CityLIFE Begins

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