yes, there’s an open category. If you use MBL, your entry should be open.
I see what your getting at NiklasWerth. If The theme of a contest was ‘Grass’ And you used the grass essentials or even a free grass addon to make your scene that would be going to far But… if the theme was ‘Tree’ and you used the sapling tree generator to make something unique and that would be difficult to recreate. That would still be you, using the tools you have access to, to make something that took work and dedication.
If you just turned on sapling gen and clicked ok added a brown material and called it a tree. Then you would probably have to call it Open.
I think joshwinklers idea of taking out the pure and open distinction is a good idea. Why not tell the artist that he should list the major addons models and techniques in his render to get a better chance of winning. Then, in that case it is up to the voters to decide if the image looks like it had a heavy use of addons or is obviously using old models. If you have never posted a piece of your art on line and it happens to fit the contest theme then lucky you.
Honestly it sounds to me like we are all being nazis. Trying to hard to keep a rule that just does not mater that much. Why not remove the rule completely?
If we are going to remove regulations, how about being able to use previously created models and materials?
@fcharr Yes. You should be able to use previously made models if the scene itself is very new. The same idea would apply to addons.
If you ‘fix up’ or ‘tweek’ the model enough or just use it in a completely new way(weather it be from an addon or from something you already modeled) then you could use it as a focal element and I personally wouldn’t care.
I’m pretty sure you would agree this sculpt is very original. Even though the sculptor uses a base mesh to start out with.
If removing the regulations and using a previous model, you would say so in the description along with the work you did on it for the challenge. Then the voters decide.
@joshwinkler3d Yeah. The idea would be not to punish anyone for using old models but to encourage them to use new ones. Voters could read the artists workflow and decide weather or not they wanted to vote.
Less rules allow for more creativity in the contest.
Maybe something like this:
Welcome to the Weekend Challenges
Welcome to the Weekend Challenge forum!
This forum is devoted to the weekly contests known as the Weekend Challenge.
There are two main goals for these contests: Fun and Glory.
Fun: You get only 4 days to create a cool image, based on the theme for the week.
Glory: After 2 days of voting, a winner is declared. The winner picks the theme for next week.
Forum RulesAs this is a very specialised forum, new threads can only be created by the contest organiser.
There are two threads created each week: one for entries and one for voting.
The entry thread starts each Thursday at 2300 GMT, with an announcement of the new theme, and any other relevant information. Entry messages (described in detail below) are to be posted here, until 2300 GMT on Monday.
The voting thread starts each Monday at 2300 GMT, with a list of all entries and a poll to decide the winner. Voting closes at 2300 GMT on Wednesday, with the winner announced shortly thereafter.
Comments are welcome in both threads.
Image Creation
Images can be presented in any format that can be embedded on a post in this forum. There is no fixed limited for the file size, however, keep in mind that not everyone has a fast internet connection.
Entry Submissions
An entry is submitted by posting a message in the relevant Entry thread before closing time and can contain up to four parts:
First, the title of the entry.
Second, a one or two-line description of the entry. This description will be shown in the list of entries at the start of voting. This can be used to describe how the entry relates to the theme, work done for the challenge, any addons or previous work used to create the entry.
Third, the entry image embedded into the post. This will appear in the entry list for voting. A direct link can also be provided (if the original image is too large, for example), which can be hosted on a page containing only the entry image, and nothing else, or hosted on an image hosting site. Skip using the tags - they may work for you, but they won’t for anyone else.
Finally, some more optional comments. These will not appear in the list for voting.
Only one entry per person is allowed. If multiple images are submitted, only the most recent will be used for voting. When updating an entry, please give it a new file name, to avoid confusion with older cached images.
To delete an image, edit the post by clicking Edit at the bottom and clicking Go Advanced. On the following page, near the bottom, click Manage Attachments. A window will pop up, hovering over the image you want to delete, press the X at the top of it.
Placeholder entries are a very good idea, as they give me some clue as to how many options we’re going to need for the voting poll. With an indication of the number of entries, we can have the maximum size of a poll increased beforehand, if necessary, and avoid running out of poll options.
Winning
Each week, a voting thread is created. In it will be a list of all entries posted before the entry closing time. A poll will be attached, listing all the eligible entries. Voting is open to anyone who is normally allowed to vote in these forums (as far as I know, this should be all of you).
At the end of two days of voting, the entry with the highest number of votes wins. In the event of a tie, the earliest submitted entry will win - the submission time is taken as the last edited time of the submission message, or the message creation time if it hasn’t been edited.
Once a winner has been decided, a congratulatory message will be posted in the voting thread. They will be contacted via private message, with a request for the theme for the next week’s contest. If the winner doesn’t supply a theme before Thursday at 2230 GMT, the organiser will select the theme. Having selected the theme, the winner will not be eligible to enter a competing entry that week, but still may submit a non-competing image that won’t be included in voting.
When Things Go Wrong
If, due to unforeseen circumstances, a thread isn’t started at the appointed time, entries or voting will still close on time.
I never thought it would be so complicated to agree on something 
One issue that I see right now is that “open” seems to be understood as a punishment and “pure” as the “correct” way of making an image. The rules are also written in a way to suggest that. However, the challenge is about having fun, and there is no fun in punishing other contestants. I think it would make sense to just think of two approaches to produce an entry.
Open is pretty much the “standard” approach: You use some textures from the internet, an HDRi and maybe some models on the background to complement your main work, and you do this to achieve a look that would otherwise be really complicated without those things.
Pure is the bare-bones approach (or maybe the pilgrim’s way ;)): You refuse to use resources from other people (like textures and models), and want to model, set up the lighting and materials all by yourself. You do this because you think it is more fun this way, since you just want to use Blender.
You’re not a better artist by modelling a human from scratch every week, and you are not a worse one by downloading some textures to create surface imperfections. It is just two different approaches.
Considering the amount of discussion this has had, everyone sees it differently, which is what makes it complicated.
I don’t have a problem with HDRI in a pure entry since it isn’t a focal element (usually) 
Part of the idea of removing open/pure is that, since the everyone has different ideas on which is which, it is then left up to the voter to decide rather than trying to define it.
I think a lot of the problem with the pure/open category is the open entries tend to perform rather poorly in the voting thread - I stand to be corrected on that if I am wrong . This in turn appears to mean that a lot of folk shy away from posting there entry as open and go for pure so as to increase the chances of winning, and hence the problem, for me anyway, of many entries that should be classed as open being called pure.
Not sure if there’s an answer to this, but removing open/pure would make, in my opinion, the situation worse. I mean, why take part in a challenge were folk are using photoshop and paid for plugins. people who can’t afford that kind of stuff just wouldn’t have a chance to win, and we all like to win, even if it is just for the hell of it.
Also, I’m just going to throw this out there as some weeks it just bugs the hell out of me. The voting, I know it’s open to all on the forum but sometimes I see entries run away with the lead in the voting thread, and I do wonder why? There may be many other very good renders that just don’t get a look in, they may pick up four or five votes but it’s not enough due to the amount of folk who are voting but not taking part in the challenge.
Anyway maybe I’m wrong, maybe there’s nothing wrong with the way the votes go. But I think those who take part in the challenge should have their votes count as two points, and for those who don’t take part in the challenge their votes should count as one point. If nothing else it might throw up some very different results.
I get what you mean about the voting, I see it sometimes too. Not sure what you could do to fix it though.
If pure/open remained, you could still be competing against someone using Photoshop and paid mods - just with their work being Open the voting seems to be favoured against them winning. If so and, for example, HDRI (free or paid) pushes you to open, even if everything else is made from scratch, you miss out also.
On the other hand, if we removed the classes, people not involved in the challenge are more likely to vote on which looks best. Not necessarily which aligns with the theme the best or how ‘pure’ it is.
To help clear the problem of the pure/open category, perhaps we should be thinking of the question: what is the challenge here? Is it merely how to be able to finish an entry in a weekend and doesn’t matter if it’s only 30% Blender and 70% PhotoShop? Or do we still need (or want?) to make sure it’s 70% Blender and 30% PS? (this should also apply to the add-ons problem, numbers and names are for example purposes only)
The former may not need too many restrictions and may even eliminating the need for categorization altogether, while the later will certainly need more requirements. Trying to find a balance between fun and quality seems to be our problem here. Personally, I prefer the later, especially since the winner now get the honor of being displayed on the feature header.
Anyway, now that there are already some opinions, how about making a small poll to decide on this matter (if we can’t come to a conclusion, that is)? Can be held outside this forum and linked back here.
As someone who just found out about this challenge and wanted to join, I’d like to put in my two cents:
I think starting to take part in this will be a good idea for me because it’ll force me to make something new every week, and furthermore I’ll be motivated to actually complete it and try to present it well. I hate re-making things from scratch, so having this to incentivize me helps. I believe it’s great practice to make something again and again, no matter how good you are.
But I like MLB, and I’ve used it a lot. I wouldn’t mind being allowed to use it in future contests, because I know that the effort I save will go elsewhere in the image.
I ALSO wouldn’t mind if it was prohibited (for “Pure” entries), simply because I know I could stand to learn how to model humans better. But in truth, I’d probably just end up avoiding making people.
This is tough. Everyone’s bringing up great points, and since I’m new I feel open to just about any decision as long as it encourages practicing Blender.
I will say this, though: The rules are entirely vague about the policy with using image textures. All the descriptions about “pure” vs “open” use models as examples, and quite frankly, I assumed image textures were fine for a pure entry because using photographs for textures is just a basic part of plenty standard workflows (and since then, I’ve read a number of varying remarks about this both here and elsewhere, and I STILL don’t know what the official stance on it is).
Sure, you can do texture painting and things like that, but personally, I think categorizing an entry as “open” just because it uses downloaded textures is a bit harsh. I don’t mind re-making materials from scratch, though.
If image textures make an entry open, I’ll live with that, but I think that should definitely be made clear one way or the other.
As for the add-ons, again, I think I agree that “pure” vs “open” should not be so subjective, one way or the other. I’ll happily form to whatever rules everyone decides on, but my main critique is the rules surrounding this should be more clear-cut.
To help clear the problem of the pure/open category, perhaps we should be thinking of the question: what is the challenge here?
That’s a good point. From my understanding, the idea of the classification is to keep entries interesting for all participants. It would be very boring if everyone used a bunch of models from MBL, since entries would just look lifeless.
Regarding using other software, since this is a Blender forum and a Blender challenge, you should be able to say to yourself “I made this with Blender”, even if the entry is open. I mean, it would make no sense if I modelled one thing in Blender, and then made the whole background, lighting and textures using Krita. But since no one has been abusing of external software so far, I guess there is no need to change the rules in this respect.
It’s hard to put your finger on it but using MBL does seem like cheating for this challenge. It’s kind of like tracing over a photograph.
Therefore I think we should keep the rules as is, with the caveat that MBL (as possibly ivygen…) and other art/finished geometry producing add-ons must be labeled Open. In this way, we allow people to use whatever they want but the voters have a distinction.
I see no problem with minor post level tweaking in GIMP/PS. GIMP is Free.
If a whole scene is created and MLB is used to create a person in the scene to give scale, since the person isn’t a focal object, it could still be pure.
What about creating your own textures in Gimp and then using them in the project? Would that be considered pure? Like sometimes I will go out and take pictures of textures and create a texture map of them. The wood that was used on my sunken boat was raw wood on a worn park bench at my local park. Took the image into Gimp and created the bump/normal seamless texture then used it on the boat. I did not buy or get them off the internet they were my pictures so would that still be considered pure if used?
Therefore I think we should keep the rules as is, with the caveat that MBL (as possibly ivygen…) and other art/finished geometry producing add-ons must be labeled Open.
I suppose you mean they should be treated just like pre-made models? Because currently you can take a model from the internet and use it on the background and still count the entry as pure.
What about creating your own textures in Gimp and then using them in the project?
Currently the rules say nothing about textures at all. It is definitely much purer than if you had taken the texture from the internet. I think textures shouldn’t affect pure/open classification much, unless you abuse of it (for example, if you use a photo of a dog to pretend you modelled a dog).
Maybe as a general rule of thumb: If your entry is less pure than the purest open entry from the previous week, you should call it open. Then things self-regulate themselves a bit.
I’m currently a little low on free time. Because of this and because discussions like this have been problematic in the past, originally, I planned to stay out of this as much as possible. (Actually I still do.)
Be that as it may. The rules have been around for about 16 years. And the Weekend Challenge is still alive and kicking, which (in my eyes) is quite an accomplishment. Meaning, things may not be as bad as they may seem. Of course, this doesn’t mean that a good thing cannot be made even better. There is always room for improvement.
Personally, I like the pure/open system. This is a challenge (with a slight competition aspect). Give someone Blender and a few hours/days of time and see what comes out. Creating a pure entry is a little more challenging. Not everyone will be a fan of or have time for that - which is OK, as you can always enter an ‘open’ or even ‘non competing’ entry. [You can climb the Everest with or without supplementary oxygen.] And the disadvantage (competition-wise) of entering an open entry, actually, isn’t that big at all.
Regarding the voting: Most voters will not search for and read every post in the entry thread in order to evaluate the image creation process before comparing all entries and casting an elaborate vote.
Having categories is making this a lot easier. I really appreciate how much time and effort Millani puts into commenting/evaluating each entry - but the average user/voter will (probably) not be that committed to the task. (Scroll through the entries, pick a few favorites, cast a vote, done in < 60 seconds.)
Voting needs to be fast and easy if we want it to work.
Now, on changing the rules:
I think the rules are good enough. However, there are two issues, which have been causing confusion quite often.
1.) Parts may be a little outdated.
2.) The rules can be rather vague/unclear => confusing.
@1 After all these years, the filesize and -format part feels odd. It isn’t that much of a problem to comply with this rule, but I don’t think it is really necessary anymore. (And most entries are ignoring it, anyways.)
@2 Textures (HDRI, externally generated/edited textures, external texture sources, …) and addons seem to cause most of the trouble.
I think, in most cases, we can ignore textures. As long as there is more to the entry than textures, it should stay pure. No problem there.
Regarding (generator-) addons: I’d say, if it comes packed with Blender (e.g. sapling), using it for a ‘pure’ entry should be fine (it should not make a difference, if a function has been coded in c/c++ or python).
If a external addon (not part of the Blender setup) (e.g. MB) has been used in a significant way, this should be ‘open’.
Like Photox said, we don’t have to change much, to fix these issues.
However, there is one problem left. On a forum like this, we will have a hard time deciding anything. This discussion isn’t (only) about facts but (mainly) about opinions. As Millani said, it is very difficult to agree on something. The loudest opinion can easily be confused with general consensus and many opinions may not even be heard.
A poll is far from reliable. (Which is interfering with a democratic approach.) We don’t have a king and we don’t have a Council of Elders. (So absolutism is out of the game as well.)
Under these circumstances, making big changes and turning everything upside down at once doesn’t seem to be a good idea. But I think we can probably agree on small changes/upgrades.
I could even add those little “rule updates/extensions” to the entry thread starting post. This way, we could see how things work out, let the admins/mods focus on the important stuff (e.g. moving to discourse) and have the official rules updated later (if needed).
Looking at all that text, I remember why I wanted to stay out of this.
I completely agree with you Helge. For me and this challenge it is more of something to keep me fresh and doing something in Blender vs the latter of just not bothering doing something and becoming rusty or out of date. And having a goal to look forward to at the end of the project helps my biggest issue (completing a project). I think it should only possibly change when the Discourse change happens and even then after it happens if there are more and more entering that are having more complaints.
I had to laugh at the
Looking at all that text, I remember why I wanted to stay out of this.
Been there done that before myself.
Appreciate your work on these challenges. Kudos go out to you.