UGAC – Super Shiny and Sexy vehicle – Rules

#1


[color=white]Recently the UGAC’s have been an focus of level design and environment creation. With the last two challenges featuring both high and low poly creations. However, this time around we have decided to turn our focus back to the challenges original roots focusing on more simple objects and objectives. Because of this; it has been decided that the next challenge will be based on vehicle design. Therefore you (the contestant) will have to deal with the constraints involved in the development of a “Super Shiny and Sexy Vehicle”. And while no logical person can dispute the beauty and art in such vehicles such as Ferraris or Porsches, we at the CGSociety fell that our members strive for originality, and therefore will be focusing on original creations (Read: No actual Car/Vehicle Designs currently used).

This challenge will be very open in the sense that we will not impose restriction against the participant’s creativity. Simply put, you are allowed to choose your vehicles design and purpose, and freely go about the creative progress. Some examples are:

[/color][color=white]The decided polycount for this challenge is generous for those used to working with low poly limits, and at the same time provides an challenge to individuals who have grow accustom to working on high-poly models. What makes a good vehicle designer is knowing when and how to use polygons wisely in a game environment. When it comes to designing your vehicle chose whatever style you want, from what ever time period you want (past, future, or fantasy), and let your imagine go wild.

[Note]
-You are allowed an alpha channel on the colour map, for lights, window screens, etc
-You are allowed to use HDRI if you choose now. (see page 2)

Threads:
Please follow this format when creating your entry thread.
UGAC - Super Shiny and Sexy vehicle - (your CGTalk username)
[/color]

Inside the thread; post your name, game genre, and your vehicle concept

Submissions:
[color=white]Posting guidelines will be in the submission thread. This thread will be up immediately this time around. So if you finish your project early, you can now post it before the final week of the competition. Finished models only, DO NOT post WIP in the submission thread!

Please do not comment about other entries posted in the submissions thread (note: WIP’s are ok) until all judging is complete and the “ok” is given

---------------------------------------
Competition ends June 9th
---------------------------------------

Good luck!
-Daren Loney

For more detailed information;
View this challenges PDF Rule Book.

----------------------------------------------
EDIT: The Submissions Thread is now up. [LINK]

[/color]

#2

UGAC – Super Shiny and Sexy vehicle – Frequently Asked Questions:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: I am short on time. Can you sum up the competition in a shorter manner?A: This is an fantasy vehicle comp: design and make a vehicle model that doesn’t currently exist. IE: It can be sci-fi (future), contemporary (but conceptual), or past (fantasy). Be original, and have fun! Q: Where is the Front Page Plug?A: It will be up in an few hours. We decided to wait an moment or so to get any basic questions answered before the masses of fellow CGTalkers’ flood the competition thread. Hopefully answering the majority of the questions before they are asked. [Edit- It has now been posted]

Q: That Poly Count seems really low
Why was such an number chosen, it doesn’t seem to be very “Next-Gen”?A: The specs it looks like we are shooting at are high end current gen, mid-end next gen (xbox 360, PS3). If you stop to think about it, 6000 is really the sweet spot; while it is low enough to not be daunting; it is high enough to get impressive results; while at the same time being not ultra-time consuming (IE: More people theoretically finish). I understand the questions about the polys. But, those are around normal with PC games such as Battlefield 2, Half Life2, and Doom3…
Check it out…[Link]Q: How is voting done?[color=white]A: Voting is preformed by designated judges. Each Judge is given six (6) points to distribute among the contestants who have finished their projects. (Note: For your entry to be judged, it must be posted in the “submissions” thread) Each judge will critique each entry and then award 1st-3rd place. First place will receive three (3) points, second place will receive two (2) points, and third place will receive one (1) point. This process will be preformed an minimum of three times by different judges, and then be tallied, with the places announced soon after. [/color]
Q: What do I win if I get 1st place?A: 1st place winner will be able to choose the topic of the next challenge. They will also get their worked “plugged” on the front page.
Q: Do I need to model an interior or not?
A: 100% up to you.

-More to come soon-
:thumbsup:

#3

Plugged!

-R

#4

o00o i mite enter this one :smiley: looks and sounds nuts :smiley:

#5

Cool. Sounds sweet, the more the merrier.
I think people will have an blast with this challenge (one of the reasons I am so pumped up about it). I cant wait to see what people come up with.

One of the things about this challenge that is so cool is that the design of your vehicle is truly yours (100% original) so we should see some great results that are not considered mainstream
And to top it off, such a project would look great in everyone’s portfolio since employers look for originality while browsing sites. (Again, one of the reasons I am so excited about this challenge).

Too Everyone:
If anyone has any Questions, feel free to ask.
Plenty of people here (including myself) would be more than happy to help you out.
Also, if this is your first UGAC, don’t worry. We have a great community here that provides awesome, friendly, critiques.

Hope to see everyone around the boards.
-Daren Loney

#6

might try and enter if I can find some time.

DevilHacker

I am unfamiliar with reflection cube maps and 512 spherical - I know what they are for but not sure how to add them to the model? I am using Maya.

Good Luck to everyone involved.

Matt -

#7

lol, just so you know, the car on the middle-left in the inspirational art section of the rule book is a real car… not a concept. It’s a Lamborghini Murcielago, and I was somehow lucky enough to see one on the street the other day.

#8

Go to your material attribute editor and scroll down to reflection color. Click the map button (the checkered one on the right) and scroll down to environmental textures. You can either select environmental cube or environmental sphere, and then assign textures (we’re assuming you’ll use image files from your computer) to the one sphere image for env spheres or the 6 cube faces for the env cube.

#9

This link might lead to some inspiration and possibly some insight to vehicle design (at least in the consumer-auto range):

http://www.cardesignnews.com/index.php

Cheerz and good luck.
Chaz

#10

Looks like Twinsen Dude got to the reply first. I am personally used to working in Softimage XSI the most, but if you need any more help, I am sure that I can pull out maya and see what I can do.

Wow. Thanks for the info. I was sent that image a few months ago, at which point, it was concept art from an art student of a possible sports car. Maybe that’s were he drew his inspiration from? Non-the-less, its still a beautiful piece of art
I will see if I can find the link again

Thanks for the link.
I will add it to the FAQ’s asap, and add it to the PDF tomorrow.
When I am at it, I would also add/ suggest the website “cgcars.com” for inspiration.
:thumbsup:

#11

I know this has been covered in the FAQ but from my experience as a game modeller (racing games) I can say 6000 is really in the lower ranges for car models these days, 10K and above is what I get to make at the moment. BF2 polycounts can’t really be compared to those in racing games.

Anyway, 6k is enough to make a good looking model indeed :slight_smile: but it is low for racing games (the type of game where a super shiny car model would end up I suppose)

#12

Ok this sounds like a great competition.(wish it wouldve come a week earlier but:))
ayway to get back to that reflection stuff etc.
i see we got max 2 materials available.
Does HDRI count as well? (since i always place it in the materials editor and then add it to vrays environment.)
so basically if the hdri doesnt count you can use 1 with reflections for the car and one for glass?

#13

lol, is it me or did you just use .jpg for images with only 3 colors?

#14

Dennispls: Does HDRI count as well? (since i always place it in the materials editor and then add it to vrays environment.)
so basically if the hdri doesnt count you can use 1 with reflections for the car and one for glass?

IMHO, Well, since you can’t use HDR Images in GameEngines (today), you can’t use is for that challenge. Use a 24bit Image for your reflection, just an image you could use in any GameEngine.

#15

Damn you’re right.
also do you need to model an interior or not?

#16

Er we’re using HDR images in our Game Engine. I’d be very surprised if other modern engines didn’t.

#17

yes you can use HDR in game engienes, a lot of engienes do that !

#18

I’m in! I guess I will try another. After coming in last place in the UGAC - Juggernaut Vehicle, you would think I would learn better…:eek:

#19

Little of topic here guys, Whats the difference between UGAC and GAC and when was the last GAC

#20

I hear what your saying, and a lot of people felt the same way. But 6000 is about typical of overall vehicle design in games. In this challenge, you don’t have to design just an racing car… the topic is “vehicle”… use your imagination.

There is no difference. When the challenges first started a few years ago, it was not directly sponsored by CGTalk (now CGSociety) therefore the forename was dubbed with “unofficial”
The name was briefly changed for one competition an while ago (I think was “Freaks and Geeks”), in the hope of more participants, but it reverted back soon afterwards
after all, its just an name.