest. There are few entries which I think are going to get into the finals based on quality of art, not quality of art on target. This upsets me. I wish the judges would see all the images without any knowlege of the publics views. But since this is not to be. I think that several well deserving entries are going to be missed out on because of this... Oh well, what can we do...?

[Aethyrprime]

That empty hole since the end of the challenge must be filled, might this work?

I am not just a 3D artist, I am a composer, a writer, a photographer, a videographer, a video editor. 3D is the lowest of my abilities in my mind so I hope this interests some of you.

I am willing to create a full music video of this competition. I am willing to composite all entries submitted which wish to participate in either static or animated form. If you are interested let me know and I will start a thread for it if possible somewhere in this site, or if the Admins deem it worthy, an official topic.

My vision is this...

The song is 8 minutes long, There are 3 song movements each broken into 2 sub variations.

The first is very soft and ominous where the more gradise, "pretty" entries would go, the most happy pieces. The second part of the first movement adds some drums and gets a bit heavier where some of the more intense maybe slightly more foreboding images and animations should go. I would envision alot of things shooting but not as many blowing up yet. Things rising into the air getting in formation, loading weapons,

The first part of the second movement is very heavy, dark, and angry. There would be either alot of stills which small parts of might be used to flash by very quickly on the build up to this part, or a very intense animation. Here you would see full conflict everything would be blowing up people getting hit, fried, destroyed, cut in half, heads ripped off or full power up faze super saiyen style! The second movement would be people trying to escape crawling on the ground, blocking defending counter-manuevering, dodging behind ships or planets, buildings or refuse.

The first part of the second movement is heavy with drums in a jazz based break beat style which would go great for the regrouped last offensive with alot of explosions and firing. The second part is very somber, returning to the original theme with a new variation, here would would have the survivors the, visionaries, the dreams, the nightmares the aftershocks of what a GSO would leave in its wake for real.

Well I am very open to suggestion and cooporation and this is open for all entries in the GSO. Anyone who participated even if you did not get a chance to finish the contest. I will use sketches if they are detailed enough as well as final art pieces. Please consider this my thanks to the best community on earth and as a gift.

I will send the original files (meaning the working document along with collected resources and a FINAL DVD MASTER freely to cgnetworks admins as my thanks to them for all their hard work with which they can do as they please.

Each person who submits their artwork to be included in the video will recieve a DVD copy free!!

(the DVD label artwork will be of the winner of the contest picked by cgnetworks).

Anyway, thanks everyone for making this the best artist experience of my life!

[arturro]

Now that sounds GRAND! Great Idea, I hope it will be realized. I don't have experience in such maters, but I'm totally in:)

[Aethyrprime]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I plan on making it DVD because I want it to have complete behind the making of GSO (*DVD menu based bios of each contestant who wishes to be included with their W.I.P.'s images) I am fully experienced to do this I have worked with Icon Entertainment, been associated with FMPTA as well as being the lead designer on their magazine Viewfinder. I have international distribution of my music and video work on LMTV in South America and parts of North America where the channel is carried. I worked on VIP Latino as the creator of the music and all special effects. I have had my music in part used for some feature films etc..

[Aethyrprime]

The Official Thread of the GSO Music Video (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1910463#post1910463)

[Aethyrprime]

Arturro I posted a reply to you about this on the above linked page as I will for all of them.

[ArtisticVisions]

||) |V| |^|: Sounds like a cool idea you have there. As for my "emptiness", I already have a few ideas for new projects (one being a series of 3D illustrations). Since LW finally addressed the issue of subpatch UV Maps (plus the fact that you can edit the shape of the map without affecting the geometry), I really want to start working with texture maps (in this Challenge, I stayed with using procedural maps).

[SnakeFarlow]

I am totally agree with Ago-stino. I think that is ok to have only 15 winners, but those should be choosen from 30 shortlisted given by the votes. So the jury could check 30 images, is better than only 15. Besides, I have check all the images, and they are really good, there is enough talent to fill a larger list. Don't you think?.

A last thing, it will be really cool if we could know how many votes we have. Only for make it more exciting.

[glim]

what's the matter with my final image http://cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/entry.php?challenger=5088

please.......

[ArtisticVisions]

glim: Looks like the file was corrupted (either when the Tiff uploaded or when the Tiff was converted into Jpeg). Pm Mibus and see what's up.

[se7en-z3r0]

sorry I am a total newb here how many votes do we get to cast? As many images as we like or what?

[cgkrusty]

You can only vote for a given image once, but you can vote for as many different images as you want.

[essencedesign]

Admin...

Is their any way you guys can pump up the res on the widescreen images so they match a bit better the size of the portrait / lanscapes in the voting pages ???....they look real small in comparison ....just a quick question I'm sure you are limited by the page borders...I did a side by side and there is quite a difference..... :shrug:


thanks guys for your time..
J )) :)

[se7en-z3r0]

thx cgkrustry

[mistermac]

heh, you're right essencedesign, I had a look through the final entries and like you my entry's thumbnail does seem pretty titchy compared to the portrait images. Ah well, if that's the way the page is set up then it looks like that'll be partly dictating my image proportions next time....

[Aethyrprime]

............

[ArtisticVisions]

Just had a thought while reading Leonard's last post on the judging timeline:
Dates:
21 - 27 Jan - Public voting
28 Jan - 3 Feb - Internal jury voting
28 Jan - 3 Feb - Public community award voting
14 Feb - Winners announced and notified
Does this mean that after all the votes are counted and the shortlisted winners are decided, the Jury will automatically go into judging without announcing who the shortlisted winners are?
Or would they announce the shortlisted winners, then move into the Jury voting?
(just curious, cause the former would indicate that we wouldn't know who was on the list till February 14th... :shrug: )

[Mibus]

I doubt you'll see any results at all before the final date, IIRC it wasn't released last time.

Same goes for individual vote scores, they won't likely be released at all (they haven't been released in the past).

:)

[M477]

Mibus,

I entered my Final image (TIFF) via FTP zipped and a Jpeg below 150kbs on my thread before the close date but looking at the voting board.. no me

As I've said before, I wasn't in it to win it this time so I'm not standing on a high ledge about it, but I would like to know what went wrong so next time I'm 'in'.

Thanks!

[Mibus]

I entered my Final image (TIFF) via FTP zipped and a Jpeg below 150kbs on my thread before the close date but looking at the voting board.. no me

As I've said before, I wasn't in it to win it this time so I'm not standing on a high ledge about it, but I would like to know what went wrong so next time I'm 'in'.

It looks like you uploaded your file with a different name to what was expected. I went through the images that I could see that were obviously named with the artist's name or the work's name, but M477 didn't occur to me as being either!

In step 3 of the final image page, when you're given the FTP details the item under the password is for the filename - in your case, "65260_74318.zip". Without that, the system can't match you to your entry, so you were never considered to have uploaded the TIFF.

Don't forget you can still submit your work for the gallery here (and potentially get a CGChoice award instead ;)) or for EXPOSE'3, so you can still have something to look forward to :)

[M477]

Ahhhh.. "kerplunk" as the penny drops! Thanks Mibus, I uploaded a zipped folder titled <GSO M477> and the filename was not right inside so that must have been the problem! :banghead:

Ok, well I know for next time. Thanks again! :thumbsup:

[invadererik]

How many times can one vote?

1 for 2d
and 1 for 3d
?
I picked one of each and then just to test voted a third time and it worked...
? so how does the voting work ?
How many times can one vote ?

[mmoir]

Invadererik,

You can vote for as many as you like ,but you can't vote for the same image twice. So you could vote for 10, 15 or 50 different entries. Good luck with the voting.
Mike

[nemirc]

So does that mean that if I like my image I can vote for myself as well? :beer:

just kidding.

I am finished with the 3D voting... haven't gone to 2D yet :eek:

[Climax]

A freaking story
I know of a recent challenge in other site, I won't mention where and what, but it happens that when the voting period started, one of the challengers, i don't know how, made his way to configure and link an addresse of a shoping center in such a way that when you clicked on an specific button, you where actually voting for his image! at the end he had such a big diference of votes against other challengers that he definitly was the winner.
But his image was not the best, so, some people started complaining about the issue and some started investigating until they came to find out how he did.
I think that is some kind of "criminal" action and at the end he fools only himself
It would be GREAT to win, but only in the right way, getting what your work deserves even if it is not one material price or recognition.
I thought it would be an interesting tale to be written here, please, don't missunderstand, there is no personal meaning telling you this, I feel great just for having completed my thread :p

[nemirc]

That reminds me of something that happened on a web design contest in my country. It's not exactly the same but what happened is that some people discovered a "glitch" on the voting procedure. They added some code to their main page so that every hit they got would be counted as a vote :eek:

A friend that was a contestant wrote an email to the guys that were running that contest. They seemed not to care so he not so politely requested his website to be taken down from the contestants list. He was really pised off.

[Georgie]

...
To be eligible for prizes, all shortlisted contestants must provide detailed Making Of's within 1 month of the initial announcement.
...


Does that mean that all the shortlisted contestants do get notified through E-mails right after the public voting, whereas "the public" don't know who they are until the final announcement?

[ArtisticVisions]

Georgie: I believe they were refering to when they announce the winners on February 14th (at least, that's what Mibus said once).

[theuni]

A freaking story
I know of a recent challenge in other site, I won't mention where and what, but it happens that when the voting period started, one of the challengers, i don't know how, made his way to configure and link an addresse of a shoping center in such a way that when you clicked on an specific button, you where actually voting for his image! at the end he had such a big diference of votes against other challengers that he definitly was the winner.
But his image was not the best, so, some people started complaining about the issue and some started investigating until they came to find out how he did.
I think that is some kind of "criminal" action and at the end he fools only himself
It would be GREAT to win, but only in the right way, getting what your work deserves even if it is not one material price or recognition.
I thought it would be an interesting tale to be written here, please, don't missunderstand, there is no personal meaning telling you this, I feel great just for having completed my thread :p

I don`t think that this is going to happen here. The public voting only is 25% so it only gives a "direction". The jury than will be able to push their favorites to the end line.

[Falcorr]

Voting system is one of the best i know.

Specially now that they are going to publish a cool book of the winners. I really doubt theyd stick ugly picture on the front cover just because it received hundred times more votes.

Still id like to know how many votes i received. Would be pretty funny:)
I always end up with one vote and you all know how hard it is to resist the vote button...

*resist the vote button* but i tried! :blush:

[Climax]

• LOL, I know, when I was kid, there was a Football game all players where ready but it was one player more than necessary: a friend and I :P so, we made a voting and he won for only one point, I voted for him, but he voted for himself! :D so, after that, everytime I can vote for myself I do it, after all there must be some self esteeme in every one of us, however, thanks god it is posible voting for more than one challenger here, so I gave also my vote to most of the people who visited my thread, not only for visiting, but how kind they were and also their work is cool and they deserve it......well I said it :shrug: :D

[ArtisticVisions]

I don`t think that this is going to happen here. The public voting only is 25% so it only gives a "direction". The jury than will be able to push their favorites to the end line.
Yeah, but if a person was successful in cheating in that mannor, he would be pushing himself into the shortlisted winners and move on into the Phase 2 voting, while taking a spot away from an entry which is better.
I doubt this type of cheating would be possible here at CGTalk, but I suppose it's technically possible.... :shrug:

[Squibbit]

I'm so critical i could not vote for myself


even if i would have made a pic i would like myself , which i haven't
done yet often , i would think there's so many great ideas and pics out there
i just would be ashamed to think my pic would somehow be above
ALL of them

[nemirc]

Well I didn't vote for myself because I figured that one single vote wouldn't make a big difference... What are the odds that I am in par with some other guy and that vote could have made a difference? Very unlikely...

Squibbit: How can you say that? I don't consider myself a hell of an artist but I do like my final pieces... if I didn't I wouldn't have a showreel and I wouldn't have a gallery on my website... I just happen to make better projects every time and the "favorite images" are replaced by "new favorite images"... That's what I would call "self steem" (or whatever, I don't recall how to write it)

[Climax]

yeah... being critical is one of the most importants things, however is complicated to say if there is anybody right, we just do what we think is ok and it is a very abstract choice, it depends of many predujices and maybe moral concepts... as long nobody gets hurt i think the own vote is a way to push your own work forward, at the end the best image shall win no matter if you vote or not for yourself, I mean, I don't really think voting could be so tight that a single vote would make a significant diference, there are hundred of persons coming and going in this site, even if anybody wins for his single vote it is not anything to be shamed of, it would be diferent if you tell your friends to vote for you, or to find the way of voting more than once for yourself, now, that would be a non ethic procedure, The vote is free as long it is made in the right way, doesn't matters who or whom u vote for :) One of the great things in this challenge is that I could vote not for a single person, but for the works and people who made an outstanding Job. :beer:

[Squibbit]

ok then , maybe i don't need the push of self esteem to vote myself :)


now really, how to explain myself....
1 pic against 1 , i could vote for or against myself ..in a certain category

I can't give myself a vote against all...and if i done good it's up to u to notice
it, by voting.

about good pics..ehehe...i can like my pics a bit...but
when i do a pic with ( examples from this competition's entries):

Daryl Mandryk's explosiveness
Maciej Kuciara's feel
Eric Brownings emotion
Pierre Droal's vision
Antonio Javier Caparó Salgado's thought
Tranchefeux's mysticism
Emrah Emlasli's grandieur
Teemu Rajala's fun
and somebody elses adjectives :blush:

well, u know. then I will vote for it, worry not, but not before :)

[ArtisticVisions]

Well I didn't vote for myself because I figured that one single vote wouldn't make a big difference... What are the odds that I am in par with some other guy and that vote could have made a difference? Very unlikely...
Yeah, same with me. (still, you never know... :rolleyes: )

[theuni]

Yeah, but if a person was successful in cheating in that mannor, he would be pushing himself into the shortlisted winners and move on into the Phase 2 voting, while taking a spot away from an entry which is better.

I doubt this type of cheating would be possible here at CGTalk, but I suppose it's technically possible.... :shrug:

Believe me there`s always a way you could techincally cheat. The technology is always as good as the people behind it and there is always someone better who is able of breaking in. But as it was already said in here, I also don`t think that a "less good" picture will make it to the cover page. The CGNetworks guys would loose their competence if something like this would happen.

Anyway, contestants... how do you feel about this: After reading all the posts in here I started to get a aversion to the word "vote" :) Seriously, I always vote for things I like ! This includes of course my image otherwise it would have been very stupid spending so much time creating it.

[nemirc]

Yeah, same with me. (still, you never know... :rolleyes: )

That's why in the end I did it... so when both of us are on par my vote will be decisive to win :beer:

Anywayz, even the presidents vote for themselves during elections :shrug:

[ArtisticVisions]

That's why in the end I did it... so when both of us are on par my vote will be decisive to win :beer:
I wouldn't count on that.... I ended up voting for my entry as well. :D
(hey, if a person doesn't think their art belongs among the others and doesn't deserve a vote, why enter it?)

Eh.... wasn't the Public Voting suppose to be over on the end of Thursday? (yet today, I see people can still vote for the entries)
:shrug:

[mmoir]

Eh.... wasn't the Public Voting suppose to be over on the end of Thursday? (yet today, I see people can still vote for the entries)
:shrug:

I was wondering the same thing.
Mike

[blakbird]

About self voting:
Is there a discussion about the idea scratched my mind a few days ago?

It is not so strange but funny to see the things change when a taboo like subject get brought over the top of discussion table.

Sometimes things seem like the rock islands in sea fog and generally vapors off but sometimes become someones reality.

By the way, YES !!! What about the shortlists? Have anybody heard something about the phase 1 votings' results? Or moderators keep it still open just because of continous votes come from all around the world?

[Aethyrprime]

I can only imagine. But hey they extended the submission date by a day, maybe they are extending the same courtesy to the voters as they did to us artists. :) I am just soo curious what will be next!

[ArtisticVisions]

I can only imagine. But hey they extended the submission date by a day, maybe they are extending the same courtesy to the voters as they did to us artists.
Doubt it; they only did that because too many people were trying to upload to the server that it created a bottleneck and people started to have trouble uploading their entries (which is why it's always safer to finish before the deadline).

As far as the announcements, Mibus told me once that you shouldn't expect to hear anything till February 14th - the day they announce the entire list of winners (Grand Prize, Runner-ups, Honorable Mentions, etc.). :)

[Mibus]

Yup, we let the voting run a little late - better to close late than early! There was also less of a need for a fixed deadline (unlike the challenge itself) so nobody could be hurt by it.

It's closed now though :)

[Squibbit]

well that's good luck for me cause i got to give a few votes i had forgotten to in all the hurry,
thanks

[Arctis]

Hi everyone,
When I log in in order to vote for community award, the server said that I am not a finalist of GSO challenge ; then I rewrite my password and I finally can vote...
What's a finalist ? Is it someone who submitted all the milestones or is it somebody who is one of the 15 shortlisted ?
Bye.

[kaparo]

The same happended to me while trying to vote and I have the same questions...

[Art2]

Hi everyone,
When I log in in order to vote for community award, the server said that I am not a finalist of GSO challenge ; then I rewrite my password and I finally can vote...
What's a finalist ? Is it someone who submitted all the milestones or is it somebody who is one of the 15 shortlisted ?
Bye.

Same here... I think a finalist is somebody who submitted all the milestones...
'cos I was allowed to cast a vote (on my second try) :D

[JamesMK]

The failing of the first login attempt is probably just a bug (had that as well, which makes four of us...) And only those who have submitted ALL milestones (simply completed their entries as opposed to quit with an incomplete entry) are supposed to vote.

[azazel]

somehow i didn't have any problems ;)

[JamesMK]

somehow i didn't have any problems ;)
It's probably because of your VIP status around here :D

[ihamid]

hmmm.....i didnt have any problems too.....just clicked the link in the e-mail and got in smoothly....and im new:)!

[DimitrisLiatsos]

:bounce: ..i didn't have any problem too....i entered my username and password....had a cup of coffee and voted the guys...errr...i voted. :)


Finito la musica, passato la fiesta..OLE!

[JamesMK]

Maybe the bug is fixed then :wise:

[ihamid]

hmmm...i did it before these posts were made ...at least i think:)!....then i again maybe im wrong heheh!:curious: ....!

[arturro]

Yap, no problems here as well, and I have voted about 12 hours before now.

[azazel]

It's probably because of your VIP status around here :D

is there something i should know about ? :D

[Mibus]

Looks like it was a minor issue that only occured if you weren't already logged into CGN.

Should be fixed now, thanks guys! :)

[adel3d]

I voted to one of the nominees for the Community award but all of them seemed to get the vote.I don't know why.:shrug:

[Mibus]

I voted to one of the nominees for the Community award but all of them seemed to get the vote.

Not quite... it just replaces the "vote" button by a placeholder text, which is "thankyou for voting".

You still just voted for the one person :)

(Well... one 2d, one 3d :))

[adel3d]

OOps!
What's up now then!:eek:
I wanted to vote for the 2d works and I got a massage .
You were not a finalist of the GSO challenge. Only finalists can vote for the participation winner
I have completed my challenge all od em and step by step and I Had Voted for 3D so what is this .....................................................................................................................

[walrus]

I got to vote for the Community copntribution award and I had no problems with any of the technology whatsoever.

I was a little disappointed in the selection, though. No offense to anyone whatsoever: all of the finalists were quite worthy, but there were also other people who were part of the challenge whom I felt disappointed not to have seen on the Community Challenge ballot. These are people who obviously didn't top the final 5 for quantity of posts, but were way up there in quality. Of course, it's a lot easier to take the top 5 in quantity (which is strictly objective) than quality (which is sheerly subjective) but it might have been nice to have a larger pile to draw from. Or perhaps a system similar to the art voting where you can vote for everyone in the chanllenge and cast as many votes as you like but openly the top vote-getter wins. I am sure that whomever wins will be deserving, but I just feel that there were some others who were equally deserving that were not on the list... or moreso ( but again, an entirely subjective call!) :-)

-mike

[Squibbit]

yea I agree with walrus, for example Steve Newport gave a truckload of advice
to people , also posting images for reference. Here's to you Steve and others :beer:

Maybe next time all parcticipants get to vote for say 3 people that they think
have helped themselves and others the most . :thumbsup:

[nemirc]

I also agree. "Some member" even took the time to give me an image pointing some mistakes with my test renders.

[JamesMK]

I wanted to vote for the 2d works and I got a massage .
Damn! I'm just saying DAMN. Why does that kind of thing never happen to me??? :D

[JamesMK]

Oh, and I agree about the quantity thing here, it's a bit skewed actually. Admittedly I did post some useful stuff in some peoples threads, but I sure posted a lot of useless fluff too, and it might be a bad thing to sort of reward that behaviour in the long run :D

[Squibbit]

lol , hey don't worry I voted for Dimi :P

[JamesMK]

waahaa! Me too.

[Squibbit]

....curious to see what it does to that kind of behaviour in the long run ...

[JamesMK]

... nothing good could possibly come from it :D

Oh, and I hear you're getting a copy of UT2K4 too, squibbler?

[arturro]

Yes I agree about the this community awards voting. I was also surprised when I found 5 names feom each category only. And some people on who I would like to vote weren't there. I know that it was probably the best sollution during this challenge. But I think that the best voting system would be like that(please add your 2 cents to it, maybe cgtalk guru's would read it:)):

If you wan't to vote, you have to vote for each work, and give points(e.g. 0-5) for (e.g):
- general impression
- technical level/workmanship
- concept/ida (originality, content, closeness to the subject)
- community interaction (it's obvious that all wyould get some 0 and probably some 5, because it's hardly possible to be active everywhere)

and a weight of each category could be different, and I think that more categories(more detailed like modeling, lighting, texturing) would be to much and it would be too complicated.

Of course you could complete your voting in a few days, not at once. And I think that we would get smaller amount of votes, but those received votes would be better in my opinion.