Evermotion Challenge 2021 - Winners Announced!

Evermotion Challenge 2021 came to an end and now we can meet the finalists! We want to than for every participant for taking the time to create a work for our challenge. We also thank for our sponsors and judges. After two rounds of voting we finally have results, so let's see who made the best work this year!

This year your works were judged by:

Nina Marie - is a New York 3D Artist with a BFA degree in Photography.  She has studied several different mediums of art, including painting, ceramics, 3D modeling, photography and web design.  Nina has worked for several design agencies and had her work featured on Time's Square billboards, shown on TV, won multiple awards, and was showcased on Evermotion's site.  She is fluent in sculpting in Zbrush, building hyper realistic scenes in Cinema 4D and Octane, and creating characters and creatures from scratch.  When she is not working, Nina enjoys building PC's from scratch, editing travel vlogs, writing on her vegan food blog (www.ninasveganrecipes.com), and hiking.  Nina currently works as a Senior CGI Artist at Design Bridge, a global design agency based in NYC.  Her style embraces a dynamic approach that takes the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Hrvoje Cop - Polymachine - (commonly known as Chopmeister) is a 3D artist, obsessive tinkerer and the CTO of Polymachine, an archviz studio from Zagreb, Croatia. In the archviz business since the early 2000s, he enjoys discovering new ways to solve technical problems, and is addicted to most things that feature LEDs and buttons.         

Michał Horba (Evermotion) - Degree in architecture and urban planning mixed with passion for 3d - during my university times I discovered the most fun part for me was making the project look great. And so my journey began. Ten years of experience as 3d generalist shows that my main interests are architecture illustrations and material making. I am responsible for some of Evermotion's crazy scenes as well. It is a honor for me to be here, have fun!

1st place - deepakjain3d - "I find life in my work and work in my life"

Prizes:

• Evermotion: €1000 in cash, 5 Evermotion collections of winner's choice
• iCube R&D Group - MultiScatter, MadCar 3, CityTraffic – € 760
• Annual V-Ray Collection - € 629
• Fox Renderfarm - render credits (worth $600)
• Corona Renderer - 1 year license (€ 289,99)
• Rebus Farm - 700 RenderPoints (worth € 700)
• Topogun Single License (worth $100)

Nina Marie: This image speaks directly to the heart of a single mother, working and having to make compromises to provide for her child.  For many women, this is a real struggle and an issue often overlooked.  Not only does this piece hold great meaning, it also is highly realistic and technically very well done. The attention to detail is obvious, and the complexity of the scene shows how much time was put into this.  Great work, Congradulations on being the winner of this years challenge!

Hrvoje Chop: Out of all the entries this year, this was an easy pick for me. It is immediately apparent lots of work went into this, but it's not just a pile of technical details - there is an overarching concept to it which is shown in a clear and obvious way, while still managing not to look cheap or basic. This is much harder to do than it sounds, which is why this image works so well for me. Despite the complexity of the surroundings, the lighting is carefully done to make the eye glide towards the main part of the image, but I do love that no part of the image was left unattended. Congratulations!

Michal Horba: It is pointless to say anything because this image has it all. I love the idea that you introduced and how the whole image supports it. The street, buildings, mood; everything here is in its place. Modeling has a lot of detail, materials look juicy and composition is just cool. Congratulations on your work, you are a master of your skill! Keep it up!

2nd place - caoruming - "As busy as a robot"

Prizes:

• Evermotion: €750 in cash, 5 Evermotion collections of winner's choice
• iCube R&D Group - MultiScatter, MadCar 3 – € 400
• Annual V-Ray Collection - € 629
• Fox Renderfarm - render credits (worth 400 USD)
• Corona Renderer - 1 year license (€ 289,99)
• Rebus Farm - 500 RenderPoints (worth € 500)
• Topogun Single License (worth $100)

Nina Marie: This image was a sneak peak into a truly beautiful forest scene, away from the hussle and busstle of life. It gave you a moment in time of true peace, you can feel the serenity. I loved the concept of the robot representing the busy worker, and how many of us feel like that in our day to day jobs. But it doesn't take much to achieve happiness, and for me this piece captures it all. Lighting wise, I enjoyed the foggy moody atmosphere, compositionally the hanging lights draws us right into the center of the image, and the textures are all very realistic. I only wish I could have seen it rendered even larger/sharper to look at all of the detail. Great job on your achievement of 2nd place!

Hrvoje Chop: Using the robot as the 'worker' in this scenario, taking a break from work and having a rest in nature, is a nice and quite interesting concept. Technically speaking, the image is done very well from start to finish, and the composition is solid. Lighting is great, and the darker foreground very nicely frames the subject. My only gripe, as opposed to the first prize, is that the focus of the image, ie. the robot itself, feels a bit lost in the surroundings, and I feel like more could have been done to emphasize the story of it.

Michal Horba: This image in my opinion is an ex aequo wonderful as the first prize.It was a hard nut to crack for me because your work is exquisite. The idea of contrasting a machine with natural environment stimulates my imagination plus you put some nice vibe into it. I do like the overall mood of almost a fairy-tale place and the materials and modeling look very nice. Great work , congratulations!

3rd place - Neil Cross - "Anonymous"

Prizes:

• Evermotion: €500 in cash, 5 Evermotion collections of winner's choice
• iCube R&D Group - MultiScatter, VrayPattern – € 350
• Annual V-Ray Collection - € 629
• Fox Renderfarm - render credits (worth 300 USD)
• Corona Renderer - 1 year license (€ 289,99)
• Rebus Farm - 300 RenderPoints (worth € 300)
• Topogun Single License (worth $100)

Nina Marie: This immediately caught my eye (right around the time of the Matrix movie as well)! I absolutely love the blue toned monocromatic color sceme, and the spooky vibe with the empty room and fog falling off of the ceiling. I was impressed by the modeling skills in your behind the scenes video, and quickly realized how much work was put into this to make it look as great as it does! This could be apart of a movie scene. Excellent job, can't wait to see more work from you.

Hrvoje Chop: Getting some 'anonymous', retro-hacker vibes from this one. Very movie like. Some nice work with the cables all around the scene, and cool details all around. While a solid depiction of getting lost in work, which in this job we do, strikes home more than it really should, conceptually I'm left wanting a bit more - some hint or clue as to what kind of place this is, what's going on here and why, would make this an order of magnitude better. Still, good work!

Michal Horba: This work resembles some action movies in which the main hero is lost in his computer life. Good composition and interesting mood with a lot of modeling work are main strenghts for me here. Congratulations on your image.Keep it up!

1st award - mvshabeer - "The Balance of Work & Life"

Prizes:

• 2 Evermotion collections of winner's choice to each winner
• Fox Renderfarm - render credits worth 200 USD to each winner
• Corona Renderer - 3 months license (€ 74,97) for each winner
• Topogun Single License (worth $100)

Nina Marie: This image is gut wrenchingly honest and accurate. Many times people in first world countries complain about their jobs, being in meetings all day, or having to stay late at work. But in many third world countries, life is not so cushy, with air conditioning, food around the corner, or comfortable sitting arangements. They have to work back breaking jobs in order to feed their families. For me, this image is what CGI should be all about, creating a story that can show us a deeper perspective into the lives of others. It helps us to have a stronger appreciation of others, a greater thankfullness for the things we do have, as well as causing us to think twice about how we might be contributing to the greater issue at hand. Great work.

Hrvoje Chop: This does nail the look and feel of a back alley in a big city, and I can imagine it being busy with a lot of people during a typical day. Lots of attention to detail, which I always like. It seems there was a lot of post work done here, which unfortunately resulted in a distinct differences in lighting and sharpness throughout the image, which makes the entire image immediately look a bit 'off' to the eye.

Michal Horba: This image simply hits my emotions. The composition is strong, it is underlined by the buildings. I love the way you played with light here and made this eastern narrow street vibe very ralistic. The fabrics that block the sunlight look very interesting as the whole environment does its job. Congratulations on your work!

2nd award - aztmamedov - "The Abode of the Jeweler"

Prizes:

• 2 Evermotion collections of winner's choice to each winner
• Fox Renderfarm - render credits worth 200 USD to each winner
• Corona Renderer - 3 months license (€ 74,97) for each winner
• Topogun Single License (worth $100)

Nina Marie: What a fantastic piece that is full of detail in every corner of the room! I loved the concept, of a jewler, someone who works with their hands, and how their office/study might look. A lot of tools are needed for the job, and I enjoyed the finishing touch of adding the framed family photo at the top of the desk. Lighting looks real, and the textures are spot on. I like the subtle coolness of the background, to help separate the warm bright forground objects. Excellent work!

Hrvoje Chop: This is a very busy scene, and while it does convey the idea of a workshop well in that regard, it results in an uncertain composition. There is visible separation in the foreground and background, both in lighting and in style, but the foreground itself lacks a focal point. Also, the overuse of ambient occlusion makes the render look 'rubbery', which is something that should be avoided. Nice work, but with some polish, the very same model could be made to look much better. Keep at it!

Michal Horba: The amount of work you put here is incredible- one can see it on a glance. I like the complexity of the scene, the lighting is just right and the mood is very emphasized by it. Congratulations!

3rd award - Ali Asgar - "Equanimity"

Prizes:

• 2 Evermotion collections of winner's choice to each winner
• Fox Renderfarm - render credits worth 200 USD to each winner
• Corona Renderer - 3 months license (€ 74,97) for each winner
• Topogun Single License (worth $100)

Nina Marie: This was a super fun concept. Almost childlike, but that's because of the nature of the internal struggle this artist is going through. Perhaps frustration has caused him to trail his work into his living room, and he can now be seen on the floor doing something other than working on his painting. This scene feels very real, and I enjoyed the attention to detail, like the box of things on the bottom left corner. I also love that color of paint on the walls! Beautiful work, great job.

Hrvoje Chop: Interesting concept of a guy obviously going a bit crazy working from home. Nice work on the spattered paint details, and a cool overall theme. Stylistically, everything is chosen well, and arranged in a lifelike way. As is unfortunately so often the case, the post work done here introduced subtle imbalances to the image. Great care needs to be taken to make the 2D elements well grounded in a render, and I do feel it could have been done better here.

Michal Horba: This situation from your work is just very lifelike. I bet everyone had a hard time working from home. The technical aspects of your work are very proper. Modeling looks nice, materials are cool and composition is looking great. Congratulations!

Congratulations for all winners - great job! And congratulations for all participants for their hard work! See you next year!

Evermotion Team

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