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XXIV CGSociety's Challenge Winners

Over a thousand digital artists competed for big prizes in the latest CGChallenge. Their mission was to create characters and stories worthy of a James Bond or Bladerunner spy thriller.

Adelaide, South Australia, October 9, 2009  The winners of the CGSociety's CGChallenge XXIV: 'Secret Agent' have been announced. Digital artists, from around the world, used their skills to claim more prizes than an evil henchman could carry on his burly shoulders. Over $100,000 worth of software and hardware were on offer in many categories, including Video, Animation, Modeling and Illustration. To win, the artists' task was to depict characters and events, which involved espionage, gadgets, guns and evil geniuses, via a still image or video.

The Master Award winners of the three main prize categories - Individual Video, Team Video, and Image - all showed not only outstanding technical ability but were also able to successfully delve into the daring and dangerous world of Secret Agents.    

The Image Master was awarded to Portugal's Jose Alves da Silva (Zeoyn) for his 'Mouse Love', a whimsical tale of lab rat revenge. ?Good lighting and a nice story twist,? said judge, Mark Snoswell. ?There's a wonderful mood in this piece,? added Jon Rush. ?Lots of nice details to look at, but they don't derail the composition.? The excited artist replied that this ?eight week journey with my fellow challengers definitely pushed me to the limit
 if you are willing to listen to what other people say, your work will rise to a whole new level. Knowledge and a great brotherhood spirit are the prizes that all contestants can be sure to take from these Challenges.?  

The Individual Video Master Award went to France's Aurelien Rantet (Aurel0988) for his 'Run for the Artifact', a futuristic tale of a bumbling spy and his tenacious attempts at securing a curious object. Hal Milton exclaimed ?Wow! Great gags, great designs ... This tells an amazingly satisfying story by brilliantly squeezing meaning into every single second on screen. Once again, you individual contributors scare me with your giant, assumed to be pulsing, brains!" Marc Mordelet added: "Amazing sense of colors. How can a young man do all of this professional work alone? I am feeling old now." The winning artist said "I'm pretty new in the CG world so this award is a real honor for me, especially considering the level of the other participants...Thanks to everyone who offered me encouragement and critiques during my work."

The Video (Team) Master Award went to Germany/Japan's 'Agent Omicron'.The team consisted of Goro Fujita (Goro), Kory Heinzen, Nico Sanghrajka and Ryosuke Fujita. This campy masterpiece features characters from an imaginary 80s TV show, and has a pulsating jazz soundtrack. Alexandra Ciolac judged it as having a ?lovely graphic style. I believe this piece is the best expression of the classic secret agent concept. Nicely timed animation consistent with the style, full of life characters. Great eyes and facial animations.? Marc Mordelet thought it was ?something between Cobra and Dirty Harry. Great animation and beautiful music. I wish to see this on TV!?

A full list of winners for the Secret Agent CGChallenge and their winning entries can be viewed at The CGSociety website ( http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/secretagent ). Previous CGChallenges can also be viewed at The CGSociety website (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/).

Prizes were awarded in Video, Animation, Art Direction, Best Character, Compositing and Editing, Concept Art, Digital Painting, Landscape/Matte Painting, Lighting, Modeling, Sculpture, Texturing, VFX and Illustration categories.

The prizes were sponsored by BOXX, Autodesk, Wacom, NVIDIA, Luxology, e-on Software, stash DVD Magazine, Maxon, Corel, Craft Animations, Side Effects Software, The Gnomon Workshop, Zbrush, ImagineFX, 3dvia, Ballistic Publishing, and CGSociety.

The judges came from the film, game and illustration worlds, past Challenge winners, and leading luminaries within the CGSociety community. Judges were David Wright, Jeff Mottle , Hal Milton, Coro, Brom, Coro, Sasha Ciolac, Marcin Jakubowski , Vasile Brovcenco, Thiago Pires, Arthur Mirzoyam, Tomasz Jedruszek, Marc Mordelet, Martin Köhler, Yap Kun Rong, ru | bonsaininja, David Luong, Don Seegmiller, Jon Rush, Todd Widup, Bryan Silva, Boaz Livny, Roger Cusson, Mark Snoswell, Leigh A. van der Byl, and Anton Fletcher.

Posted at 05:00AM Oct 12, 2009 by ko maruyama in Visual  |  Comments[24]