Viz Competition 2006.

[ShaunDon]

I didn't mean to criticize the judges either, and I'm certainly not going to pretend that anything we submitted was more deserving of a nom than the works that were chosen. And I do appreciate that they are all stylistically very diverse considering how bland 80% of archviz is. You've all highlighted some very talented artists.

 

Ernest, I'm afraid I do have to disagree with you on the WETA score, recognizing that as a judge you've given this more thought than I. It's not just a matter of budget -- WETA is far and away out of our league, and I don't think it's fair to put two to fourteen man teams with a four-six week lead time on their projects against dozens and dozens of professional CG artists who labored for YEARS on theirs.

 

For me it's analogous to judging a sixth grader's work from art class with a fifth-year painting major's thesis work. WETA is able to bring to bear much more experience and manpower than any archviz firm on a $30-40k budget could ever hope to have, and their same work will likely win an Academy Award and beat out every other multi-million dollar effects house in the world.

 

All I'm saying is all competitions have leagues or divisions, and I don't think our industry is any different.

 

Shaun

[DPI]

Hey Lost in 3D World,

 

Any chance of seeing your entry into the competition, so we can debate your entry or do you just want to debate and judge other peoples work?. We can maybe give you pointers for next years competition. If you did not enter maybe you should next year, as you seem to think you can do better.

[Iain Denby]

To all those still image nominees.....................you b******s!

 

I entered 6 images (inc NPR) and haven't been chosen. Iether the judges don't have a clue, or my work was lost somewhere in the selection process.

 

I AM bitter!

 

 

 

 

;-)

[signet]

[joseph alexander]

I hate all this whining. An open competition should always choose the best images, regardless of budget. I don't think anyone would care to look at the images for a criteria like: "best image made in three hours by learning disabled drafter for $30".

 

come on now.

 

They display something to aspire to. You look at King Cong and think, “how can I do something like that”. So you research it and learn something.

 

One of the ironic things I’ve found is the best CG people I know are too busy making tons of money doing blah work to care about spending three weeks on a single still for a competition like this one. So then they whine about not having enough time because they’re making $100.00 + an hour, poor guys right?

 

I do agree that there should be a student competition. I think we would see some outstanding work, mostly, because students have free time.

 

-Joe

[alexandre]

To all those still image nominees.....................you b******s!

 

I entered 6 images (inc NPR) and haven't been chosen. Iether the judges don't have a clue, or my work was lost somewhere in the selection process.

 

I AM bitter!

 

;-)

 

Please, please do tell me this is second degree humor ?!

[Ernest Burden III]

For me it's analogous to judging a sixth grader's work from art class with a fifth-year painting major's thesis work.

 

I happen to have a sixth grader. He draws, he models in SketchUp and Maya, he sculpts things in clay. His talent is astonishing. Lately he's been drawing a lot of cartoons. With a few lines he can capture a gestural pose and a fascial expression as well if not better than many 'trained' artists I know. While a painting student would be much better versed in techniques, and probably works in oils rather than a Sharpie or whatever will make a mark on paper, the advantage goes to the better artistic expression. My son's going to be in the running.

 

And I'm going to send him to art school, so watch out!

 

Talent transends resources.

[ShaunDon]

So then they whine about not having enough time because they’re making $100.00 + an hour, poor guys right?

 

I'm not gonna say what I was gonna say, I just think we all need to read that sentence again and chuckle.

 

Talent transends resources.

 

I don't dispute that. It's also a fair bet that every member of the Kong team is a better artist than me. And I've read everything about their development process with awe and huge respect. But you don't see the Portland (ME) Pirates going up against the Red Sox -- because the Sox have the second largest warchest in baseball and can afford all the most talented players. I don't see that as being any different when comparing animation houses.

 

Shaun

[Sawyer]

Ok first. Jeff you got WETA to submitt! Congrats!

 

That seems huge to me.

 

How would we limit a submission based on scope? Would we just say NO FEATURE FILMS? I guess thats possible. Ultimatly it does seem weird to say that we aren't good enough to compete. We aren't 5th grades we are professionals It's hard to place boundries on good work.

 

Now what if next year there were 3 feature films? Or a sweep of all films? To me there is a fear that this could make people not want to submit (not to not try our asses off to do great animations but to submit). What if ILM places stills in from all of their movies for the year?

 

Ultimatly that IS our competition and maybe not how you think. Our clients are sophisticated maybe not in what WE do but almost everyones eye has become accustomed to great feature work and more and more that is what they will expect. Are we going to set the bar at NEOSCAPE and say we will try to get that good? Only that good? I think that right now very few people will be able to compete with ILM or anything at that level but that is where this industry is heading not just as a CADD add on. Constant slow walkthroughs will be seen as the eyesore they are (it might take a few years) we do live in the tailwaters of the film industry.

[ShaunDon]

Are we going to set the bar at NEOSCAPE and say we will try to get that good?

 

I'm really surprised Neoscape isn't up there, they must have submitted? Their work this year has been fantastic. But they're in our industry. They still have 3-8 man teams (I'm guessing, only been in their office a couple times). They still have the same 1-2 month (at the very best) lead times. The constraints are (relatively) the same, because they're in the architectural visualization business. WETA is in the Hollywood effects business. It's two separate, however related, industries against which there is no competing. At least in animation.

 

Shaun

[Iain Denby]

Please, please do tell me this is second degree humor ?!

 

LOL

 

The clue was in the ;-)

[alexandre]

LOL

 

The clue was in the ;-)

 

Ouf ! Sorry for that one- it's Bastille Day and my alertness is rather low

[Ernest Burden III]

Ouf ! Sorry for that one- it's Bastille Day and my alertness is rather low

 

Bastille Day seems like the one day above all that you would want to keep your head.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, bad joke, but it was too bad not to say. Enjoy the holiday anyway!

[Jeff Mottle]

Bastille Day seems like the one day above all that you would want to keep your head.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, bad joke, but it was too bad not to say. Enjoy the holiday anyway!

 

:p Very Clever, but GROAN. LOL.

[alexandre]

Bastille Day seems like the one day above all that you would want to keep your head.

 

IF you can keep your head 'cause all about you are losing theirs etc etc

 

LOL

[vizwhiz]

IF you can keep your head 'cause all about you are losing theirs etc etc

i guess it is better To receive Than To give

 

randy

[jtiscareno]

It is great to see WETA as a nominee for animation, why not??? Huge budget, big team, big resources, so??? Lets not forget that this is an ARCHITECTURAL CG award, it si not ONLY a CG award. So I would imagine (and hope) that the award will go to the animation or dare we now call them "short architectural film" to the film that not only is good in techinque but also in STORY-TELLING", just like in the Oscars is not only about "look", it is about the story.

 

Just look over at the siggraph animation theater, who got the top two awards, not pixar, not ilm, not weta, award went to a couple of rats and a mechanical slug!!!, And again it is about story combined with techinque that takes the top honor.

 

So to me it is great that weta is in, the news here is not that they are huge but the news is Why? Why did weta decide to submit, why? The answer is simple and for all to see, Architectural CG as officialy come of age, we are no longer the stepchild of the cg world, we ARE now part of the 3d world.

 

And lets not stop and just say NOOOO to weta or other big name, it makes us think if they are here what can stop US to submit now to siggraph or the oscars. Do you guys remember the desert house by KD Lab (now defunct), that animation was amazing, and it was about story telling, cameras, lighting, etc, just like in any film. and to me honestly, the weta stuff might be great to LOOK AT but it does not tell an architectural story to me, it is just BACKDROP, beautiful yes but it is just backdrop of kong. Now if you look at any of the two films by Uniform NOW that is architectural storytelling, the animations is not a background to an ape or alines or jedis, It is an animation for and about architecture.

 

To me arch viz is finally moving from the morbid infatuation with photorealisim and finally moving to an artform, to a forum of architectural expression!

 

And I would agree that the still images are kinda of stale, they needed to be more like the uniform animations, with something more than just "a nice look" that we have seen so many times before.

[arquiteck09]

So when we can se the animations ??

[Jeff Mottle]

So when we can se the animations ??

 

Sorry for the delay everyone. You can now see all of the animations but King Kong. I don't have permission to show that except at the actual awards.

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/3dawards/

 

I've never hosted this many large animations before, so hopefully the server holds up!

[jkletzien]

I know I am posting kind of late but I gotta agree with Ernest, Joe, and akzit-

 

Wanting to pigeonhole yourself in a lower level and not go head to head with others I find a little weird. I guess folks are right that if they feel that all that is being rewarded is the novelty of using new programs or technical gadgets - because then the bigger studios have all the advantages. But it is incredibly difficult to make art by committee, and in this way the individual artist always has a distinct advantage.

 

For instance one of the best digital architectural illustrators around is Dennis Allain (http://www.dennisallain.com) and he is a one man shop - and he may stay that way because his vision is very diffcult to delegate. He'll produce less work but his images have more power than any of the stills I've ever seen larger shops do.

 

For what it is worth...

[santiago]

I remember the King Kong movie, I think the cg was top quality, but from an architectural point of view the content wasn't very interesting, obviously becuase King Kong was the center of attention. I think it's great that Weta be included as a nominee, and I don't think that difference of budget and number of people involved is a serious concern, what 12 guys can manage in a few weeks, perhaps one guy can handle in 4 months, the result matters most. Of course it is not a perfectly fair comparison, but I think it's within good reason.

 

My first choice would be the Uniform "Lakeshore" animation. It's simply a cool animation. Alot of attention was placed to detail, the surroundings match the building perfectly, great use of motion. Architecturally, the building is very boring in itself, and I guess there isn't much to highlight about it, perhaps this explains the interesting animation made to make the video interesting to watch.

 

My second choice would be the BHAA animation for its architectural content, in other words, the meaning of the buildings and their context in history and current surroundings. I did notice some animation errors here and there, like the way the subway train stops.

 

My third choice would be the King Kong animation, though it lacks in architectural significance, it is still very high quality cg.

 

The Smoothe animation was odd in my opinion, but fun to watch. It uses the building windows as sound equalizers, which is actually a very old effect, and pretty cliche in my opinion.

I didn't like the Uniform "airpoint" animation as much, I didn't feel a consistency in the quality of its renders, but it is still an interesting animation to watch.

 

I honestly don't like any of the buildings shown in these animations, except those of the BHAA, their exteriors were pretty cool.

I think that there should be a separate award that takes into account the design of the building and its presentation with equal importance. In the end, I think the architectural design is what tells the story, not the way the building is presented, if the design is poor, then the story can't be amazing, only interesting to watch.

[otacon]

Thanks for hosting the animations.