Video Individual Master
and Visual FX Prize Grzegorz Jonkajtys (grzesiekj) - ‘Legacy’
“When I read about the Uplift competition, I knew I wanted to give it a try," says Grzegorz Jonkajtys. "I started on my main character even before the story was complete. In fact, I had my model ready and partly textured, when I changed the story completely to this rather post-apocalyptic short."
“Working on this piece was real fun. The interaction with the many competitors was great. Of course the deadline was hard to meet, since I worked in this in the evenings and weekends, but it also made it feel real. This is exactly how the industry works. You have to make the deadline, so you need to make smart decisions about how far you want to go with your shots, etc."
“Using real photography as background plates was an easy decision for me. I have always enjoyed mixing real plates and CG, matching lighting, compositing is great fun to do, but it also made the process simpler. I didn't have to model and texture ground, rocks, grass etc. I didn't have enough time to create simulated smoke effects in CG, so I used real ones. All this sped up my work, and also made the short look more realistic."
As the Video Individual Master, Grzegorz wins a BOXX Workstation, SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Autodesk Maya or 3ds Max, Vue 6 xStream, Luxology modo, a one year CGS Membership or extension, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine and a Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Series Bundle.
For the Visual FX prize, Grzegorz wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, a Stash six-pack Bundle, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, a one year CGS Membership or extension, a Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Series Bundle and a copy of Ballistic Publishing’s VESAGE.
Judges’ comments: Taino:Great lighting, music, and overall mood. Animation was simple but well paced.
Video Individual Excellence Brajan Martinovic (SittingDucky) - ‘Sacrifice’
Brajan Martinovic describes this piece as just a bit of fun. He didn't have time to put any sound in, but he says, “I guess that would be fun too to do later.” The idea evolved into a video when he developed other characters that he then wanted to include and they wouldn't fit into a still image. “The entire plot was reworked and I started animating a POV shot of the alien being kicked around by humans. This becomes the opening shot,” says Martinovic.
“Everything I did in the film was a new step for me. The models and textures were the most detailed I’ve ever done, and some new rigging techniques allowed me more control during animation. Especially the facial rigs; they used a lot of helper objects to drive the skin combined with morph targets.”
“The rendering was done in simple scanline as a beauty pass, multiplied by an MRay AO shader, followed by experimenting in compositing. I did a lot of color tweaks and DOF. Gotta love compositing!”
“This was my first CGChallenge, but I guess the other ones were as crazy as this one! It was difficult but really enjoyable and I learned a lot. I submitted the final entry 20 minutes before the end! It was great to compete with so many pros and well known names here, and yet to feel I was in such a friendly and helping environment!”
As Video Individual Excellence Prize winner, Brajan wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Autodesk Mudbox, Vue 6 Infinite, Luxology modo, a Stash 6-pack, a CGS Membership or extension, a free annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine and Ballistic Publishing’s CGChallenge Book Bundle.
Best Character Alperen Kahraman (akahraman) - ‘The Old Man with his Pets’
"The challenge concept seemed so sympathetic to me and I guess that showed in my piece. One morning I suddenly dreamed about a lovely scene as I drew. It was just like a flash before my eyes. I was imagining the place, characters, mood, ambience, light and even the words they spoke. I didn't have any doubt about it."
Judges comments:
Mathias Kollros: Impressive execution compared with a big portion of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" kind of humor.
Alperen Kahraman wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Pixologic ZBrush, a Stash 6-pack Bundle, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing d'artiste Concept Artand a CGSociety annual membership.
Compositing and Editing Tyson Ibele (ivanisavich) - ‘Matrioshka’
‘Matrioshka’ was conceived based on an idea Tyson had a long time ago about an alien encountering a human in a dark hallway. During the competition, he fleshed out the rest of the details and then put the concept into practice.He took inspiration from a lot of horror movies he’d seen, as well many of his fellow CG artists.
“The challenge experience was very fun,” says Tyson. “It was great seeing the WIP aspects of my competitors' work, and it kept me on my toes throughout the entire process. Being able to give and receive feedback during all stages of the contest contributed greatly to the quality of my final entry (and I'm sure it helped contribute to the excellent quality of the other entered pieces).”
Judges comments:
Taino:Great editing and presentation. My only issue was the last shot where it ends with the alien leaves the door, it left me with a confused and disconnected from the rest of the trailer, as if it was an after thought. It had a dynamic first shot but weak end shot.
Tyson Ibele wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, Realviz ImageModeler, a Stash 6-pack Bundle, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing EXPOSÉ 5, CGSociety Membership
Concept Art Björn Norberg (Norberg) ‘Uplift Universe’
It was about a week til deadline when Björn Norberg joined the challenge. “The feedback from all the other artists is why I like these challenges so much, he says. “And to see everyone’s different approaches on the same theme, was really inspiring. I wanted to create a dark scene with a grim lighting.
I kept the mist from my first sketch simply because I didn’t have time to detail the background. I took a few photos of myself to get the anatomy correct and for the alien guy I looked at pictures of Alien, Predator and Lou Ferrigno as ‘The Hulk.’ Thanks a lot for all the support and encouragement during this challenge. It really helps keeping you motivated.”
Björn Norberg wins SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials, a Wacom Cintiq 12WX, an annual subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, Ballistic Publishing's d'artiste - Concept Art and a CGSociety Membership
