#39 - "African Savannah" - Questions and Answers

[amigo]

- Can I add a statue to my environment and will that count towards animals/humans?
You may add statue(s) but they will not count towards organic creatures. You still have to have a minumum of two animals or an animal and a human, or more.

- Can i use the fur shape of Maya for the grass?
Yes!

- Can i use real phothos for the sky?
No, real life photos are not allowed. Most application allow for creation and rendering of simple and complex environments, use your skills.

- Can a dead animal count as one of the 2 animals required?
If the action is focused on a pack of lions eating a zebra for example then yes, otherwise no - a carcas will not count.

- You mention no still life, please clarify that you need a still picture however, of an animal eating or running. A snapshot of an action?
Per assignment grazing, drinking and other activities classify as action. Your models should not be just "posing for the camera" while you "paint the picture".

- Is it allowed to use 3ds max plugins such as Shag:hair/fur?
Yes!

- Can modeling be done in several programs, let's say 3ds max for modeling and maya for rest, or simply touch up the model with Zbrush?
Yes!

- Are 3D texture painters such as Deep Paint or BodyPaint 3D allowed?
Yes!

- If one focuses on the "action" and 3d on foreground, can background be a matte painting?
No!

- Since trees, mountains, some grass would be extremely difficult to handle for some renderers/systems at once can we render them in layers.
You can render in layers as long as those layers are 3D objects and not photo parts.

- Do the clouds have to be 3D or I can render some in Afterburn and paint other and use as alpha maps?
You can use volumetrics to create clouds or procedural noise or any other method that generates a model. No real life cloud photos are allowed.

- Can distant trees be painted?
No, environment and its elements must be 3D built. Make low res meshes of trees, it's simple stuff.

- Can I use XFrog models, even If I have crated a dozen myself ?
No, there are no exceptions

- What about Dreamscape for 3ds max, can I use it for basic terrain and real 3d volumetric clouds?
No, Dreamscape is an instant environment plugin. It gives unfair advantage to 3ds max users over other applications.

- Where can I find good reference images?
http://images.google.com

- So I can make one human and one animal instead of two animals?
Yes!

- What does pre-made textures include, can I use texture CDs for example?
Depends on the type of the textures from the CDs. If they are photographs of actual objects that you would map onto a simple mesh plane to substitute geometry/shape then no. On the other hand if it is a surface texture defining properties of an object then yes.