If you think having your boss lurk behind your screen 10 minutes before a client presentation is pressure, try completing a rendering from start to finish in 20 minutes in front of 1500 people with pumping loud music, a TV crew, and 5 judges in your face. Last Saturday, I was invited to judge the 3D category of Cut&Paste at New York's Webster Hall which was packed full of designers from all professions with high expectations.
Arguably the 2D component of Cut&Paste is more entertaining to watch, most of the audience are familiar with photoshop and illustrator so there's a lot more wow moments where you learn new tricks and shortcuts. Watching the 3D category largely involves looking at a lot of wireframes that seemingly don't change much, with only a few quick preview renders to offer a glimpse at the design.
Contestants Neil Benjamin, Joseph Ibrahim, Jimmy Marrero and Jeffery Miao battled it out in 2 rounds, using their weapon of choice; Maya, 3DSMax, Cinema4D, or Softimage. The first challenge was tough, "Predicting the Future", Neil's approach was the most entertaining to watch modeling a 3D hand while the others opted to build scenes and landscapes. There was a lot of compassion from the audience for Jospeh when his machine crashed a minute before the clock ran out, ironically fulfilling the only immediate future I could have predicted.
Round 2 was a little easier with the theme "Metamorphosis", the guys noticeably calmer, more focused and in the zone. There was a universal sci-fi approach with obvious references to nature. Hard to judge as ultimately the concept trumps technical expertise, and completion trumps perfection. As Jonas Damon from Frog pointed out, if you have to produce a 3D concept in 20 minutes, you'd really mock it up in photoshop which made me think, the criteria for assessing entries should be the best use of a 3D applications capabilities in 20 minutes.
Niel's rendering (above) was both the crowd favorite and the judges. Winning the tournament, he'll go on to represent New York in the World Championships later this year and face contestants from 15 other cities around the world. Much respect to everyone who competed, it's really tough!
(UPDATE: Wired just posted a short video shot at the New York event with Cut & Paste founder John Fiorelli)
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