Carrara Challenge #24: “Under the Sea” or "Out of the Box" - WIP Thread

stringtheory9 · April 2016

Carrara Challenge #24: “Under the Sea” & "Out of the Box"

Challenge #24 is going to be a 2/4 one. You can pick whichever theme you like and as usual participants may submit up to two renders; however your second render should not be under the same theme as your first render.

Your objective(s) should you choose to accept:

"Under the Sea" - Break out your finest box of blue-green lights! This month we're going down! Down below the waves. To make this theme a little more flexible, anything that gets your camera wet is fair game. So renders inside a bath tub or glass of water are also welcome!

"Out of the Box" - The theme with no limits besides the imagination! Oh, except this one thing... All content used must have come with your version of Carrara (Yes, all those beauties under your Objects tab). Of course since modeling come out of the box feel free to model your own objects but you should try to keep the majority of the scene objects to those that came with Carrara. The main goal of this theme is to see what can be done with native content so re-texture and edit those models to your hearts desire!

Content that can be used for this theme:
1. Any old native objects that are listed in the PDF found under the top "Help" menu > "Object Catalog".
Thanks to diomede for finding this and saving me a lot of times trying to put a list together!

2. For the list of new native content that can be used, click here.

3. Anything you create using native Carrara tools (modeled items, trees, skys, clouds etc.)

4. There are no restrictions on what can be used behind the scene to assist your entry as long as it's not visable in the final image.
See diomedes tutorial for example.

5. Any and all plugins CAN be used for producing textures in your image.

Basic rules will be:

1. Each participant may submit up to 2 images into the Challenge.

2. Images must be new (previously unpublished).

3. Images must be primarily set up in Carrara.

4. Images must be rendered in Carrara or in an external renderer for which there is a Carrara plug-in (e.g. LuxRenderer, Octane).

5. At least one WIP (work in progress) image must be posted to the WIP thread (this can be as simple as the scene setup, a pre/post post-work comparison or just a final image with a brief description of the process you used or as complex as modeling rooms shots, shader setups or partial scene setups or test renders).

6. At least one object in the scene has to be modeled in Carrara (Under the Sea theme).

6. At least one of the native objects must have been modified by the participant (Out of the Box theme).

Sponsor:
Once again, Daz will generously sponsor the monthly challenge with the following prizes:

1st Place: $100.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s)
2nd Place: $ 50.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s)
3rd Place: $ 25.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s)
Honorable Mention (4th place): $10.00 towards DAZ 3D owned item(s)

PLUS

As an added incentive for this month's challenge, in addition to Daz 3D's generous prizes, Dartanbeck will donate an item from his store to each of the place winners, including Honorable Mention.

*** Each place winner may choose one item of their choice from Store du Dartanbeck

Woodlands Kit Underwater Realms Badlands Kit

Animation Kit Animation Kit Starry Sky for Carrara
for Mil Dragon 2 Swordworks for M4

*** if a winner already owns all of them or simply doesn't want one, they MAY gift their reward to anyone with a Daz 3D account

Thank you Dartanbeck!!!

Dates to Remember:

WIP Thread Opens: Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Entry Thread Opens: Friday, April 29, 2016
Entry Thread Closes/Voting Begins: Monday May 9, 2016 23:59:59 CST (GMT-6)
Voting Ends: Thursday, May 12, 2016 23:59:59 CST (GMT-6)

An announcement will be made shortly in forum for The Commons. Feel free to provide any updates or share there as well!

Edit: Clarified the content rules for the "Out of the Box" theme.

chickenman · April 2016

Awesome Theme.

Now to remember what came in Carrra or do I do a clean install again.

Where is that Howie Scene?

The creative juices are starting to flow.

stringtheory9 · April 2016

chickenman said:

Awesome Theme.

Now to remember what came in Carrra or do I do a clean install again.

Where is that Howie Scene?

The creative juices are starting to flow.

Good point! I had planned on adding a link to the latest version that lists the content. I'll add it to the announcement now. Thanks!

Diomede · April 2016

Fun idea. I hope you don't mind if I offer a quick beginner's guide to editing objects in the object browser. People who have started in Carrara in the last few years may not have had experience with converting some of the older models, even if they are more experienced than I am with 3D in general or Carrara in particular.

THIS TUTORIAL IS JUST FOR THE OLDER OBJECTS - YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE THEM

Here are some things to keep in mind.

1) some of the older models are not vertex models, but they can be converted to vertex models relatively easily.

2) a lot of improvement will come from changing the shaders, not necessarily just modeling.

3) if converted to vertex models, new shading domains and uvmaps can be created for easier shader work.

4) most (if not all) models can be rigged with bones for posing even if not converted to vertex models.

Diomede · April 2016