News | RenderMan "SciTech" Art Challenge

RenderMan "SciTech" Art Challenge

8/26/2024 - 11/26/2024 Midnight PST


Challenge Has Ended

Thanks so much for making the "SciTech" Art Challenge a success.
Winners will be announced soon!


In our eleventh art challenge, we’re excited to be collaborating with the IEEE. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, so join the "SciTech" Art Challenge and showcase your shading, lighting, rendering, and compositing skills for the possibility of winning amazing prizes, including a Dell Mobile Precision 5690 Workstation!


The assets for this art challenge were made in honor of RenderMan's IEEE Milestone Award, including a model inspired by the Pixar Image Computer! To highlight the art challenge's theme of "compute," the 3D models also include present landmarks in computing at Pixar, courtesy of AMD and NVIDIA.


Sponsors

We are excited to have our friends at AMD, AWS, DELL, NVIDIA, Ranch ComputingFoundry, fxphdSideFX, SpeedTree and Xencelabs co-sponsor this community event with tens of thousands in prizes.


Challenge Summary


Theme and Style

To honor the IEEE’s commitment to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, the theme of the challenge is Compute. Create a cityscape showcasing future human innovations or maybe an alternate reality where electricity was never invented … The only limit is your imagination.

Whatever you choose (day or night, pulp or classic), make sure the image looks physically plausible, meaning the final image needs to have physical shading and lighting.

There are different aesthetic choices which can be made within this spectrum, two of the most popular are photorealism, common in visual effects to match footage, or stylized, common in Pixar films, and you're welcome to create your own style within the physically plausible parameters.

Example of Photorealism: The Mandalorian.

Example of Stylized: Inside Out 2.


Works in Progress

Get critiques and help from Pixar’s RenderMan team who will moderate this challenge. This is an opportunity for you to learn and develop your skills. Everyone is encouraged to post works in progress and ask technical questions … the challenge is intended to let participants try out new techniques.


Format

All images must follow the following standards:

  • All submissions must be a complete creation of the artist submitting, from concept to final render, including the background image used in compositing.
  • No group collaborations permitted.
  • All submissions must be rendered with any of the official RenderMan Plugins (Maya, Houdini, Katana, and Blender).
  • Only 1 submission per participant.
  • All posts must be WIP in order to verify progress.
  • You must work with the existing assets. Slight modifications to existing models for efficiency or bugs are ok.
  • New 3D models are permitted! ...but only if they are for support (added value). You must use the supplied models for the main storytelling. For example, you can add characters, accessories, and environment details such as lamps, garbage, rubble, props, clouds, vines, grass, etc...
  • All images must be submitted in a 16 X 9 ratio. Letterboxing is OK.
  • If you submit images larger than 4K, they will automatically downsized to a maximum of 3840 X 2160.
  • For more details, please read the FAQ above.


Final Submission

When the Challenge is closed, all semi finalists chosen will be notified to submit their final projects. This will help us verify compliance with challenge rules. A BOX folder will be provided for submission.


Compositing

Post work is limited to:

  • Color Correction and Grading.
  • Compositing background (must be your background or used with permission).
  • Compositing separate RenderMan rendered layers.
  • Compositing with RenderMan AOVs and LPEs.
  • No paint overs.
  • No photo bashing.


Deadline

Tuesday, November 26th, 2024 - Midnight PST (Pacific Standard Time - USA).


Winners and Announcements

Winners will be announced on Monday, December 9th, 2024.


Eligibility

All participants have to be members of the RenderMan community. Commercial and Non-Commercial customers are welcome to participate.


Attribution

Please use the following attribution when showing any of your images (description or watermark):

Walking Teapot by Dylan Sisson. Assets by Joshua Mills and Eugene Riecansky © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "SciTech" Art Challenge


Awards & Prizes

This challenge has three top prizes: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Honorable mentions also receive a surprise box of Pixar goodies. Prizes are listed below and their value is shown in US Dollars.

Prizes are non transferable and cannot be exchanged for their cash value.

 

1st: $31,000 in Prizes!

  • DELL Mobile Precision 5690 ($16,000):
    • Processor - Intel Core Ultra 9 185H vPro Enterprise
    • Video Card - NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada, 16GB GDDR6
    • Memory - 64GB LPDDR5x
    • Storage - 6 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 2280 SSD
    • Display - 16" OLED Touch, 4K
  • Foundry Production Collective + Katana Annual Subscription ($8,800)
  • 1 year Houdini FX (value $4995)
  • Xencelabs Pen Display 24 and Pen Display 16 Bundle ($3,200)
  • 1 year SpeedTree Cinema Indie license + 1 year of library access ($1198)
  • 1 Year Fxphd Premium Membership ($1100)
  • $1000 Ranch Computing credits
  • 1 year Commercial RenderMan license
  • RenderMan Teapot (Latest version of the world renowned Walking-Teapot)
  • Vintage RenderMan Teapots (Rare and shiny)
  • Signed original art print
  • Surprise Plush Toy
  • ...And other assorted Prizes!

 

2nd: $22,000 in Prizes!

  • DELL Mobile Precision 5490 ($9,000):
    • Processor - Intel Core Ultra 9 185H vPro Enterprise
    • Video Card - Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada, 8GB GDDR6
    • Memory - 64GB LPDDR5x
    • Storage - 4 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 2280 SSD
    • Display - 14" QHD+ Touch, 2560 x 1600
  • Foundry Production Collective Annual Subscription ($6,300)
  • 1 year Houdini CORE (value $1995)
  • Xencelabs Pen Display 24 ($1900)
  • 1 Year Fxphd Premium Membership ($1100)
  • $750 Ranch Computing credits
  • 1 year SpeedTree Cinema Indie license + $500 off any SpeedTree asset purchase ($699)
  • 1 year Commercial RenderMan license
  • Vintage RenderMan Teapots
  • Signed original art print
  • Surprise Plush Toy
  • ...And other assorted Prizes!


3rd: $13,000 in Prizes!

  • DELL Mobile Precision 3591 ($7,000):
    • Processor - Intel Core Ultra 9 185H vPro Enterprise
    • Video Card - Nvidia RTX 2000 Ada, 8GB GDDR6
    • Memory - 64GB LPDDR5x
    • Storage - 2 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 2280 SSD
    • Display - 15.6" FHD Touch, 1920x1080
  • Xencelabs Pen Display 16 Bundle ($1,300)
  • Mari Annual Subscription ($1,170)
  • 1 Year Fxphd Premium Membership ($1100)
  • 1 year SpeedTree Cinema Indie license + $250 off any SpeedTree asset purchase ($449)
  • 1 year Houdini Indie (value $269)
  • 1 year Commercial RenderMan license
  • $500 Ranch Computing credits
  • Signed original art print
  • Surprise Plush Toy
  • ...And other assorted Prizes!


Rubric


Judges

A set of Pixar judges will determine the winners, giving you an unique opportunity to interact and receive feedback from professionals. Judging will be based on both artistic and technical merits, but don't forget to tell a good story!

Kathy Herring Hayashi, Dr. Matt Francis, Eman Abdul-Razzak, Jeremy Birn, Michael "Cash" Cacciamani, Masha Ellsworth, Chia-Chi Hu, Markus Kranzler, Leif Pedersen, Eugene Riecansky, Vandana Sahrawat, Dylan Sisson.

All decisions of the judges are final.


A key purpose of this challenge is to encourage members of our community to learn more about RenderMan, and there are a number of educational resources available to help you get started, whether you’re looking for introductory or advanced materials.


Tutorials

Even though some training materials reference previous RenderMan releases, you'll find great consistency from previous versions.

Learn RenderMan >

3D Assets

Our friends at Poly Haven have made their public 3D asset library available in FBX and Blender, so download models, textures, or HDRI to take your creativity to the next level!

Poly Haven >

Houdini Indie Trial

Thanks to a collaboration with SideFX, you can get a 2 month trial of Houdini Indie by filling out this Art Challenge form:

Houdini Indie Trial >

SpeedTree Trial

Thanks to a collaboration with our friends at SpeedTree, you can try a full working version for the duration of the Art Challenge!

SpeedTree Trial >

Embergen VDB

Embergen has a great collection of free explosions, clouds, and more volumetric VDB files with a CC0 license, ready for use in all your 3D apps:

Embergen VDB >

Adobe Substance 3D Trial

You can get a 30 day trial of Adobe Substance 3D tools on the Adobe website:

Substance 3D Trial >

Substance to RenderMan Plugin

Export Lama and Pixar Surface materials from Substance with unofficial RfSP plugin:

RenderMan for Substance >


AMD Creator Cloud

Entrants have access to the rendering power of The AMD Creator Cloud, powered by AWS VMs and Ranch Computing, the professional render farm with the same speed the pros use. Now you’re free to explore things you never could on your own machine. To access this amazing resource, all you have to do is sign up and send Ranch a link of your WIP thread.



Nice, I Want In!

By participating in RenderMan's "SciTech" Art Challenge, you agree to the Terms of Use from Pixar, SpeedTree, and NVIDIA.


Terms of Use


Pixar

Please watermark or credit the image with the following:
Walking Teapot by Dylan Sisson. Assets by Joshua Mills and Eugene Riecansky © Disney/Pixar - RenderMan "SciTech" Art Challenge

*RenderMan community account required to participate.
All decisions of the judges are final. 
Prizes cannot be exchanged for their cash value.
Prizes are non transferable. 

Contest Participants agree to comply with all applicable export control laws and sanctions. Contest Participants agree NOT TO use, export, reexport or transfer (in-country) RenderMan in or to: (1) a country or region subject to a US partial or comprehensive embargo, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk People’s Republic, or Luhansk People’s Republic; OR (2) any person or entity listed on the “Entity List” or "Denied Persons List" maintained by the US Department of Commerce, the list of "Specifically Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons" maintained by the US Department of Treasury or any other applicable prohibited party list of the US Government.  Contest Participants further agree that they are not nationals or residents of the countries or regions listed in (1) above.

SpeedTree

Assets intended for use in RenderMan "SciTech" Art Challenge only and cannot be redistributed. Please refer to Unity's Terms of Service for limitations.


NVIDIA Data Collection | Prize Eligibility

By participating in RenderMan's "SciTech" Art Challenge, you agree to share your email with our partner, NVIDIA. Your information will be handled in accordance with NVIDIA's Privacy Policy

 
 
 

NEWS | Check out the RenderMan "SciTech" Art Challenge Winners!