Finally the new Blender Animation Challenge is finished. So head over to the voting thread and give your vote.
It was a great success: We have 45 entries. I want to thank all participants and I hope that everybody goes and votes.
If you have any suggestions for the next BAC please post em here!
First – thanks for taking all the previous suggestions to heart for this re-vamped challenge. I think it made a huge difference for participation. Now, two suggestions:
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Next time, use the “Blending Life” method and get a small panel of judges (maybe even only three would do), who review all entries and select a small set, say five or so, for everyone to vote on. It will give users a better voting experience and give you a better result. As it is, I’m concerned that the huge number of entries is going to be a heavy barrier for anyone who didn’t participate in the challenge to just pop by and cast a vote. Actually, I’ll be surprised if 30% of the people who participated in the challenge will watch all the videos before they vote.
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Future topics:
a] two characters, a bow, an arrow
b] a character, a telephone – topic: “Getting Some Bad News”
c] a character, a cliff edge
Yeah harkyman I see what you mean. I didn’t even calculate with that many participants. I will see what I can come up with.
Unfortunately, I think you can see the effect already in the voting. Basically, you’re either voting for yourself, getting your friends to vote for you, or just picking a winner from the 7-10 you managed to watch before you ran out of time or got bored. When there are this many entries to choose from, it probably means that the person who can muster enough of a posse to vote for them will win.
Don’t know if it would be kosher to pull the voting this time around, pick a top 5-10, then put it back up with only those, since it’s already started. Probably wouldn’t. Oh well. Next time!
(If you do something like that, though, you should probably pull my entry from consideration, because you can’t have participants changing the rules after the fact. 
)
I don’t think I will change the voting process for this round. But I will take your consideratins into account for the next round.
yeah…very disappointing the voting process…animation is the last thing to evaluate here…winner will be elected by friends, popularity and randomness. Not even one professional animator will be involved as judge. So what’s the point here? People end up wasting their time thinking that they were getting into an animation contest, which has turn out being a political an popularity friendship show. All was said by hankerman…100 % agreed.
If there are this many entries I think having a set of judges limit the field would be a good idea. Might not need them all the time tho. I recall seeing some in some of the entried descriptions that some of the participants were using the contest as a final exam for a multimedia course. Might have inflated the number of participants somewhat.
I started an entry for this, but Mancandy is a hell of a rig. I blocked out a few seconds, but I’ve got a schedule to keep :P. He’s good as a full-blown animation rig, but I think the rig may be too complex for this format. I dunno, tho. Ten seconds isn’t a lot of animation, but for someone who’s not done a lot of animation I think that rig can be a little intimidating. Some of the entries were pretty stiff and glitchy… I just think something where people can worry about fewer things to key and just focus on the acting would be better.
But that’s just me 
Can i select the small panel of judges if i will participate? :rolleyes:
Sorry that you think so. But please consider that all people who do this, including me, do this on their own free time.
My personal intent is to give a contest where people can learn how to animate and everyone might have a chance to learn a thing or two. There are no prices whatsoever so I don’t think that the final vote counts that much.
But rest assured I’ll try to improve the rating system.
Too bad vimeo doesn’t have a rating system like youtube does. We could have one account for each challenge and we would upload the videos to this account, that way the voting would be more fluid.
I don’t like the idea of a preselection (mine would be left out right away 
). In 11 second club all videos must be watched and rated, which is fair enough for the effort that people went through.
I don’t think it has come down to popularity… Blockbuster is currently winning, and he had a really brilliant animation (although the end wasn’t as good :p); 2nd place at the moment is Pillus who also had a great animation. The great animations are getting the votes, so that’s good
I do agree though we need some way of making the voting process easier/less time consuming. Perhaps we could try and contact the 11 second club people and ask if they could share the way they’ve set their system up.
I had an idea…
How about making it like a “king-of-the-hill”?
Every few days, vote on ‘finished’ works that have been submitted with the top one being the king. When a newer work is submitted that is better than the present ‘king’, the newer work would win. Works that lost in earlier voting can be re-done in an effort to improve it enough to beat the top work.
The top work at the end is the winner.
Well that’s why an experienced animator is needed. I personally do not like much Blockbuster animation “technique” I can’t feel it, but the idea is cool. However Pillus animation lacks of all animations techniques… there are at least 7 entries much much better than that. When you see an animation slow (which is the average) is because the animator can’t handle timing…when you see a ball weighless it means the animator can’t handle physics properties, laws of action and reaction etc…look at you tube, most animations made by beginners are reallyyyyy slow, and weighless…that’s why an experienced animator should be involved to provide a right feedback to all participants. Hope people do not miss interpreted my comment, I always try to participate in contests, CGtantra, Aniboom and I haven’t won but I am always happy with the results since winners set up a new challenge and something new to learn and get ahead in animations, however here I can see that if you followed the animation technique from Pillus you will be going backwards in sharpening your skills. Friendship my friends that’s it! Contest without experienced judges is just a circus of clowns.
Happy New Year
However Pillus animation lacks of all animations techniques… there are at least 7 entries much much better than that. When you see an animation slow (which is the average) is because the animator can’t handle timing…when you see a ball weightless it means the animator can’t handle physics properties, laws of action and reaction etc
Sorry, but I completely disagree with you about Pillus’ animation… the weightless ball was a very creative interpretation of the topic I think… I would understand your point if the ball was weightless for the whole animation, however it gets weight at the end of the animation (perhaps you did not watch this far?:eyebrowlift2:)… and he handles this weight very well in my opinion. Of course it’s not a perfect animation, but it is a combination of good animation and a creative interpretation of the topic which makes it good IMO. I just think it was bad of you to assume that Pillus made the ball weightless simply because he couldn’t handle physics properties, etc.:mad:
@Captain_Ahab: That idea probably wouldn’t work as people generally vote with all the works in comparison with each other… like if there were only mediocre entries to begin with, then they might get like 4 stars, then you might get a better one but still fairly mediocre that you give 5 stars. What happens when there’s a BRILLIANT entry?
Yeah, I would have to agree with you, leojS, about the weightless ball.
I joined your forum because of this contest and to learn more about 3D animation.
I viewed each video and voted based on clarity of video/facial features, smoothness/difficulty level/number of motions, background (shadows, etc.). Based on this criteria Francis got my vote with Blockbuster a close second.
Suggestions on improving contest voting:
-How about separate categories for experienced animators and newbies?
-How about first, second and third place winners?
Thanks for a great contest.
Joanie
Since I’m the one holding the contest I think we need to put a few things into perspective here.
First of this is a contest held to have fun and to improve once animation skills.
Although I would love to have a professional jury it is kind of hard to actually set this up for a contest as small as this one. Remember we are not a 11second club.
I’m not too fond of splitting this contest into categories as it makes the voting and setup process more complicated and the main intent for this contest is to be easy to participate yet still be a challenge.
I’m currently thinking about changing the voting system, details will follow, but I want to wait and see how much entries we have during the next round and to gain some experience.
About the voting system critics that were brought up: I hope we are all old enough to judge on the given animations and not on popularity but you will always have people judging on other criteria then your own which makes the judging process seem unfair.
Ha Ha I can see the friendship already going on here. The contest…no big deal…this is my first and probably last time I get into a contest in Blender Artists. … Actually I don’t think it is even worthy to log on again… Secondly my friends, you can make a ball weightless or not…but: “BELIEVABLE” Watch animation mentor work: You see a lot of weightless balloons but they make the animation believable ! Simulating gravity and make us believe that the balloon is really weightless…You probably have not concept at all of what animation is, watch Shrek, Toy storie, and learn.
Keying objects around and then render it “IS NOT ANIMATION!” everybody can do it, but certainly Pixar will laugh at you.
Most people are going to hate me after I said this…situations like this one makes Blender fall into a mediocre style, a tool to play around, a simple toy to play for a few weeks and then forget it, at least in animation. (I see a lot of great work in modeling and rendering)
Situations like this makes real people interested to learn, people interested in a team by taking Blender into a long term project to be blown away. There is not a real place where serious Blender’s animators can gather… Reason?
You see a bunch of crap out there and the comments are: GREAT! YOU GOT TALENT! PERFECT! You can see that users are afraid to say the truth or may be they just can’t see it.
Other group are the LUNATICS living in the world of the fantasy giving advices that they don’t even understand …plus no animation work whatsoever…also a few platonic lawyers trying to support what his buddy said…no matter what senseless it might be…ha!
Get into a contest on CGATNTRA, or Aniboom…Animation mentor…you will feel the difference immediately .Most contestants agreed with the results. That’s why Maya community are way professional ( also because it is not free). I will show up some day with my own contest website, I will offer a small honest prize to get in touch with real Blender’s animators around the world, people serious about improving, studding, analyzing and wiling to take Blender as a professional tool in a project, because it is…and we all know that, a place where to contact a professional as well as a beginner could learn.:yes:
Good Luck
MUSK: Nothing towards you honestly. It would be nice to have some sort of ladder system as chessclub.com has for players, it is always a pleasure to receive advice and give advice as well. This looks like a contest with a bunch of clowns throwing tomatoes to each other. By the comments I have read, I guess 80% are kids having fun, better animators are way gone from this contest.:spin:
Ha Ha I can see the friendship already going on here.
For the record, Pillus is not my friend (no offence to Pillus ;)), and I had not even seen his username on BlenderArtists before this contest. So no friendship going on there blenderguy2008.
The contest…no big deal…this is my first and probably last time I get into a contest in Blender Artists. … Actually I don’t think it is even worthy to log on again…
You are reacting way over the top dude, calm down! It’s fine if you don’t feel these contests are suited for your needs, as musk stated these contests are for fun and for learning animation - if you want an 11 second club/animation mentor/aniboom contest, go and enter there… this isn’t supposed to be such a serious contest, or at least that’s the impression I got.
Secondly my friends, you can make a ball weightless or not…but: “BELIEVABLE” Watch animation mentor work: You see a lot of weightless balloons but they make the animation believable !
I would like to point out to you that non of the entrants (that I know of) are doing an animation mentor course, and therefore have a large lack of experience in animation, they are using this contest to learn and improve (and maybe have a little fun along the way).
Simulating gravity and make us believe that the balloon is really weightless…You probably have not concept at all of what animation is, watch Shrek, Toy storie, and learn.
I’m not sure who you are directing the “you” at here, but I’ve watched Shrek and Toy Story… and I’m sure a lot of the entrants have to. I also thing it is a bit harsh to say the entrants don’t have a concept of what animation is…
No offence meant to you, but from your animation entry you seem to lack some understanding of what animation is… it’s not just getting the WEIGHT right all the time, it is also about ‘acting’ - making the characters move in a believable way like a real person would react to a situation (although sometimes this is stylised in a ‘cartoon style’, but the principles are kept the same). In your entry whilst there is a good sense of weight for most of it, there seems to be a lot of random quick movements and some of the poses don’t make sense in terms of acting.
Keying objects around and then render it “IS NOT ANIMATION!” everybody can do it, but certainly Pixar will laugh at you.
I agree with you on this point, although I don’t see how relevant it is - are you assuming/accusing the entrants (Pillus in particular we seem to be discussing?) of not thinking about their animation before rendering it? I certainly can’t speak for them but, I hope the entrants didn’t just “key objects around”, but rather watched the animation several times whilst thinking about acting choices, and sense of weight, etc.
Most people are going to hate me after I said this…situations like this one makes Blender fall into a mediocre style, a tool to play around, a simple toy to play for a few weeks and then forget it, at least in animation. (I see a lot of great work in modeling and rendering)
I don’t quite see the point here, there is no “situation” here… The public are voting on which animations they think are best. I think you will agree that the general public can recognise crap animation when they see it, and good animation too!
Let me just say that this is not supposed to be a showcase of good animation made with Blender (that can already be seen in Elephants Dream and Big Buck Bunny ;)). Rather this contest is for us to learn and improve with the help of each other.
I tried to comment on as many of the entries as possible with (I hope) helpful tips on what to improve for next time, and there was many helpful suggestions in the WIP threads by other BA members… we’re all trying to help each-other out to become better animators, and through this contest I believe that is possible (i.e. practise, practise, practise - practise makes perfect!).
Situations like this makes real people interested to learn, people interested in a team by taking Blender into a long term project to be blown away.
Again not sure what you mean by “situation” (please elaborate…)
There is not a real place where serious Blender’s animators can gather…
Okay I do agree with you to some extent there… I mean if animators that are already good, but need some “fine-tuning”, this isn’t really the place as we have very few professional animators on here (as far as I’m aware). Serious animators can go to 11 second club, etc. to get advice, there doesn’t need to be a place specific to “BLENDER ANIMATORS ONLY” or something (sorry if that wasn’t your meaning).
Reason?
You see a bunch of crap out there and the comments are: GREAT! YOU GOT TALENT! PERFECT! You can see that users are afraid to say the truth or may be they just can’t see it.
I do however disagree that comments are always like that… you’ve got to understand that we have quite a few younger members on this board, so they’re less likely to give proper critique. However I think there are quite a few users on here that give useful feedback… free_ality (if I remember rightly) gave some good feedback on your entry’s WIP, so I’m not sure what you’re complaining about.
Lunatics is a bit strong (i'm beginning to think you're one :D)... and how do you know wether or not someone understands the advice they're giving, as long as it's given in the right context and makes sense as critique there doesn't need to be some kind of in-depth understanding behind the principles of the advice!Other group are the LUNATICS living in the world of the fantasy giving advices that they don’t even understand …plus no animation work whatsoever…also a few platonic lawyers trying to support what his buddy said…no matter what senseless it might be…ha!
Get into a contest on CGATNTRA, or Aniboom…Animation mentor…you will feel the difference immediately .Most contestants agreed with the results. That’s why Maya community are way professional ( also because it is not free).
Maya community are probably “way professional” because there are much less younger members that can afford to pay for it (although I’m sure some use Maya PLE).
Perhaps we should do a poll after this one to check if the contestants agree with the results? 
I will show up some day with my own contest website, I will offer a small honest prize to get in touch with real Blender’s animators around the world, people serious about improving, studding, analyzing and wiling to take Blender as a professional tool in a project, because it is…and we all know that, a place where to contact a professional as well as a beginner could learn.:yes:
Good luck with that.
This looks like a contest with a bunch of clowns throwing tomatoes to each other. By the comments I have read, I guess 80% are kids having fun, better animators are way gone from this contest.:spin:
The aim of this contest was for people to have fun and for people to learn as they go along. We specifically invited “new animators” to join the contest on the BlenderNation news article.