I have to agree with Goofy (:P) on that one, image textures are what makes a photoreal picture. So, what you could do is limit the image textures to either a) images made with Blender or b) images made by the yourself (either handdrawn or with a 2D program
I think the first one would be best though, since it would not give any disadvantage to people who are lame with a 2D program.
my 0.015 US $ (or 0.02 CAN $) 
Martin
There seems to be a general want to have image textures allowed. I will think about it. Blender generated image textures will be allowed, I donât see why not.
Just something to think about, you know the Intruge project that I have been working on? That only uses 3 PURE image textures. The licence plate, the bump for the reflectors (only because I was too lazy to mess with the plugins to make it), and the leaves on the trees.
Maby I will have to have a better defenition of what an image texture is in the official rules. I probably wonât have much time to really put some work into this for about another month.
Is there some way to change my vote in the pole attached to this thread? I have no interest in an almost-photo-kinda-realistic-sortof contest.
An interior scene is required, but I canât hang a painting/calendar/photo-of-my-cat on the wall? Or put a magazine/newspaper/beer-can on the coffee table? Or have an FCC compliance sticker on the back of my TV? Or scratch the paint where I fumble for the door handle? Or Have Corn Flakes for breakfast?
I was interested in this contest because it would give me a reason to practise creating photorealistic images with Blender. However, even if it was possible to produce something Iâd call photorealistic with this restriction (although I doubt it), on the whole, Iâd rather not waste my time figuring out time-consuming modelling techniques (eg. cutting the Toyota logo into my car keys), or how to mis-use texture plugins to achieve something thatâd be simple with image maps.
sigh
Personally iâm hoping this contest might turn into a âwhoâs best with the radiosity features then?â competition.
I better get practising . . .
ectizen: stephen just said that he would tink about it. but serial cereal boxes would be out of the question i think. but you can just remake that texture in blender right?
still thinking about allowing image texutres that are not generated with Blender. Chances of allowing them are low, simply because it would get too easy. I have seen some very simple modeling and some good applications of image textures look real (this is how games are done) but that is just too simple. I have a feeling that a CG artist would chose to do a texture using procedurals if at all possible because they can be much more realistic than a photo mapped to a surface. Dirt, scratches, etc can ALL be done without image textures, I do it all the time!
ectizen: logos are not necessary to create a convincing image
I actually think good texture (image/procedural) mapping is an art unto itself. I also believe the truth is we donât want people to lazily use image maps where they should be using geometry. I donât think itâs right to say dust and scratches can be created procedurally, for example how would you manage an old painted wooden box with knackered corners? That kind of thing can only get so far with Blenderâs interpretation of procedural textures (I mean weâre not using Renderman shaders are we?) Getting dust into corners etc. is another good use of image maps, as particles arenât really good enough (no shadowing) and eat memory/render time.
Taking a photorealistic game such as GT3 on PS2, you have a combination of great texture design (the tracks, light effects and car logos) great modelling (the cars) and âproceduralâ texturing (env. mapping on the cars, although its preprocessed the principle is the same). Without those human created 2D image maps, that would eat 3d geometry, it just wouldnât look so good.
I fear otherwise we might be on âreflective sphere on infinite planeâ territory. Maybe you just need to say all image maps must be drawn (in something like gimp/photoshop) and be entirely original. This would stop use of photographs or rendering in something else and using the output as an image map. I do think the IRTCs rules on the subject are sensible.
I remain unconvinced. I didnât reach my decision lightly. I thought about this quite a lot for the past couple of days. I have built some initial models, done some test renderings, investigated various plugins, and thought about scene layouts. Eventually I came to the conclusion that while I could produce something okay, it wouldnât be good enough for me without images.
For example (since everyone picked the wrong ones in my previous list), I have a great idea (I think ;)) for a scene, but it requires a newspaper. I have five options that donât involve an image map:1) Leave it out. Easy, but it breaks the scene. Not good.
2) Lots and lots of text objects and meshes. Not practical.
3) Use a procedural texture to fake it. Difficult to get this working at a distance, impossible for close-ups.
4) Write a newspaper body text plugin. Yeah, right.
5) Abandon this idea for a scene. Again, not good.Not an appealing set of choices thereâŚ
Iâd like to participate, but without images, Iâm afaid itâs highly unlikely.
I do look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.
all you people make some convincing arguments. LIMITED image textures will be allowed now.
Allowed:
What I DO NOT want to see (you will be disqualifyed 
) is:
Photographic image texutres.
Image textures takeing the spotlight. What I mean here is while you can use them for the dust or the grain of the wood or something like that, I donât want to see some boxes with simple image textures on them being practiaclly the only thing in the scene
Image texture is all you used. I know it is cheap, but I donât want to see anything rendered in another program and then brought into Blender mapped onto a plane.
** New general rule, all scene elements must be created 100% in the computer. No photographs of any kind can be used as textures, however you can use them as reference. (As for the newspaper that somebody was mentioning, you can make up a fake newspaper in a word processor and take a screen shot.)
Will that make you people happy? 
yesâŚ
I´m just heating up my graphic tablet. IF I CAN FIND THAT STUPID DRIVER CD, AAAARGCHz
Much more fun with that. Although there Is a certain fascination with creating everything with procedural textures. But this way, the output will be much more impressive.
Let´s show some nice stuff
please don´t laugh when I post the picture (it will take some time)
HH
Those rules sound spot on. Iâm certainly a happy bunny. The down side is Iâve got to try to produce something (and now that means image maps too . . . doh!)
hey Stephen
If you are afraid of scene stealer textures, what about this (just a thought):
The picture must be taken from two different angles, so you can judge the modelling
or a second black and white picture of the scene without any textures as a modelling reference.
as I said, just an idea.
HH
Well,
you can also ask for the .blend file as CurtiS did for the F1 contest, so you can judge (If it renders the same it has not been postprocessed 
)
You can judge the model,
You can judge the textures.
Iâm, not sure if most people ar willing to give away their .blend, but since CurtiS had so many entries I think they are.
Stefano
So much for my plan to take a photo of my living room and map it on to a shadeless plane
âŚ
Yep, Iâm happy now. âHand drawnâ is good. In fact, it raises some interesting possibilities.
I like the modelling reference suggestion, as well as the idea of submitting the .blend for verification purposes.
What about other peopleâs textures? I have SO many textures from games and stuffâŚallowed?
No. You may not use textures created by other people in your project. That goes for models as well.
No. You may not use textures created by other people in your project. That goes for models as well.[/quote]
uh, how would you know?
I wouldnât know.
All contests have rules, some of the rules end up relying on the honesty of the participants.
If your entry is in question, you may be disqualified.
Yeah I would definately be inâŚI will undoubtedly come in last, but who knows?
Turrin
everybody knows that cheaters burn in hell 