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October 28th Challenge - The Room - Winners

First Place John Hunter Barrie
Second Place Dale Schulz
Third Place Howard Prince
October 28th Challenge - The Room - Entries

Entry 01 Paul Corfield
Entry 03 David Orheden
Entry 04 Eric Runnels
Entry 06 Daniel J. Moore

October 28th Challenge - The Room - Outline

Yay. The Halloween challenge is finally here! It's been a while since we had a QTVR challenge, so we're going to give it another shot.

Your task is to create one room in a haunted mansion. The creepiest, scariest room you can think of. My original thought for this challenge was to suggest a room from Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Then it occured to me that not as many people play videogames as me =)

Think:

- The library from Poe's "The Raven"
- Dracula's crypt room
- Dr. Jekyl's Laboratory
- Some place you may be required to stay for the night as the prerequisite to receiving an inheritance =)

You don't need to model anything specifically from reference. It can be completely made up. My inspiration would be the Resident Evil or Silent Hill videogames:

http://www.capcom.com/xpml/screenshot.xpml?gameid=650042

The twist this time is that the entry will not be an image, but a QTVR panorama.

If you don't have the expertise or applications to create a final panorama, it's acceptable to submit a panoramic image rendered from Strata3D, and I'll assemble it into a final image. Just render using the "panorama large" preset in S3D, save it as a high-quality Jpeg and I'll do the rest. The challenging part is modeling and texturing an entire room, rather than just the 3-wall "stage sets" that people usually make when creating a set.

Characters are not required, or even desired, in some cases. But you can pu them in if you think it will help the mood.

Models may be imported from external modelers (eg. Wings, Amapi, Silo, etc.). Any amount of post work may be done in Photoshop or other image editors, but try to avoid excessively "hand painting" the image. Remember that panoramic images are naturally distorted, so don't do too much hand-painting in PS, or it will look strange in the final pano.

Models must be original, and created by you. No publicly available models may be used, nor can "3D in a box" solutions, like Poser or Bryce. All 3D rendering for this project must be performed by Strata3D.

Brief Instructions on making a QTVR panorama:

1) Set up the camera in your scene (In this case, inside your room). Set the camera window size to "panorama" in the screen ratio pull-down.

2) Select the camera, and set the "type" to "panoramic" in the object palette. Also, set your Field of View quite high (115-145)

3) Open the render dialog using the plus menu on the camera window. In the "size" pulldown, select "panorama large" or "panorama small". Large would be for final pieces, but it's easier to test out small renders first.

4) Render with Raytracing or Raydiosity. Scanline won't work.

5) For the Mac folks, you'll have to rotate the render 90 degrees counter-clockwise in Photoshop or another image editor. The PC utility does not require this.

6) Download the program that suits your platform:

Mac: ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Quicktime/Tools/QTVR/QTVRMakePanorama2.sit.hqx

Windows: http://www.panoguide.com/software/utils/gocubic.html

You are not required to make a final panorama if you can't figure out how, or just don't want to, although finished panos are preferred. A panoramic image is all that is required. Cubic VR files are allowed, as long as you make them yourself. I'm only assembling panoramas.

Rules and Conditions

The 3D rendering in this challenge must be completely entirely in Strata3D. Modelling can be done in any program (except for Poser or other model collections), as long as the models are imported into Strata3D for rendering. Photoshop, Illustrator, or other image editors or page layout programs may be used for post-processing, texture creation or page layout.

All models and textures must be created by you.

If you have any questions regarding challenge rules or theme guidelines, please email me at michael@stratacafe.com

Entries can be panoramic JPG files (very little compression, for the best results), or finished Panoramic or Cubic VR files.

Entries will be accepted until midnight on Thursday October 28th. Judging will be done online by any member of the cafe with a gallery that's willing to vote =)

The image cannot contain your name or email address anywhere on it, as the judging will be anonymous. Original artist copyright information must be submitted separately if the image is a 3D recreation of an existing peice.

These rules may be subject to change without notice before the close of the contest.

Please, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the contest, please email me at: michael@stratacafe.com

The benefits of the contest:

1) Winners will receive a charming banner to place on their website.

2) There will also be a smaller graphic, that looks a lot like the larger graphic, that will reside on the winners profile page on StrataCafe, forever and ever.

3) People can come to this page to get information on up and coming contests and view past winners (That would be you!)

4) You will receive the adoration of your friends and family, as well as most of the people who visit StrataCafe. (Note: Adoration not a guarantee.)