Welcome to Sensei Challenge #7

[Zabiegly]

The Sensei team are pleased to announce Sensei Challenge #7...

“SFM Halloween - Torture Device”
20.000 members can hear you scream!

Welcome to the start of the new sensei challenge. This seasonal challenge is all about Halloween. As the most eerie, fearsome, intimidating and scary holiday of the year it screams for the creation of a scifi torture device. Get your juices flowing and design and model a device that gets other creatures juces flowing!

What we want to see

This challenge is all about inflicting pain. We want you to design and model a futuristic torture device that can be used on either humans or aliens or both. It doesn't have to be completely serious. Actually we'd be glad to see humerous, over the top devices as well. Keep the Halloween spirit in mind.

This is not restricted by any sort of genre except that it should be scifi. You're free to create whatever torture device you can think of. It can be based in an existing universe though. Trek, StarWars, BSG,... torture devices are allowed. But we'd advise you to do something creative.


We will be evaluating the entries on a range of things - originality, concept (2D and 3D), progress towards your goal and modeling (3D).

What we don't want to see

• This challenge is about the torture device itself. You don't have to make the character it is used on.
  
• Extensive gore or sexual themes. This is supposed to be a fun Halloween project. While little kids are patrolling the streets with mockup chainsaws they are not actually cutting off arms on Halloween.
  
• We don't need to see the environment in which it sits. It would be nice to see the context, but keep your focus – the torture machine is the important part of the challenge, and that's what you'll be judged on.
  
• Don't just copy something that already exists. There needs to be innovation in your entry.

Sensei's Tips

The Sensei Team is here for a reason - namely to help YOU become as good as we can get you to be in the digital graphics world. We can't help you however, unless you help us. We can't pick comments out of the air if we don't know where you are having problems.

Starting in this Challenge therefore, we want you to approach you work methodically. Give us your sketches that didn't work out; give us your concept drawings that you think will work and show us how you are progressing towards your goal. The more that you show us, the more we and the rest of the community can comment on.

To this end, a requirement of this challenge is that at the very least we want to see one concept sketch that you've made that has set you on your final path. Remember however, that we are looking for a concept sketch - no matter how rough - and not a work of art in itself.

Also, if you've used a special technique or a feature of your software that you have never touched before, tell us in your thread - we and the rest of the membership want to know how you have progressed along your design route and in your personal skills.

Challenge Duration

You have ten days from today, October 22nd to come up with your final entry. The challenge will close witching hour Halloween (October 31st).

The Rules:

• The very first image you post in your thread has to be a sketch! No exceptions from this rule this time. It can be a scanned in hand drawn sketch but a rough layout done with a mouse in MS Paint serves just as well. We're not judging your drawing abilities but we want you to think about your design before you start the 3d process. If you fail to post a sketch you will be disqualified.
  
• You can enter either a rendering of a 3D model or a 2D concept piece. The same rules on context apply equally. If you're doing a 3D piece a grey-shaded model is enough. Bumpmaps, Displacement Maps and Normal Maps are allowed to support your modeling. All other texturing you might do will not influence the judging. Please concentrate on modeling and also keep the lighting simple. (Yet lighting can be very helpfull to give your modell the right eerie athmosphere)
  
• Your final submission must be no more than 1024x768 but it may be oriented in either Landscape or portrait. You can submit more than one image of your final model (an overview image and several closeups of details for example).
  
• One entry per member only.
  
• You will post a WIP in the Challenge forum, you must show progress on your model before you submit your final entry, this, among other things, will allow us to make sure everyone is within the rules.

As usual, name your thread in the challange wip forum in the format:

Challenge #7 – MemberName – Title (if appropriate)

Prizes:

1st place - SFM Sensei Gold medal displayed under the winners avatar and your artwork shown on the SFM Header.
2st place - SFM Sensei Silver medal displayed under the winners avatar.
3st place - SFM Sensei Bronze medal displayed under the winners avatar.

Most Honourable Member - Green Sensei Medal displayed under the winners avatar, awarded to the most helpful and constructive member in the challenge.

In the sprit of competition and dissemination of skills throughout the community, all members of SFM (inc. Moderators, Senseis and Admins) may create WIPs. As usual however, Senseis and Admin are NOT permitted to enter their final design at the end of the challenge and can therefore not win any prize. Moderators can take part as they are not involved in the development process of a Challenge. They are just as surprised by the Challenges as normal members are. Member status does not have any influence on the voting at all.

If you have any questions then please ask them in this thread, otherwise:

Good luck to everyone!

-SFM Sensei.

[Zabiegly]

I will clean up this forum once an Admin made a new Archive-Subforum for me. So we've got a nice a clean forum to start with. But of course you can already start posting your WIP threads.

[biotech]

How is 9 days close to two weeks?

[Zabiegly]

It's "roughly" close to two weeks - Well OK, maybe it's closer to one week. Let's say you've got 10 days this time (cause it's ten, not nine)

I changed the brief from "two weeks" to "ten days" to avoid confusion.

[Kadaeux]

While little kids are patrolling the streets with mockup chainsaws they are not actually cutting off arms on Halloween.

They're supposed to be mockup......

Consider me in.

[rtrowbridge]

How about an election ballot with Hillary and Rudy on it. Is that scary enough?

[Dravt-A]

Oh, torture, pain,....

I will torture all of you with my mesh...

I´m in.

[Zabiegly]

Originally Posted by rtrowbridge

How about an election ballot with Hillary and Rudy on it. Is that scary enough?

Is that an official question?

[rtrowbridge]

Originally Posted by Zabiegly

Is that an official question?

No, it was only a joke. But at least one of those names would be pretty scary no matter what your political affiliations might be. To avoid starting a political flame war, I won't make any other name suggestions, no matter how tempting.

[Nadesico]

Edit by Zabiegly:
I deleted your post because this thread is for questions on the Challenge only. If you want to model your soft cusioned torture chair you're more than welcome to open your own WIP thread in the forum (please follow the naming convention as outlined in the brief).