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3th CG Boost Art Challenge for 3D Artists - Improve your 3D Skills!
The quality of the entries in our 3rd challenge at CG Boost was on a new level! We had smashing 134 accepted submissions!
Our jury had a good but also hard time judging all the great accepted submissions. Each judge voted for their own top 5 artworks. We also picked three random winners for the challenge raffle, see all the winners below.
Regrading the prizes, we will contact the winners during the next few days.
Congrats to the winners and honorable mentions, and a big THANK YOU to our sponsor and everyone for taking part!
Now scroll down to see the winners.
We’re congratulating Juan Hernández for winning the first place!
Follow Juan:
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“Before modeling, I spent the first days sketching and trying some concepts out. I liked the idea of my greenhouse been a cozy and warm place, comfortable to be in. To develop a story I basically just started asking myself what could go wrong in this place? My grandfather used to have such a place, full of plants and full of things he did not need, so I thought, what if he has some radioactive chemicals somewhere carelessly placed? Later, all that developed into the idea and I prepared a more detailed sketch of my scene.
I worked on this scene for about 2 weeks. There are many objects in the scene so Blender’s new collections system was great for the task, as I could keep everything organized. I learned that linked objects can actually have different materials, which was a great speed up. It was also the first time I used Blender’s compositing tools instead of Photoshop, which I now find very awesome.
I would love to try a short animation with this scene, but a frame is taking around 4 hours to render, so I will have to optimize it. Or maybe give EEVEE a try!”
Created using Blender only.
Chris Plush : This one immediately caught my eye as I loved the style and it’s just a great render. The exciting part about it is because there’s so much going on it actually took me a minute to realize why he was looking at the sandals!
Lukas Walzer: So many beautiful details to find there in this adorable environment, involving not only the lovely greenhouse but also three characters and a funny yet creepy story! Amazing!
Gregory Smith: This is a fantastic entry, creating an engaging narrative with vibrant characters and a really lived-in environment. There’s so much to look at with its superlative attention to detail.
Wybren van Keulen: The fun story in this scene is finished off with a consistent style that creates a striking mood. I like how the carefully orchestrated clutter actually works to tell the story. With so much to see, it takes some time to find grandpa suspended from the ceiling. Brilliant!
Joseph Nickson: Many things to like here! Lively lighting, stylised modeling and fully fleshed out scene with story and all at a great quality finish. Rather bold to attempt such a big undertaking but it’s paid off well.
Cedric Van der Kelen: The storytelling is amazing! Together with some nice set dressing and amazing lighting this makes for a great piece. Don’t be afraid to push the pose and expression of your characters.
Zacharias Reinhardt: This one grabbed my attention immediately after I saw it the first time. I love the style and especially the storytelling, which is not obvious in the first place, but slowly unfolds while discovering all the nice details. Juan managed to add a lot of details to discover but at the same time keep the focus clear. Also, from a technical perspective, this image has top-notch quality in terms of lighting, shading and modeling. Great work!
We’re congratulating Jakub Wysocki for winning the second place!
Follow Jakub:
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“I have always liked to model / design a nice, natural environment. I also like the idea of building with modular parts, and the greenhouse sounds perfect. Two birds with one stone! 😀 Thanks for the opportunity to participate!“
Created using Blender, Gravity Sketch VR (for early concept), Speed Tree and Photoshop.
Lukas Walzer: An incredible entry that just blew my mind with its crazy details and an overall feel that makes it seem as already being part of a major movie shot! Also very unique designs on the building itself!
Gregory Smith: A strong believable environment, great mood, engaging composition… I think this is a very cinematic image, striking visually and technically.
Joseph Nickson: I’m loving the sense of scale here, it really works well to add to the intricacy of the architecture style with the long ornate curves. Lovely light touch of lighting through the windows of the greenhouse, done a great job at implying a larger world to contain the scene. Really held well to the ‘Fantastical Greenhouse’ Theme.
Marius Iatan: A very alien-looking world with intricate architecture. Good level of detail and the scene feels well put together.
Chris Plush: This is an amazing scene with a ton of detail. Perfectly crafted landscape, and great atmosphere, lighting, and structure design.
Cedric Van der Kelen: Very nice details! The mood is awesome. Would’ve like to see a bit more light and contrast or a bit more of a focus.
Zacharias Reinhardt: At first, I thought that this one was a photo comp, but after I saw the 3d viewport screenshot, I was blown away, that the whole scene is completely 3d. So much attention to detail and great technical execution. The majestic greenhouse design, the believable environment and especially the mysterious mood with the fog across the land makes this one a winner for me.
We’re congratulating Azzurra Ferraris for winning the thrid place!
“In a future where global warming has made the earth an arid and inhospitable place, vegetation can only survive inside structures that protect it from too violent sunlight.
I chose a bare concrete architecture with light coming from above and a framing set on the diagonals that converge towards the two trees.
I used very little post-production, just some volumetric light and some contrast to the image.
Thanks CG Boost for this interesting challenge!”
Created using 3ds Max, V-Ray, Speed Tree and Photoshop.
Ebrahim Umar-Khitab: Lovely use of vegetation and lighting. Would have loved to see it tie in more directly with the theme.
Lukas Walzer: A very different greenhouse! I love brutalist architecture and this one really celebrates what brutalist architecture is all about: ethereal lighting! Colors and composition and assets make this look almost like a photograph!
Gregory Smith: Perfect from the technical standpoint, this scene evokes such a calm mood. It’s simple compared to many other entries, but that doesn’t prevent it from grabbing your attention.
Chipp Walters: Great lighting, simple composition, strong architecture and texturing, along with a dark foreground and just the right color tone makes this my favorite. Such a peaceful scene and certainly one I would like to visit!
Joseph Nickson: Beautiful setting and lighting here, overall an incredibly appealing final image. I’d maybe want to push the conventional ‘Greenhouse’ angle of the brief further, however I very much enjoy the refreshing setting.
Cedric Van der Kelen: The design is just supreme. The lighting, colors and contrast all supplement each other in this great piece. Nice work!
Aidy Burrows: Really great portrait composition, this has a very modern, clean vibe. Quite inviting, nice use of angles to give it some interest but still keeping it grounded and stable enhancing the simple but effective calm that we often associate with green.
Zacharias Reinhardt: I really like the minimalist approach here. The way the cold concrete walls, the light and the foliage is interacting with each other works perfectly. Great composition and technical execution. Just by looking at this image, I can feel how it is to stand inside this place.
We’re congratulating Kenji Aito for receiving an honorable mention!
Follow Kenji:
“AUTOMATED SPACE GREENHOUSE. A computer driven greenhouse for long space travels, taken care of when the crew is in hyper sleep.
I was surprised how motivated I became after joining CG Boost challenge. When I saw that the topic was about plants, I thought it will be hard since plants are not really my strong side. I think it’s really complicated to mimic the complexity of nature. Even if using add-ons and meshes for plants is helpful, you still have to tweak them so that they look realistic. Also, sometimes you have to cut some parts manually etc.
My main idea was to make a scene with both robots/spaceship things and plants. I also tried a new “semi transparent” soft part on the robot arms. Maybe it’s hard to see it on the render, but the soft part of the robot arm are actually sculpted (as well as the trash bag). The idea was to be able to see the cables inside. A utility robot like that, does not need to be “heavy frame” like a military bot…
I found the “perspective” of the scene the day after the challenge started. I took a lot of notes on pieces of paper for the mains ideas. (I wrote around 6 pages of notes and ugly drawings). After that, the ideas came on the way, but most of them were decided pretty fast.
From that: Modeling the interior, modeling the robot, first basic lightning setup + shading, and then the details and tweaking!
I organized the time as follows:Week 1: modeling; Half of week 2: lightning/shading; The other half: plants, tweaking, rendering, composition.
The scene is quite heavy, with around 20 million polygons, most of them being from plants. I split my work in several files, like in 2 sections for plants, to be able to work more smoothly. Finally, I merged the 2 sections in the final scene, where shader and lightning were already set.
I could see how good the collection system in Blender is (I used a LOT of them, around 20).
It was a big tricky to merge scenes with Graswald though.
There are 203 lights in the scene (counting very small point lights for LEDs!). And some emitting materials as well.
The outside lightning coming is not an HDRI, but a sphere with a background applied to it (stretched!). Just to create some light and get an idea. I changed the background during the compositing in Photoshop. Editing in PS was just about making the green colors more obvious, contrast is high (I’m a high contrast person !(?), slightly more sharpening edges, that’s it.
Overall, it was very good to polish my skills and force myself to use plants to make my artwork more “organic”.
I hope you guys like it…
My wish is to earn my living with CGI someday. So far I’m just an amateur, but please feel free to contact me for some projects!
Challenges are GREAT because with limited time you almost put yourself in a real job situation. I enjoyed that a LOT.
Thank you CG Boost and I think it was a great idea, that Zach moved to this. One year ago when I started Blender, Zach’s videos showed me the “Blender way” and I will never forget that!”
Created using Blender and Photoshop.
Marius Iatan: A clinical interpretation of the theme, which fits very well in a vision of future with advanced robotics. High level of detail and solid overall implementation.
Joseph Nickson: Fantastic modeling showcasing solid designs paired with a lovely composition – Incredibly polished end result showcasing a lot of skill.
Wybren van Keulen: A striking mix of nature and technology. The retro-futuristic style of the planters works really well and the level of finishing is exceptional, especially in texturing and lighting – they set the deep-space mood!
Chipp Walters: A very boldly lit interior space scene with lots of windows, an off-center focal point (which I prefer) and attention to detail make this one a winner. I suspect the artist played a bit with DOF, but there is so much going on it would be hard to focus in on a single area. I really like the blue nebula background, which gives the scene it’s overall wonderful color tone.
Cedric Van der Kelen: Very nice detail and fine composition. Maybe some depth of field or more focused lighting could’ve helped the piece focus a bit more, now it’s kind of noisy. Nice work nonetheless!
We’re congratulating Aron Springer for receiving an honorable mention!
Follow Aron:
Artstation
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“When I first saw the topic “Fantastic Greenhouse” I immediately had the idea of creating a giant greenhouse inspired by the Great Exhibition which took place in London, 1851. Meeting the topic, I changed the subject to a botanical exhibition. I used the Crystal Palace as a reference for the basic layout and moved on towards a more independent look in the details. Since the Crystal Palace was built about 150 years ago which I refer to as well in my artwork, I went for a partly modern design such as the windows and interior. By integrating older/Victorian elements, like the fountain and the stone framework, it clearly gives a well-looking mixture of architecture.”
Created using Blender, Substance Painter and Photoshop.
Chipp Walters: The pure photographic quality of this scene is something to marvel at. I like the perspective and the hero tree is wonderfully composed along with the rest of this “just vacated” greenhouse. Color tone and composition is great. The story could be a bit stronger, still, I really liked this image.
Ebrahim Umar-Khitab: Love the artful play on scale in this piece and the focus on creating something photorealistic.
Aidy Burrows: Beautiful almost cathedral like glass house, an inviting and clean welcoming space but not pristine. A nice understated use of lighting, could have been easy to go crazy with the contrast on this one, but it’s been kept nicely on the calming side subtle fusions of greens and blues.
