The long awaited, third architectural visualization challenge, is here at last on a brand new site with an exciting and challenging theme – CityLIFE!

This time we will explore one of the most complex and vast subject matter in our field, our urban way of living. Cities come in all shapes an sizes across human history, both as real places and as figment of our imagination in various art forms such as paintings, novels, songs, and movies. The City offers many to gather in one place, live and work in it throughout the seasons and create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Your mission is to showcase the life in the city… of your choice.

CityLIFE Duration

September 12, 2011 – December 24, 2011.

Your Mission

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to showcase CityLIFE in two different seasons – Summer, Autumn, Winter or Spring. Other then the main still image category, I’m opening a Real-Time & 2D Concept Art categories too for the first time in this challenge, for those of you who want to explore that way of presenting an architectural idea more.

So what do we do in the city? WE, the many. Even when you focus on the few, don’t forget about the larger context.

We go to work.
We wait in traffic.
We riot (or peacefully protest).
We go out, having fun.
We celebrate our Independence.
We celebrate a holiday.
We host the Olympics.
We host the World Cup.

You are encouraged to think beyond the traditional or conventional interpretations and methods of architectural visualization and I’ll emphasize that photo-realness is not the aim, but certainly might be a mean to an end.

Jump start your imagination and create something original. Try your best to evoke our emotions when viewing your visuals, making us feel what hovering is like!

New Categories & New Prizes

Two new categories are introduced in CityLIFE with some great awards to follow suit.

Still Image

The main category with the biggest prize pool remains the Still Image Creation Category which now has a RenderStream Computer Workstation valued at $3,395 (USD) as part of the Grand Prize package for the best challenge entry as selected by the jury panel.

Concept Art

The first part of each entry of yours starts with a concept and a sketch or a drawing to showcase it to us and get feedback before you move on. I’d like to focus a bit more on that part of the challenge and motivate all of you to explore your 2d concept art skills… I started doing so myself with the CityLIFE Challenge Poster. The best concept art will be awarded with a WACOM Intuos Tablet among others things too.

Real Time

Real Time Visualization is advancing fast, and we can already see some applications in Architectural Visualization too. I think real-time tools have a lot to offer in our field and would like to explore them in CityLIFE. It will not be easy to get some real-time city life action but hey – It is a challenge. Best real-time entry will be awarded with a Twinmotion v2 license & an ATI FirePRO V5900 Video Card among other things too.

Judging

Honorable members of CityLIFE Challenge Jury are :

Benjamin Brosdau – Technical Director at Purerender, Germany / HOVER Grand Prize Winner. (Read Interview)
Gus Capote – Former Studio Manager at Neoscape, Spain.
Alex York – Founder & Creative Director at Ateilier York, United Kingdom. (Read Interview)
Roberto De Rose – Studio Manager at State of Art Studio, Italy. (Read Interview)

And Yours Truly :

Ronen Bekerman – Founder & Creative Director at Polyotwn, Israel.

The entries will be judged according to overall accepted standards of architectural visualization: composition; 3d modeling; lighting; materials and textures, concept (original approach), addressing the architectural interpretation of the city, technical skill, emotive value and participation in WIP threads.

CityLIFE Challenge Site

The CityLIFE challenge is hosted in a sub-site of its own at – CityLIFE Architectural Visualization Challenge III. You’ll need to register to start posting in it. Looking forward to see you all on-board

Sponsors

Procedural, Twinmotion, DesignConnected, Chaosgroup, VBvisual, E-On Software, RenderNation, RenderStream, CGAxis, Exlevel, LAUBlab, XFrog, Next Limit, model+model, iToo Software, Wacom, VizPeople, ATI, ArtVPS, Solid Iris Technologies, MotivaCG, 3DMentor.

Press Resource & Promotion Files

Please use the files in the folder below for promotion and publication of CityLIFE via your own channels.

[Files will back online soon...]

CityLIFE Begins is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The NGA House Maxwell Render miniCHALLENGE #03 Winners have been selected! Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 03 / NGA House with Maxwell Render / Winners Selected blog post for the this news. Make sure you also visit the NGA with Maxwell Render miniCHALLENGE forum thread for the full progress of the event.

NGA House / Winners Selected is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The NGA House Maxwell Render miniCHALLENGE #03 has ended sometime ago and here are the finalists to be considered in the final judging stage. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 03 / NGA House with Maxwell Render / Finalists blog post for the this news. Make sure you also visit the NGA with Maxwell Render miniCHALLENGE forum thread for the full progress of the event.

NGA House / Finalists is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

3D World Cover features Nicolas Richelet (newke) RailClone miniCHALLENGE ‘Falling Apart’ 2nd place entry. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original Nicolas Richelet’s ‘Falling Apart’ RailCLONE Image on 3D World’s Cover blog post for the this news.

RailCLONE / 3D World Cover / Nicolas Richelet’s ‘Falling Apart’ is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The NGA House Maxwell Render miniCHALLENGE #03 has started. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 03 / NGA House with Maxwell Render / Announcement forum thread for the this news.

NGA House Begins is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The RailClONE miniCHALLENGE Winners have been selected! Big thanks to iToo Software for sponsoring this event and for all the participants who took RailClONE for a spin and created great work with it. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 02 / RailCLONE / Winners Selected blog post for the this news.

RailCLONE / Winners Selected is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The RailClone miniCHALLENGE closed today and the winners will be selected in a few days. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 02 / RailCLONE / Finalists blog post for the this news.

RailCLONE / Finalists is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The second miniCHALLENGE#02 – RailClONE is live. Sponsored by iToo Software, you are tasked to create any image you like using the new RailClONE plugin for 3ds max. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 02 / RailCLONE blog post for the this news.

RailCLONE Begins is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

I’m proud to inform you all that the winners of the second Architectural Visualization Challenge – HOVER, have been selected! I would like to thank all the challengers, forum members and guest for taking part in this event, the second among many more to come I hope! I would also like to send a big thank you to all our great sponsors for taking part and help in the making of this challenge. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original The HOVER Challenge Winners Selected! blog post for the this news.

HOVER / Winners Selected is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

I’m very proud to present the images created by the 24 finalists of the second Architectural Visualization Challenge – HOVER. I enjoyed this event very much as I’m sure you did too based on the feedback I got so far. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original The HOVER Challenge 24 Finalists blog post for the this news.

HOVER / 24 Finalists is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

Congratulation to the winners of the first miniCHALLANGE by Materialwerk and yours truly! From August 15 to September 15, Sponsored by the good people at Materialwerk. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 01 / BRIX : Winners Announced blog post for the this news.

BRIX / Winners Selected is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

The first miniCHALLENGE#01 – BRIX is here. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original miniCHALLENGE 01 / BRIX blog post for the this news.

BRIX Begins is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

HOVER is starting! Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original Architectural Visualization Challenge II, HOVER blog post for the this news.

HOVER Begins is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

I’m proud to inform you all that the winners of the first Architectural Visualization Challenge – GH HOUSE, have been selected! I would like to thank all the challengers, forum members and guest for taking part in this event, the first among many more to come I hope! I would also like to send a big thank you to all our great sponsors for taking part and help in the making of this challenge. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original The GH HOUSE Challenge Winners Selected! blog post for the this news.

GH HOUSE / Winners Selected is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites

I’m very proud to present the images created by the 23 finalists of the first Architectural Visualization Challenge – GH HOUSE. Since this event took place prior to the launch of the new challenge site you can check the original The GH HOUSE Challenge 23 Finalists blog post for the this news.

GH HOUSE / 23 Finalists is a post from Ronen Bekerman's 3D Architectural Visualization Challenge Sites