May 7th: DRUMROLL PLEASE! And the winners are...
On this Challenge page you'll find everything you need to know about this challenge. Feel free to use this forum thread to ask questions, seek advice, look for feedback, or to just hang out and talk about Blender and cookies. Everyone is welcome to join the conversation! 😃
Showing work in progress is highly encouraged, we would love to see what you're working on. Also, getting (and giving) peer feedback is one of the best ways to improve your skills! Create your very own WIP thread on the forum or share your work here in the comments below.
On social media use #cgcookiechallenge so we can check out what awesome things you guys are up to!
Blender 2.8's brand new realtime render engine Eevee and trusty old Cycles are a hot topic these days. There's a blazing battle going on about which one is better, people taking sides, friends become foes... let's settle this discussion once and for all!
We challenge you to take Blenders very own mascot Suzanne (the monkey head) and create an awesome render with either Eevee or Cycles. You can use Suzanne as your main subject or add her as a detail to spice things up, but she has to be chilling somewhere in your scene (examples a bit further down below 😊)
It's a great way to practice and hone your CG skills, fill up you portfolio, learn something new, hang out with likeminded people, and most importantly to have some good ol' fun!! 😄 oh and let's not forget the XP and eternal bragging rights if you win 😉
✅ Use either Eevee or Cycles for your final render. Want to use this challenge as an opportunity to dive into Eevee, but you've never used it before? Just watch this brand new Eevee course and you'll be up to speed in no time!
✅ Use Suzanne somewhere in you scene 🐵
✅ Use Blender for modeling and / or sculpting, since it's a Blender kinda challenge 😉 add-ons are allowed, they are for Blender after all!
✅ You can use whatever software you want for texturing & shading (like Blender, Substance or Photoshop) and you can use whatever textures you would like to use.
✅ Using an image or HDRI as a background is allowed.
✅ Post processing with the compositer is 100% an awesome idea! It's part of Blender so go wild 😎 As for other software (like Photoshop or Gimp), it's allowed, if kept to a minimum. Some firefly removal, sharpening or basic color correction is okay. No drastic changes though, your render should still look like what you made with Blender.
✅ Whether you are just starting out or you're an experienced Blender-head, all skill levels are welcome! We're all in it to improve our CG skills 😄 Everyone with a CG Cookie account can enter this challenge (grab a membership or get a free account if you don't have one yet).
✅ One entry only. And it has to be a still render, no animations for this one. Give it your one best shot 👊😎
❌ No old work or 3D models created by other people. Everything in your scene should be brand new and made by you. It's a challenge after all, let's get those creative juices flowing and start stretching your CG muscles. You got this! 👍
There's a separate Challenge Submissions page. Just drop your finished image in the comments of that forum thread before the deadline hits. Don't forget to mention whether you've used Eevee or Cycles!
From left to right:
🍪 Suzanne, where are you hiding? Tip for people new to Blender, this video from the FREE beginner course here on CG Cookie shows you how to add objects to your scene, including the monkey head!
🍪 Some good free resources are HDRI Haven (HDRI's), Texture Haven (textures) and Pixabay (images). Do you know more great places to get free resources? Share them in the comments below!
🍪 Use as many Suzanne's as you want. One, two, five, or even create a whole wall out of hundreds of monkey heads. It's all up to your imagination!
🍪 All types of Suzanne's are welcome, but if you're unsure about something just ask your questions in the comments below.
The CG Cookie gallery is a great place to find inspiration, there's amazing art to be found! Here are some Suzanne influenced artworks for you to enjoy (click to enlarge):
(We have many different time zones in our community, so as a rule of thumb just stick with whenever it's midnight in your time zone 😊)
Daaaaaaaamn I'm liking the idea of this. Need to actually get my ass in gear and do stuff so hopefully this will help. Looking forward to it guys.
paintevil hi Timo, good question! Post processing with Blenders compositing is fully allowed, it's in Blender so go wild 😊
Other software like Photoshop, Gimp or Krita, only minimal post processing. Removing fireflies, bit of sharpening, basic color correction. Nothing too crazy that alters the render completely. It should still look like what you made with Blender.
I added this clarification to the challenge description at the top.
Hope this makes sense, and looking forward to what you can do! 😎👍🏻
nekronavt of course it is! You know I love your primitives galleon with Suzanne pirate flag 😉
One question I'd like to ask is it says that any kind of Suzanne is allowed, does that include pictures of Suzanne in the scene or does it strictly have to be a 3D model?
thecabbagedetective at least one 3D version of Suzanne, however feel free to add image based Suzanne's on top of that!
Finally a reason to do some EEVEE stuff I've been sort of avoiding. Good luck with hosting this ssmurfmier1985 Not like you need it though. I'm sure you nail this one!🙂 I'm excited to go through the page once again and see what people are posting in the thread.
ssmurfmier1985 never know what happens. :) hoping to finish one personal project asap, then i can concentrate on this.
What an awesome idea, Miranda! This is what I needed to get my creative juices flowing.
Way to go ssmurfmier1985 ! I can't think of a better person to be hosting. This looks like a lot of fun. I'm cooking up ideas.
Hey, we can have it be like where's waldo, but it's Suzanne.
btw, my old principal's name is Suzanne... does that Suzanne work?