NEWS CENTER

Evermotion launched a remarkable architectural renderings challenge “Evermotion Challenge 2015” . Fox Renderfarm is the only one domestic  to sponsor this challenge.

Evermotion was founded in 1998 and now its portal is one of the biggest over the CG world. Since the beginning Evermotion has earned a stable position in the global CG market and thousands of customers. Evermotion concentrates CG fans from all over the world. It provides a platform for CG fans to share experience and plenty of 3D models and texturing to download. Evermotion creates and develops products that help CG artists with their 3D visualizations by speeding up their workflow and increasing their quality of output.

This challenge lasts from November 17th to January 26th. The participants should submit at least 5 WIP (Work In Progress) renders in their forum thread before the deadline, including concept sketch or reference photo, modeling, texturing, lighting and rendering, post effects and composting. The jury is composed of authorities in CG industry. They are Spanish super realism CG artist Alex Roman, Official V-Ray Instructor Ciro Sannino, Evermotion founder PENdzel – Krzysztof M. Kundzicz, and Evermotion CG artists Jakub Dabrowski, Barbara Witkowska, Michal Horba.

The theme of this challenge is about “LOFT”. First adopters of LOFT style were usually poor artists occupying abandoned factories in industrial quarters. Now LOFT tends to be a new trend over the world. Evermotion seizes this opportunity to launch the challenge, encourages the participants to unleash their imagination and design their own perfect loft!

Join Evermotion Challenge 2015 now!

Glad to have an interview with Brian Beaudry, the 1st place winner in Renderosity 2018 Animation Holiday Contest, here is the detail we want to share for everyone, to know more about a good animation hobbyist.

Fox Renderfarm: Hi Brian, congratulation to win the 1st place! Would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?

Brian Beaudry: Yes，my name is Brian Beaudry and I am honored to have won the Renderosity 2018 Animation Holiday Contest.  I am a full-time Musician and work in many local bands and nursing homes entertaining people of all ages. Before music, I worked as an Airbrush Artist painting T-shirts, murals, and paintings. I started working in computer art and animation as a hobby about 20 years ago.

Fox Renderfarm: Wow, very interesting experience. So how did you make the decision to step into the animation industry?

Brian Beaudry: Being an Artist is relaxing and a very fulfilling hobby. I started working in still 3d pictures and worked my way into animations. Being able to bring my characters to life on screen in the comfort of my own home is Amazing. I have learned to work with many 3d software packages.

Fox Renderfarm: That’s awesome! Did you still remember your first work, how does it look like? Brian Beaudry: My first programs were Bryce and Ray Dream 3d back in 1996. I was working as an Airbrush artist at the time and made some simple still shots for a Cd cover I was working on at the time. Many years passed and about 9 years ago I started back at 3d artwork on the computer.

Fox Renderfarm: I see, so how did you know the Renderosity's contest?

Brian Beaudry: In 2011 I entered my first Renderosity animation contest after finding the forum page and discovering the contest. That year I took 3rd place. I entered the next 2 years taking 2nd and then finally 1st place. During my first years of the contest, I used Vue for my Animations and put the frames together in After Effects. I found Vue to be very slow for rendering and did not enter again until this year. I changed my Animation program to Iclone 7 which handles pbr rendering and improved my rendering speeds by leaps and bounds. Over the years since my last contest I learned many new tricks which helped make the Movie I made this year that won the contest. I designed the main character in Zbrush and textured him in Substance painter. I have collected some great motion captures over the years and assigned them to my character in Iclone.

Fox Renderfarm: Sounds great! You really love animation, you worth to have the prizes. Can you show us your work that won the place in this contest?

Brian Beaudry: I have uploaded a copy of my movie.

Fox Renderfarm: Good for you! Therefore, what inspired you to come out the idea of making this work? Also, what software, renderers, plugins you used in this work?

Brian Beaudry: The contest theme was the ghosts of Christmas past. My idea was to bring life to an old room using magic. My main character is the Armored Knight. The Idea was the magical Christmas Fairies would bring the old room back to life. The Fairies would come down the chimney and everything they passed would be restored. There were old lights being turned on, the once warm fireplace being re-lit, and of course the suit of armor coming to life. I also wrote the song for this animation called “Christmas Fairies” using a Yamaha Mx-61 keyboard and Sonar recording program.

Fox Renderfarm: Fantastic idea! Did you use Fox Renderfarm service previously? If yes, would you share your ideas about us?

Brian Beaudry: I have never used Fox Renderfarm, but now having some credits I look Forward to using it to help me in future projects.

Fox Renderfarm: Thanks, hope our render farm can satisfy you. Anything else you would like to add or say?

Brian Beaudry: I hope in the near future to start work on some videos for some of my original music. Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy my Movie ”Ghosts of Christmas Past”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV0xxDGHLZY this is my animation on youtube.

www.roadtripniagara.com -my music website

On July 3, 2019, the CG Boost Cute Warrior Challenge, which sponsored by Fox Renderfarm, announced the final list of winners. There were 128 accepted submissions and so many cute, funny and also weird characters for the Cute Warrior Challenge. Congratulations to 11 entries with the most votes by the jury. Fox Renderfarm also had an interview with the Champion, Kenji Aito, a funny and creative CG artist.

First place: Teddy The Halberdier Bear by Kenji Aito

What the jury says:

Chris Plush: Extremely well executed idea in all aspects. Great armor and weapon design, and awesome attention to detail especially on the fur being worn down in some areas.

Aidy Burrows: Nice clear and readable character! Liking the semi-realistic super clean rendering style too. Nice design on the armor – holes for the ears for example and subtle but effective details! 

Gregory Smith: This is a great entry; it hits the topic perfectly, and the technical execution is excellent. The presentation is clear and readable, whilst the attention to detail gives it that extra visual interest.

Ebrahim Umar-Khitab: The accuracy of that grim expression has done me in! Great work.

Lukas Walzer: This piece stands out as being technically incredibly well done. Modeling, fur, texturing and posing are top-notch!

Marius Iatan: his little guy checks all the boxes, down to the pin that holds the bandage. Has the right attitude, too. Very nice character!

Julien Kaspar: There clearly has been a lot of focus on polishing the character itself. This is the one I found myself looking at the most, looking at the details as well as the broader decisions of for the character model. Also, really great grooming and materials throughout!

Zacharias Reinhardt: This plushy character has probably the best technical execution I saw in this challenge. From the great looking metal, the perfect looking fur with the worn out spots, down to all the fine details, everything very well executed. A good dynamic pose and a proper lighting shows the character in fully glory. The only thing I wished here, would have been to see this little guy in an environment with a bit more storytelling context.

Here’s the interview between Fox Renderfarm and Kenji Aito.

Fox Renderfarm: Hi Kenji Aito, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?

Kenji Aito: Hi, I'm Kenji from Japan (but I'm from France originally). I started to study CG seriously one year ago during my spare time with Blender, that I fell in love with. I still have much to learn and I think it is necessary to keep learning forever in CG (because software evolution is FAST! and so much more accessible than 10 years ago!) Now I wish I can work in the CG industry and well. I'm potentially open to opportunities! Meanwhile, I will keep improving both the technical and artistic sides of CG!

Fox Renderfarm: What inspired you to come out the idea of making the work "Teddy The Halberdier Bear"?

Kenji Aito: Well.. all right... First I was re-watching from scratch Game of Thrones... preparing myself for the LAST season. So, I could see all those nice armors, helmets.. pike axes.. halberd... Then the CGBoost challenge "cute warrior" came up and I was not even sure I will try something (I also join the challenge just before this one but ended up 4th). I gave some consideration to it and... I just thought "Halberdier bear"; sounds funny... and that was it! I was on! Honestly, I was not even sure I will have time to finish my artwork!

Fox Renderfarm: How long did it take you to finish the work? And which part took the most time? Why?

Kenji Aito: Approximately half a day to a day... but it's hard to keep count. Since I have a job I can only work on CG at night, and as I said, I was watching Game of Thrones too! So I think I worked 1.5 hours per day on average, for a bunch of days. The part that took the most time is certainly the fur... I was really not sure what kind of fur will look cool. And since I wanted to be sure, I was doing test renders often... Also, I did not optimize the particles systems at first, so my GPU was too short on memory, and I was rendering on the CPU. So the whole tweaking process took time. As the armor it was fast: for example, the weapon was modeled in 15 min, and shading took something like 20 min.

Fox Renderfarm: What software, renderers, plugins did you use in this work?

Kenji Aito: Blender 3D as my main 3D package! The character was modeling with Blender sculpting mode.. retopology with Instant Meshes! Cycles as render. Everything was made without plugins in Blender actually. But for the armor shaders, I used Substance Painter.

Work-In-Progress

Fox Renderfarm: The jury praises your "awesome attention to detail" in this work, how did you deal with the details?

Kenji Aito: With love! Always... I think I'm addicted to details. Maybe it's a good thing, but it could be a bad thing too... because when I focus too many details I might forget the "big picture", such as storytelling, the overall balance of shapes and color, proportions... Though, I always try to start with simple shapes down to smaller ones... My workflow is very iterative, and feels like going through the history of CGs: decades ago everything was made a few polys but people were already trying to make attractive shapes, profiles, and silhouettes. Then, as software and hardware got better, the same base ideas with more details came to life. The only issue is that it's time-consuming, so you'd better find a "smart/lazy" workflow to quickly add all those yummy details. But also, one must be careful not to saturate with extra small details, otherwise, the audience will be lost. And that, I have to work on it... I guess.

Fox Renderfarm: What has satisfied you most about this work?

Kenji Aito: Well, it was my first 3D character! so I was happy with the result. I don't think I have many skills for characters design... because I should learn to sketch/draw properly for that, study anatomy and all that... But anyway, I think I was happy with the workflow because even though it was my first character, I did not have to check online what to do... It was only me, my Blender and my Pureref (to organize my references)

Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? And how did you solve it?

Kenji Aito: Honestly, not really. And I was happy about that. Everything went smooth and only the tweaking of the fur was time-consuming. I should have probably tweaked all that in a separated scene with less fur and smaller geometry.

Fox Renderfarm: Did you use Fox Renderfarm service previously? If yes, would you share your ideas about us?

Kenji Aito: No! not yet. But I was thinking about turntables renders in the near future. For my next personal project, I want to make very photorealistic stuff... and a turntable with Cycles would be great. I know, everyone will say " why not EEVEE?!" but well, I want to try your services and I do love raytracing!!

Fox Renderfarm: How long have you been in the CG industry? Do you have any recommendable learning methods to improve professional skills？

Kenji Aito: Well, I'm not a professional but I wish to become one! and make my living with it! Learning methods: well, Blender is awesome and the community is top notch. so many resources are free and of quality... I was really surprised. There are some people making real art with Blender and I think it's great to learn from them. Also, it's always good to look at more classic art: I am very interested into painting theory.. lightning... and all those things that bring life to a piece of paper (or screen!). So I recommend to everyone not to just focus on the theory of 3D, but also go out and learn about art in general: "how to make a good composition" "the art of color matching" and so on... It takes time but I think it's worth it. If I can become a CG professional I will definitely find the time to study all that and I hope I can show it makes a real difference.

Fox Renderfarm: Anything else you would like to share with CG enthusiasts?

Kenji Aito: Contact me if you want to work with me :) My motivation is burning! Now that I start to have some tools at my disposal and know how to use them... I have so many ideas I don't know where to start!!!

You can visit Kenji Aito’s Artstation here. (https://www.artstation.com/kenji-art )

To see more entries of Cute Warrior Challenge, please check here. (https://cgboost.com/cute-warrior-challenge-winners/?tdsourcetag=s_pcqq_aiomsg)

Tell us what you see when you lift the veil and peek into the dystopian or utopian future worlds. What is your idea of alternative universe and highly altered state of existence? Are there beings out there? What do they look like? What do they do and how do they live? When you step into those parallel planets, does your heart stop due to their colorful beauty or overwhelming fear? Can we take a space lift to travel there? Let the current of questions take you to unimagined places and thrill you with implausible adventures and stories. Ignite the future with a spark of untamed imagination.

We have run a similar challenge last year and have been taken aback by the creativity and effort that went into modeling spaceships, characters, buildings, vehicles, guns and all kinds of concept 3D models that intensified the experience of visiting future worlds. In fact, it's rather addictive, so here we are again, asking you to pull the big guns and show us some back to the future stuff that would make this challenge a roaring adventure.

The best visionary proposals will receive awesome prizes: Substance Indie Packs and Substance Painter / Substance Designer licenses by Allegorithmic, interviews in the magazine by 3D Artist Online, $1000 render fee by Fox Renderfarm, 1 Year Professional level Clara.io accounts by Clara.io, store credits by Daz3D, Maxwell Render Suite Node Lock and Learning Edition licenses by Nextlimit, credits and promotional features by CGTrader.

Good luck! Awards & Prizes There are two categories of awards in this challenge. Each of them will have one winner and two runner-ups. Best 3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge Model and Best Portfolio For the 1st place winners

Substance Indie Pack by Allegorithmic Maxwell Render Suite Node Lock license by Next Limit interview in the magazine by 3D Artist Online 1 Year Professional level Clara.io accounts by Clara.io $250 render fee by Fox Renderfarm $100 store credits by Daz3D 150 credits by CGTrader Promotional features by CGTrader

For the 1st runner-ups

Substance Painter or Substance Designer license by Allegorithmic Learning Edition license by Next Limit

1 Year Professional level Clara.io accounts by Clara.io $150 render fee by Fox Renderfarm $50 store credits by Daz3D 100 credits by CGTrader Promotional features by CGTrader

For the 2nd runner-ups

Substance Painter or Substance Designer license by Allegorithmic 1 Year Professional level Clara.io accounts by Clara.io $100 render fee by Fox Renderfarm $25 store credits by Daz3D 50 credits by CGTrader Promotional features by CGTrader

Terms & Conditions Things you must know

3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge will run from the 20th of February, 2015, to the 17th of April, 2015. When uploading your entry be sure to check "sci-fi-challenge" to get your model tagged and counted to the challenge. Cool renderings are optional but we will definitely consider this when judging.

Things you should know

Designs uploaded to the gallery are not treated as valid entries. Upon joining this challenge, you agree that your rendering scene might be used by sponsors for marketing (non-commercial!) purposes. You can have as much entry models as you want. By uploading more than 8 entry models you are eligible to enter the Portfolio category too. The challenge is open to everyone, including teams, legal entities and people from all over the world. Participating in the challenge and uploading 3D models to CGTrader platform is free of charge. All the entries must be original and not derivable. Employees and relatives of CGTrader and sponsor teams are not allowed to participate in this challenge. Any existing taxes or duties must be paid by the winner. CGTrader is not responsible for any illegal actions taken by the prize winners. We are independent sheriffs of this challenge, so stick to the rules and don't do anything stupid. Got some questions? Have suggestions? Check for FAQ or drop us a line at info@cgtrader.com.

Judging The judging of the challenge will be performed by CGTrader staff. Winners will be chosen following the requirements below:

Best 3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge Model

Quality of the 3D CG Sci-Fi model Uniqueness, innovation, and general achievement in design of the 3D Sci-Fi model Clear and attractive presentation on CGTrader.com

Best 3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge Portfolio

Quality of the 3D Sci-Fi portfolio Uniqueness, innovation, and general achievement in design of the 3D Sci-Fi portfolio Clear and attractive presentation on CGTrader.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to upload files or only images of my 3D design? You need to upload files and images of your 3D design in order to participate in the challenge.

I don't want to put my entry model for sale. Do you have any suggestions? Does earning money from your digital files sounds like a bad idea? Just try to put higher price on it, let's say 300 USD.

I don't want to loose copyrights on my model after it is sold. There are General, Editorial and Custom licenses for you to choose under which you want to operate. Individuals or companies which bought your model can't use it for commercial purposes if it hasn't been changed. So no worries - you won't loose the copyright.

How can I participate in the challenge? Design awesome 3D model for 3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge and upload it to CGTrader.

What if I put the required tag on my already published 3D model on CGTrader - do you treat it as a valid entry? No. Only 3D models uploaded in the period from the 20th of February to the 17th of April 2015 will be treated as valid entries.

Do free 3D models participate in the challenge? Yes, absolutely. Sharing artwork is always appreciated in the community.

Can I enter with 3D models which participated in other challenges elsewhere? Yes. There are no restrictions on publishing and selling your models elsewhere.

Do price tags play any importance when entries are being judged? No. But do not forget that the prices are always judged by the customers.

I want to participate in the challenge so I am going to delete my already uploaded models and upload them again to meet the "publishing period" requirement. Can I do that? No. We are tracking every deleted and uploaded model, so it is useless to drive-through our requirements of the challenge.

More information on CGTrader：http://www.cgtrader.com/challenges/3d-sci-fi-challenge

Shenzhen, China – When it comes to cloud rendering services, Rayvision has made a marked impact in the IT  industry. In addition to being a pioneer of self-service cloud rendering, Fox Renderfarm became one of the pivotal sponsors, in the exciting 3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge for talented graphic designers.

At a recent conference, a spokesperson for Fox Renderfarm said, “We believe that the best way to grow and develop is to help instill fresh new talent and ideas in a positive direction. We have always been adamant supporters of promoting new talent. As sponsors for the 3D CG Sci-Fi Challenge this year, we are proud to help talented graphic designers exhibit their futuristic visions and dreams on a greater and more realistic scale.”

The best, visionary proposals of the competition will receive some notable prizes. These include a $250 render fee for the first place winners, $150 for the first runner up and finally, a render fee of $100 for the second runner up. Along with sponsors DreamWorks, American Industrial Light and Magic, SKG and various other animation companies from all over the world, Fox Renderfarm provides talented individuals the chance to explore and grow in CG.

The 3D Sci-Fi Challenge focuses on honing and testing the skills of talented individuals who have the capabilities to envision an “alternative” universe with respect to a dystopian or utopian future. This challenge will run from February 20th to April 17th, 2015 and is open to everyone, including teams, and talented graphic designers from all over the world. Each participant has the freedom to upload more than one entry model and stand a chance of qualifying for the portfolio category if they upload more than eight models.

“We suggest that everyone try their skills by participating in this grand event!” added the spokesperson. The CGTrader Staff, will judge each entry on quality, innovation and presentation.

About the Company

Shenzhen Rayvision Inc. is an internet technology company that specializes in research into cluster rendering and parallel computing technology, providing computing services for cloud rendering. It is the pioneer of ‘self service could rendering’. Renderbus, its brand, was the first company in China to offer a cloud-rendering platform.

For the purpose of providing consistent service for CG studios in the world, Rayvision launched a family brand, “Fox Renderfarm”, globally, based on Renderbus(its domestic brand) and Fox RenderFarm (its overseas brand), in 2014. Rayvision promises to provide global users with more excellent, stable and consistent .

On June 12, 2019, Hum3D’s “Three D Guns 2” Competition, which also sponsored by the leading render farm service provider - Fox Renderfarm, announced the final list of winners. All the works in this competition are gun-themed 3D artworks. The competition attracted a large number of game artists, character designers, and weapon fans. Fox Renderfarm was honorable to be one of the judges, and had the chance to choose a work for the special prize - Fox Renderfarm Team Choice. All the entries are creative and pluralistic, congratulations to everyone. Here are the excellent award-winning works. First place: Porcelain 1911 by Yi Sun  What the jury says: Jeremie Noguer: “Original idea and flawless execution”. Yurii Lebediev: “I love it! When I look at this render I remember feeling when I held porcelain mini figurines of animals of my granny. This is so nice and so good done!” Zacharias Reinhardt: “What a combination! Combining a hard and deadly weapon with something filigree as porcelain. The shape and materials with all the painted details, totally sells it”. Dominik Capodieci: “Interesting idea and nice shading and lighting”. Tom Grimes: “I have a soft-spot for juxtapositions, putting two things together that would never normally be found together. A porcelain gun! With beautiful patterning just like on the fine China that only gets used on Sundays. Almost surreal!” Remi Arquier: “I love the concept and the detailing – a lot of work went into taking this outside the box”. Second place: Under Cover Paranoia by Nicolas Berger

What the jury says: Yurii Lebediev: “Absolutely unique ‘gun’! Very nice render! Enormous attention to details!” Zacharias Reinhardt: “This is probably the most disgusting weapon I have ever seen, but that is what it makes so great! The weapon design is great (in a weird way) and looks like it is straight out of an alien movie. The image is technically well executed and I especially like all the tiny realistic details. Now I know hat will haunt me in my nightmares ;)” Remi Arquier: “You don’t see much Cronenberg fan art these days, and this one stood out in concept and execution”. Third place: The Stopper by Kimmo Kaunela

What the jury says: Arseniy Korablev (Teya Conceptor): “My favorite artwork in the competition. This nomination is needed at least to highlight such authors. Beautiful colors, interesting weapon. I want to pick up it and run with it :) The only thing that bothers me is a slightly blurry render, possibly due to DOF, antialiasing or image interpolation settings”. Jeremie Noguer: “The slight stylization works well, lighting and environment are on point”. Deuce Bennett: “I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic, kitbash, and steampunk. This weapon tells me a story, and I love it”. Special prize from Fox Renderfarm: Decimator MK1 by Malchus

What Fox Renderfarm says: “Great lighting, overall atmosphere is good, warm and cool colors contrast highlights the theme, so that viewers would instantly focus on the main object at first glance. The gun is perfectly blended into the picture, but still manages to stand out. Model, texture and lighting, overall is perfect”. Congratulations to all the award-winning artists and Fox Renderfarm hope to help more 3D artists to create their masterpieces. To check out all of the fantastic winning entries, as well as some special Team Choice mentions, visit Hum3D's blog post here. https://hum3d.com/blog/3d-guns-winners/

On May 31, as one of the distinguished alumni of SCAD, Ben Cheung, Deputy General Manager of Fox Renderfarm, was invited to SCAD Hong Kong’s Digital Media Senior Show 2019.

Fox Renderfarm, a leading cloud render farm in the CG industry, has served lots of leading special effects companies and animation studios from over 50 countries and regions, including two Oscar winners.

In the event, Fox Renderfarm offered cloud rendering support to digital media senior students of SCAD Hong Kong, helping more students to achieve a solid career start in the CG industry.

2019 Digital Media Senior Show discovers imaginative works and exceptional designs from the departments of Animation, Visual Effects, and Interactive Design & Game Development. It provides a fantastic opportunity for students and enterprises to engage with each other and help students deepen understanding of digital media.

Here are the animation works from 2019 digital media senior students.

My Friend Chameleyon

Pamela Lai

Film synopsis:

Chameleyon is Carly’s best toy pal. One day, as they were playing, Carly’s greatest fear, Sharketron the robot vacuum happened to join in. As she unconsciously went to hide, she leaves Chameleyon behind. When Carly realised that Sharketron was approaching Chameleyon, she had to make the decision of overcoming her fear to save her best friend.

Director’s website: www.orllowart.me

Team:

Director&Producer: Pamela Lai

Sound Designer: Rian Leung

Main-On-End: Sheryl Chan

Concept Artist: Raven Chau, Pamela Lai

Modeling Team: Noah Catan, Pamela Lai

Rigging Team: Yan Chau, Pamela Lai

Texture Artist: Rico Lee, Pamela Lai

3D Animator: Pamela Lai

Lighting&Rendering: Pamela Lai

Compositor: Noah Catan

Special Thanks: Jake Zhang, Bryan Bentley

Produced at Savannah College of Art and Design

Bear and Bunny

Hugo Setyadji

Film synopsis:

The short is focused on a day in the life of a bear living in a city of bunnies. His office day is mundane, though the struggles of fitting in still plague him. He’s often just at the wrong place, at the wrong time, which is his office, at basically any time.

Director’s website: http://hugosetyadji.com

Team:

Diector&Producer: Hugo Setyadji

Concept Art: Hugo Setyadji

Character Modelling: Hugo Setyadji

Environment Modelling: Hugo Setyadji Kayla Man

Rigging: Hugo Setyadji

Texturing: Hugo Setyadji

Animation: Hugo Setyadji, Ciara Maloto, Michelle Hui, Stanley Soendoro

Lighting&Rendering: Hugo Setyadji

Composting: Hugo Setyadji

Music Composer: Daniel McCormick

Special Thanks: Jake Zhang, Bryan Bentley

Produced at Savannah College of Art and Design

The Divine Infection

Christine Stevens

Film synopsis:

"The Divine Infection" is a dark and surreal story of a girl who was tortured by a cult in the past. She returns to the church many years later in order to reunite with her snow leopard daemon and erase the scars the cult left behind.

Director’s website: www.christinestevens.me

Team:

Animation: Andre King, Christine Stevens

Modelling&Texturing: Nick Levene, Leoncio Soler, Christine Stevens, Ian Tse

Music: Ho Shan Lam

Rigging: Hugo Setyadji, Christine Stevens

Sound Design: Irene Chan

Voice Acting: Elena Lorenzo

Special Thanks: Chris de Boer, Jake Zhang, Bryan Bentley

Produced at Savannah College of Art and Design

Here are the artworks from junior students, including animation and visual effects.

Savannah College of Art and Design

 The Savannah College of Art and Design was founded in 1978. Offering more degree programs and specializations than any other art and design university, SCAD is uniquely qualified to prepare talented students for professional, creative careers. SCAD is one university - offering degrees in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, Hong Kong, and online via eLearning, with additional study abroad opportunities in Lacoste, France, and other locations. Each SCAD location provides a new experience, and students can choose to study in any location, at any quarter during their education.

SCAD Hong Kong offers the area’s largest concentration of art and design degree programs in the heart of the Sham Shui Po district, where a fusion of ancient heritage and Western influence inspires visitors from around the globe. SCAD offers degrees in more than 40 areas of study, as well as minors in more than 60 disciplines.

In Hong Kong, timeless tradition merges with the high-tech. SCAD Hong Kong offers students every resource imaginable in the UNESCO award-winning former North Kowloon Magistracy building, a grand courthouse fully restored and revitalized by the university. Features of the transformation include a library, digital labs and studios, darkrooms, a green screen studio, and sound design and editing suites.

It is our honor to have an interview with Yi Sun, the first place winner in Hum3D’s Three D Gun 2 Competition, which is also sponsored by Fox Renderfarm, a leading render farm service provider in CG industry. Share this interview with everyone, here are the dialogue between Fox Renderfarm and Yi Sun.

Fox Renderfarm: Hi, Yi Sun, congratulations to winning the 1st place in this contest, thanks so much for taking your time to have the interview with us. Firstly, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?

Yi Sun: Yes, my name is Yi Sun, 25 years old, from China, I had a bachelor degree in 3d animation and I’m currently studying Master of Design in Sydney.

Fox Renderfarm: How long have you been in the CG industry? And how did you make the decision to get into the CG industry?

Yi Sun: I haven't found a job in the CG industry yet, but I've been teaching myself 3D for 5 years now. I started doing silly short videos when I was a kid. back then I discovered I can make some visual effects for videos in After Effects, but soon, I realized the 2D visual effects is very limited, I want to make more sophisticated effects, especially 3D effects. so I started learning 3D software. At that time I just thought it was cool, I never thought about doing this for a career, until I visited the universal studio in Los Angles. I got a chance to listen to the Hollywood VFX artists talks about the VFX production of the blockbuster movies and it blew my mind. I've been dreaming to work on a blockbuster movie ever since that talk and I've been working very hard trying to put my first step in the CG industry. I hope my dream will come true soon. Fox Renderfarm: It is a great experience. Wish your dream come true. About the work "Porcelain 1911", what inspired you to come out the idea of making it? Yi Sun: The idea is very simple, combining two completely different objects together. I used to do this kind of design practice a lot when I was learning character design in 3D animation. In "Porcelain 1911", I try to combine the porcelain element I familiar with and a gun which I'm not quite familiar with. I think as a 3d artist, the biggest advantage I had is my cultural background.  I've seen a lot of Chinese porcelain as I grow up, I found them very beautiful, so I feel very comfortable to work with porcelain element in my design. if this competition is about design a realistic and futuristic sci-fi gun, I believe there are millions of 3d artist who can design better sci-fi gun than me, because I never have seen or touch a real gun.

Fox Renderfarm: It is an interesting idea. How long did it take you to finish the work?

Yi Sun: I was doing a master degree while working on the "Porcelain 1911", I had 3 assignments from Uni so I barely had time to work on it, sometimes I only have 15 minutes before I got to go to sleep. It took me about 2 months, but I think the actual time I spent on it is only about 120 hours. Now I look at it, I think it could be done better, there are still many things I want to polish in this work.

Fox Renderfarm: What software, renderers, plugins did you use in this work?

Yi Sun: My main 3d software is Maya, and I used Mari (non-commercial) for texturing, and redshift for rendering and photoshop.

Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? And how did you solve it?

Yi Sun: The difficulties I faced in this project is to create the realistic hand paint graphic of the Chinese porcelain, I tried to import vector into Photoshop apply filters but the result looks very fake, I tried to download watercolour brush for photoshop, but it doesn't look good either. Then I realized it’s not possible to create realistic paint mark on the computer, so I decided to create the texture physically with watercolour. I realized even though we had so many presets, filters and plugins to helps us create digital works, but they can never replace traditional mark making techniques, as a digital artist, I should always remember to respect the physical medium. Fox Renderfarm: Anything else you would like to share with CG enthusiasts? Yi Sun: I think CG is the best medium for self-expression, you can create almost anything and everything, that's why there are many things to learn, too many. I spent 5 years learning CG and I still feel that I know nothing about it, that's why I think we should always be humble to learn and we should try to use our cultural background as our advantage to develop our own unique style.

Fox Renderfarm: Yes, totally agree with you. I hope you can make more wonderful works in the future, and you will be an excellent CG artist. Thanks so much for your time. More Yi Sun's artworks: yisun.artstation.com

RAYVISION Inc., one of the world’s largest cloud computing and cloud rendering solution providers for both the motion picture and animation industries, is proud to be one of the Golden Sponsors of the Evermotion “Summer in the City Challenge” 2014.Total prizes worth €15 859 are on offer and the Challenge will run from September 16th to November 17th, 2014. Contestants are required to make great visualisations—both interiors and exteriors—and crazy ideas are welcome too. Those who are creative, innovative and have great technical skills will be rewarded with one of the many prizes available.Prizes will be presented according to the aesthetics of the project in question and its technical quality, and work in all submissions must be generated in 3D software of the entrant’s choice, although processing inside Photoshop or other 2D software is also allowed.In addition, all work submitted to this Challenge must be the participant’s own personal work and work from groups and/or companies is not allowed. If ready-made 3D models or textures are used, credits have to be given to people or companies who made them. Final submission resolution should be not lower than 1200px (the longest edge).All in all, the Evermotion Challenge 2014 provides an excellent opportunity for contestants to show their work to the CG community, and to experts and employers from all over the world.See: http://www.evermotion.org for more details.RAYVISION Inc., being an Oscar-winning post-production company and one of the largest rendering service providers in the world—with more than 2,000 nodes of super computing power, and over 18,000 clients in 35 countries—and one of the Golden Sponsors of this Challenge Event, encourages active participation from all people in the industry.With its proprietary multiple patent cloud computing technology, RAYVISION Inc. is well known for providing customised platform and infrastructure level services specifically tailored for motion picture and animation companies.

First of all, congratulations to Mohit Sanchaniya to win the 1st place in Evermotion Challenge 2018, which also sponsored by Fox Renderfarm, we just have an interview with Mohit, thanks so much for Mohit to spend his time in doing this interview, now, let’s know more about this good CG artist.Fox Renderfarm: Hi Mohit, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?Mohit Sanchaniya: I am Mohit Sanchaniya, living in Stockholm, but i origin from Bengaluru, India. Academically I have graduated in Civil architecture, which during my college days I found the arch vis industry had a keen in making 3d stuff where I found my passion, then turned into a full-time profession. I am a self-taught CG artist and creative specialist. It has been a great journey even after having less exposure in India as it is still initial stages of CGI industry in archives growing in India.Fox Renderfarm: So, are you currently working as a CG artist?Mohit Sanchaniya: Yep I am working as Visual Designer at the TMRW studio in Stockholm, Sweden.Fox Renderfarm: Great! How did you make the decision to step into the CG industry?Mohit Sanchaniya: It started out all suddenly from an amazing movie transformer which I was watching in 2014, which literally amazed how the character was bought to life and so realistic. This inspired me to get into 3D that when I started out learning tools which I initially started with learning Maya and later moved to 3Ds Max, focus more on architecture.Fox Renderfarm: It was a really good experience that leads you into the CG industry. Now, did you still remember your first CG work, how does it look like?Mohit Sanchaniya: I still remember my first work it was super fine those days, but bad when compared now. but that result is still embedded my nerves to push furthermore.Fox Renderfarm: How did you know the Evermotion Challenge?Mohit Sanchaniya: I have been following Evermotion as well using their model from a long time, which I have known that they organize the challenge every year in the winter. so I followed up them in facebook that had a post up for Evermotion Challenge 2018 which excited me to check the topic a day in a city ´this brought a lot of interest to participate in the challenge.Fox Renderfarm: What inspired you to come out the idea of making the work Misty Chicago?Mohit Sanchaniya: It was the challenge and skills that brought out the Idea, as I always looks for a challenge in projects, So it had been a long time I had made a big cityscape with all the details, modelling etc. so then as told I saw up the Evermotion Challenge topicA day in the City´ this definitely pushed me in doing it. so I took almost 2 weeks to complete the project from scratch to the final art. I have always been making images in a different style and moddy, rather than making it a typical archviz images which I find almost every day. I started out looking for a reference in the Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr etc to find the perfect reference with had to balance of composition, lighting, colour scheme and details in it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any so had to create out using the photo-bashing technique using photoshop. I had almost made 10-15 sketches of this topic in a different style, composition. This idea of the process involving so many different creative aspects and decision inspired me to create the work Misty Chicago.Fox Renderfarm: What software, renderers, plugins you used in this work?Mohit Sanchaniya: I used Autodesk 3Ds Max, Chaos Group V-Ray, Forest pack, Rail Clone, Substance Designer and Adobe Photoshop.Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? If yes, how did you solve it?Mohit Sanchaniya: I had difficulty in the balancing and optimizing the scene in terms of details as well polycount. I had started out with the modelling the scene all from scratch taking out the reference from the google maps and google street view which was super helpful, then as the modeling in the scene was coming to end, the scene had become so heavy and difficult in managing of the props, architecture, street details etc. I converted all the heavy objects into Xref. removing the unwanted poly like the LOD - level of details which took me 2 hours to clean up and optimize the scene to flow. I figured out some models had unwanted polycount and Vray displacement MOD in it which I had to eradicate as they weren't that close or necessary to the scene, it was playing smart and optimized helped to get through the problem.Fox Renderfarm: Did you use Fox Renderfarm service previously? If yes, would you share your ideas about us?Mohit Sanchaniya: No, I haven't used the Fox Renderfarm service, but I am definitely looking forward to utilizing the Fox Renderfarm in future projects.Fox Renderfarm: Thank you, hope our render farm can make your works more and more wonderful and satisfy you. Anything else you would like to share with us?Mohit Sanchaniya: I think it was a great opportunity in participating in the Evermotion Challenge - 2018, it pushed me and learnt so many stuff during this project. I would like to tell everyone to participate or work more in making something different and creative apart from the work routine it will definitely make you more creative and understanding when it comes to the complex projects and scene.Also, check out my work at www.facebook.com/artofmohitsanchaniya

Besides the 3D category, our render farm also sponsors the animation category of Renderosity 2018 Holiday Contest. Welcome Gary to have an interview on Fox Renderfarm, the 2nd winner in the animation category, thanks so much for your time.Fox Renderfarm: Hi Gary, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?Gary S. Kennedy:  I'm a retired chemical engineer who has used a slide rule.  My primary hobby is short computer 3D animations.Fox Renderfarm: So are you currently working as a CG artist?Gary S. Kennedy: I didn't.  Just a hobbyist.Fox Renderfarm: Did you still remember your first CG work, how does it look like?Gary S. Kennedy: Probably something in Bryce/Poser, maybe an NVIATWAS.Fox Renderfarm: How did you know the Renderosity Contest?Gary S. Kennedy: I've been a member of the Renderosity community for many years.  I'm not a modeler, I primarily purchase Poser format figures and props since they load seamlessly into Carrara Pro 8.5, my main software for animation.  Renderosity is the best source of such content, with great modelers who sell their products for very affordable prices.Fox Renderfarm: Haha, you are not the first one to give it a high appreciation. About your work, what inspired you to come out with the idea of making "A Christmas Caper"?Gary S. Kennedy: The contest was titled "The Ghosts of Christmas Past" which brought to mind the great Dickens' story "A Christmas Carol".  The animation is sort of a parody of that.Fox Renderfarm: As a hobbyist, did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? If yes, how did you solve it?Gary S. Kennedy: I participate in the 48 Hour Film contest here in Houston, which requires a 5 minute video (most are live action) in two days, starting with an assigned character (name & occupation) and prop, and a randomly drawn genre (about twenty total - comedy, western, noir, etc.)  Two days is very little time for a five-minute animation, there is no time for re-thinking or re-anything.  In this contest, I had a month or more, so the problem was not time, but discarding ideas which were too complicated, e.g. ghosts as in the Dickens' story.Fox Renderfarm: Yes, that’s really a great difficulty, like what to do and how to do at the begging, it is very important. Beside the Renderosity holiday contest, did you participate in any other CG competition?Gary S. Kennedy: Yes, as I participated in the 48 Hour Film contest in Houston I have said above.Fox Renderfarm:  Anything else you would like to add or say?Gary S. Kennedy: Computer animation is a very engrossing activity, I recommend it.  The good news is you have complete control over every detail.  The bad news is you have complete control over every detail.  Here is the animation, "A Christmas Caper".

Last week, we had a chance to have an interview with Morrigan, the 1st place in 3D Category of 2018 Holiday Contest on Renderosity, which is sponsored by Fox Renderfarm, here is the detailed content as below.Fox Renderfarm: Hi Morrigan, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself?Morrigan Flebotte: I am a middle-aged mother of four school-age children living in the countryside of Alberta, Canada.  Which, I suppose, shows that art can pop up just about anywhere!Fox Renderfarm: So pride of you, are you currently working as a CG artist?Morrigan Flebotte: No, I am a hobbyist.  I have a part-time job as a bank teller, but CG art is my current creative escape, along with writing.  It would be amazing if this was a job; there aren’t many around here!Fox Renderfarm: How did you make the decision to step into the CG industry?Morrigan Flebotte: A friend I write with said to me, “Hey, there is this program called Daz – you can make 3D art, and it’s free!”  I liked the idea, because children couldn’t tip it, spill it, or rip it, and it didn’t take up much room.Fox Renderfarm: Thanks your friend to bring you into the CG world. Did you still remember your first CG work, how does it look like?Morrigan Flebotte: It wasn’t too bad, actually – I think if it had been really terrible, I might have been discouraged.  I am always tempted to go back and ‘fix’ things once I have learned a new technique.Fox Renderfarm: Great!  How did you know the Renderosity 3D contest?Morrigan Flebotte: Renderosity is where I put most of my art up for comments, and I like to shop there.  It has a friendly, comfortable feel to the website, so I sort of settled in.  I won the Christmas Contest last year... I wanted to see if it was possible to win again.Fox Renderfarm: Wish you win it again! What inspired you to come out the idea of making most of your works?Morrigan Flebotte: I like to tell stories, and so most of my pictures are simply a piece of the story I wanted to tell, to evoke a specific idea or feeling.Fox Renderfarm: This is a good habit. What's your favourite 3d software, renderers, plugins? Why?Morrigan Flebotte: I use Daz3D because it was free, which made it accessible to someone with no background in 3D graphics.  I use the 3Delight renderer because I appreciate the control of lights, and because the results have a more painterly quality.  I have tried reality-based renderers, and I find them very technical and cumbersome to use.  Also, I don’t want to make a poor imitation of reality.Fox Renderfarm: Did you participate in any other CG competition besides Renderosity Contest?Morrigan Flebotte: I have participated in a few previous Renderosity Contests (Hallowe’en one year, and a Beauty Show styled one), and I have won 3 of them (Christmas 2017 and 2018, and the Valentine’s Day 2018).  The Valentine’s Day one was funny – I entered just because I wanted to win a t-shirt!Fox Renderfarm: Really Cool! Would you please share your ideas for winning the 1st place in the 2018 Holiday Contest on Renderosity?Morrigan Flebotte: I’m sorry – do you mean how do I feel about winning, or about the picture?  I was very excited to win – my husband saw the notice first, but didn’t tell me.Fox Renderfarm: Anything else you would like to add or say?Morrigan Flebotte:This is the most I’ve talked about myself in years, I would like to say I am very grateful that Renderosity has provided not just a store, but a platform for 3D artists.  The contests have encouraged me a great deal, and having access to new services and software will hopefully aid me in growing my skills.Fox Renderfarm: Yes, Renderosity is really a good platform, Fox Renderfarm is highly appreciated in sponsor these platforms, hope it to help more and more persons to like CG industry, thanks for your time.