Unity Community Art Challenge - March 2015 - Nature's Shield

Unity Technologies is happy to announce it's next "Unity Community Forum Challenge"! Everybody is welcome to join in and show other fellow artist what they can do and compete for the First Place!

This months Challenge is themed "Nature's Shield". This could be literally a "Shield" made out of wood and leafs etc - Magically protecting it's user. It could also be something completely different. There is a lot of room for interpretation here! Use your imagination! Impress us with your creativity and imagination. Let's see something new and fresh!

As a result we want to see a beautiful small Diorama/Turntable of your version of a "Nature's Shield"

Post Work in Progress Screenshots or even use Sketchfab to present your work in progress. See rules below.



1. Participants will have till the end of the month (March, 31th) to submit their Final Entry

2. Final Entry must be a "Diorama/Turntable" showcasing the theme "Nature's Shield". We ask that you use Sketchfab to post your final result here on the forum.

3. Polycount Limitation for this Challenge is 5.000 Vertices. Only ever use as many polygons as necessary to define a shape! This is a game art challenge after all! Make use of normal maps etc to give your textures/meshes more detail.

4. You can use normal maps, specular maps etc to enhance your work visually. Perhaps try to combine textures onto one texture sheet if possible for efficiency, however it's not a requirement. There is no restriction on how many textures you can use but keep in mind that this is a game art challenge so don't go too crazy.

5. Entrants must post at least 1 WIP (Work in Progress) Screenshot before submitting their Final Entry. We suggest you post more and get feedback! Please visit https://help.sketchfab.com/hc/en-us/sections/200485707-Uploading-3D-Models for further information on how to use and upload to Sketchfab.

6. Your final entries must be submitted through Sketchfab. Please tag your final submission with: "UCAC7".

7. No previous work can be used. This essentially means that you should create everything from scratch!

8. No nudity or gross violence please! Keep it clean and fun for everyone!




This month, Polyfied and the fine folks from Sketchfab are sponsoring our contest! The winners will receive the following:

1st Place : Particle Playground ($70 Value) Voucher and 1 Year of Sketchfab Pro and Cardboard VR
2nd Place: Particle Playground Voucher 1 Year of Sketchfab Pro
3rd Place: Particle Playground Voucher and 6 Months of Sketchfab Pro

Additionally the 1st Place will receive the UCAC Award (3D Printed)! This Trophy/Award is Sponsored by Sketchfab and will feature your name (1st Place).

We hope to see many of you participate! Let's get this started!

Thomas

 

Hey everybody! Here is a new Challenge for all you artists out there! Something that should be noted is the fact that Sketchfab now offers PBR render features! Hop over to this link for more info:

http://blog.sketchfab.com/post/112612737009/physically-based-rendering-is-here

Hope to see many here participate in this months Challenge! A big thanks goes also out to our Sponsor next to Sketchfab this month - Lars from Polyfied! Thanks for giving away copies of your wonderful tool "Particle Playground"!


Thomas

 

Definitely trying to join to improve my skills again.. This month I am even more busy than last month but I will try my best.

Good luck for everyone! I am still bit out of ideas but lets see

 

Very excited to see the contributions, good luck everyone!

 

Just reading the title gave me an idea, I hope I find time to join in on the fun too, but I'm not holding my breath, march is gonna be a busy month for me. But I can't wait to see what others do.

 

I'm not sure If I understand the theme.

Is it basically a wield-able shield made of natural components? e.g. Rock, plants, water, lava etc?

Or anything symbolising a shield/protection?

 

Yes but you don't have to take it literally, you can get creative. Like @NomadKing did with his bridge in the February contest, making a bridge which isn't actually a bridge, but serves as a bridge.

 

Okay thanks

 

Sketchfab PBR render features and now Unity 5, March is going to be a interesting month for all of us.

 

cool theme

 

Nice theme for this month, not sure I'll have time to enter this one, but looking forward to seeing what people come up with!

 

Looking forward to see your work guys, this is a fun theme.

Although I'd like to try sketchfabs PBR, couldn't miss the obvious opportunity to do handpainted textures

 

You could still use PBR rendering. I see that you hinted at "Metal" parts in your shield so why not?

 

I'm going to go for a treehouse something like this, I will probably change it a lot and try to emphasize the "shield" part of he theme more in the 3d model, and possibly some "good" creatures inside and "evil" creatures outside trying to get in

 

Here's a WIP of my Tree. First time texture painting and normal mapping Any critiques or tips are welcome!

Edit: Always struggle to embed sketchfab haha

 

Great work . I have a very little question that (you are artist and i am not , but trying to learning new skills by entering these competition ,so i am asking from you) how it is described as nature shield ? .


if i am not wrong then is this about the trees those saves animals and peoples by giving them air(O2) and works for them like a shield ?

 

I believe he said he was going to place a treehouse within the branches hence the tree itself acts as a windbreak.. Also it raises the dwelling to protect it from ground based predators

Interesting concept you'll have to be clever to stress the organic contours of the tree with limited polys

Great start

 

As @AZeus said, I will be adding more details to make this more of a "shield". There will be a mini tree-fortress that will provide shelter and protection to it's occupants, I will also add some threats outside such as evil creatures and anything else I can think of

The tree I posted is at 1k vertices, I tried to achieve the rivets and contours using normal mapping, I may add in some real geometry after adding leaves, creatures and the tree-fort, if I have any vertices to spare!

 

Greetings!

After pondering about it the last few days, I've settled on the idea of doing a lighthouse on a cliff as my 'Nature's Shield'. Basically the lighthouse is the protector and the cliff is its shield from the ocean's raging waves. Now that Sketchfab supports PBR I can use my Substance Indie Pack/Quixel Suite. I'm gonna try to go for a LoTR feel to it. Shall see how it develops!

Thanks!

 

Here is my submission, it was all done on one diffuse texture. A fun handpainting practice

 

@damirboz - Nice to see it done! I wonder where everybody else is with their submissions. I sure hope to see more folks participate in this Challenge! Please help spreading the word!!!!

 

I try to make it like a heart of the forest/ natures shield that shields the forest from the inside. Here is my first rough sketch.

 

I'll probably enter this one if I have the time.. I've decided on a rock pool scene with a turtle as my focus Basically any animal with a shell is gonna cut it but I'd rather have a more complex symbiotic ecosystem in which sheltering each other is the key to survival. WIP uploaded soon hopefully

 

And here is part two. Low Poly Model. But the textures need some work, hope i find the time for it.

 

Not a shield, but I'd probably join and make a shield in this style
oh wow. each island is around 1592 verts
and the budget is 5000 verts
I could really push the details on the shield Im gonna make


I missed the feb challenge, this would have fit more there

 

@led2012 That's looking very nice there mate!

 

If only I checked the forums last feb, this one could really fit on the bridge art challenge

 

Hey Guys,

Here's my entry, hope you like it

Sorry about the large size, the normal maps came out very large for some reason o.0

Also does anyone know why it's zoomed way out?

Thanks!

Edit: Zoomed in and toned down the bump intensity on the ground

 

@led2012 Wow really cool! Really looking forward to seeing your shield in this style

@Serinx nice entry! I think you could turn down the intensity of the normal map if you don't like how they look
Concerning the zoom: What's the scale of your model? Is it possible that it's really small?

 

@Serinx It's probably zoomed out because of the scale, but you can change the default view in Sketchfab by going to '3D Settings', zooming / rotating til your happy, and clicking the 'Take Screenshot' button.

 

Hey everyone,great entrys so far i really like them.
Btw i wanted to ask 5.000 polygons refer only to the target model,and the overal representation can be over that or the final product including target model(shield) + the representation environment must be 5.000 vertices max?
Thanks in advance

 

Been watching these challenges and have been wanting to participate. Been working sporadically on a shield for this. Here is what I have so far:





Liked the idea of a shield made of roots. Will have some ivy leaves and branches sticking out too. Still have a way to go. Model is still in curve form. Will probably post another WIP when I start the texturing.

 

Hey Nikos,

in previous challenges it's been the case that the limit of the whole model you upload is 5000 vertices (object + environment + sprites+ effects + ...). Guess it's the same here. Keep in mind that it's 5000 VERTICES, not polygons. So depending on how you model your topology your polygon count can be way higher, which should be fine as long as you stay below said vertex count.

In the last challenge for examples my model had ~9000 polygons, with exactly 5000 verts. Just as an example about what you could do with 5000 verts

 

Did not notice that. This helps a lot. Can add a lot more detail that I was not sure about. Thanks

 

Come on guys! Would love to see some more entries here from other artists! You can win some great stuff from @Sketchfab and this wonderful piece of software called "Particle Playground".

 

@NomadKing Thanks that worked

@Thomas Pasieka I noticed that the direct link to the Community Art Challenge from the Forums page is going to last months challenge, more people might see this if that gets updated!

 

I'd like to give it a try but I don't have any ideas - it's kind of a tough theme IMO.

 

Well that's why it's called a "Challenge"

 

Yeah i had noticed it's 5.000 vertices,but it's still,i think it's pretty low polycount for a whole representation...
But anyways i guess i will optimize accordingly.Anyways thanks for the better definition man

 

Well the models are meant for game usage, and its sort of more fun when you gotta keep it low poly.

 

Yeah indeed,although nowdays games can easily get millions of polygons rendered in 1 scene so :/ 5.000 vertices for a total presentation don't sound that much .

 

Have not started texturing yet but am finished with the root modeling. Still have the leaves and branches though. This WIP post is mainly to test Sketchfab. It is a pretty cool tool. Have not uploaded textures yet but it seems to have a great import/setup process. Thanks for this thread for getting me onto it. Probably could use it to advertise models for the Asset Store.

If it worked:

Edit - It worked!

 

@Baldinoboy Nice going there I said it many times before that these Challenges are an excellent way to create new portfolio pieces for yourself and even sell the Asset in the Asset Store in the end!

Let's see where everybody else is!? Come on folks... tis a Challenge!

 

https://www.imageupload.co.uk/image/5XiC
This is the Shape i came up with

 

https://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2015/03/19/Screenshot2015-03-1912.58.39.png"

I laid out some more environment
I'm really excited about this.And one more thing before i forget.PBR workflow in Sketchfab works amazingly! It is well done definitely use it for presentations.

 

@nikos667 Nice going there mate. Why not scale up the elements a bit?

 

I'm having some tricks yet to show ,so mashrooms and rocks are just preparing the big thing that is about to come

 

I may see about entering, late to the party but hopefully I can finish by the deadline. Thinking about doing a some sort of treefolk/golem guard with a big shield for an arm. I have the forms kinda blocked out.

 

@Benzychan1 that looks awesome so far! Hope to see it finished

 

Well, if school allows me some time... Might enter myself!

And good timing too; I'm doing an art unit that could benefit from this!