Villain’s Lair Challenge

Winners

1st Place: Woe of the Necromancer by zenTmoon

Prizes:

$2000 cash prize
1 year of Sketchfab Premium ($948 value)
1 year of ArtStation Pro ($120 value)
$100 ArtStation gift card
50,000 RealityCapture PPI credits ($125 value)
$100 credit for the Unreal Engine Marketplace

Judges’ notes:

“Large, alluring scene with plenty to discover! Every time I revisit it – I find new details. Points of interest (posed skeletons) are scattered in the vast scene which forces you to explore. Texture work is beautiful. This scene uses a mix between baked and rendered lighting which is done very well. Contrast and clarity are a bit low due to lighting conditions (too dark) and scale. I really like the unique idea with an initial view from which you zoom out to see the large room. It has a ‘WOW’ effect. Very well executed!” – Justin

“In awe of this highly polished large-scale enveloping environment that makes great use of colour and light to guide the viewer, and oozes character from each skelly, giving them all their own unique personality.” – Glen

“The zoomed in facepalm tells a lot about her evil plans. It reminds me of those memes with “expectation vs reality” :D. Who could have known skeletons need loads of milk? I think zenTmoon did a great job here pushing the limitations of the real time renders with beautiful textures and baked in lights. It gave the whole work that extra mile it needed. A job well done 👍” – Victor

2nd Place: Moșu’s hut by Nadine Bucknor

Prizes:

$1000 cash prize
6 months of Sketchfab Premium ($474 value)
1 year of ArtStation Pro ($120 value)
$50 ArtStation gift card
40,000 RealityCapture PPI credits ($100 value)
$50 credit for the Unreal Engine Marketplace

Judges’ notes:

“An incredibly innovative use of the Sketchfab viewer to tell a gripping story, paired with a very clean, distinctive art style.” – Glen

“Clever presentation of a direful story. The way Nadine Bucknor used Sketchfab viewer and music on YouTube to present the whole story is wonderful. The art style is unique and delivers the true feeling of possessed evil hut.” – Victor

“Creative, smart idea, with good story telling. Happy to see the folklore being used to create more depth to this scene. Ominous atmosphere and strong feelings are tangible. Animation delivers additional immersion. The models of the masks could be done with more care and the navigation of the scene is a little clunky due to its composition but as long as you follow the annotation perspectives – it holds up nicely.” – Justin

3rd Place: Invo-cat-ion by Mokastral

Prizes:

$500 cash prize
3 months of Sketchfab Premium ($237 value)
1 year of ArtStation Pro ($120 value)
$50 ArtStation gift card
30,000 RealityCapture PPI credits ($75 value)
$25 credit for the Unreal Engine Marketplace

Judges’ notes:

“I always knew it! All cats are evil, but also so cute (◠‿◠)…. Lovely colours and great presentation. Beautiful stylized art and low poly models work really well here. Mokastral made a beautiful art piece, hands down.” – Victor

“Very good lighting and atmosphere. The idea is cool and the humour is good. Unfortunately the scene looks a little rushed! Outside walls are two sided which makes it harder to orbit around to view the composition from the outside. I also wish there was an animation to add depth to this amazing diorama. Good contrast and stylization, keep up the hard work!” – Justin

“This is a beautifully composed and lit scene, with a gorgeous colour palette, and extremely high-quality hand-crafted textures.” – Glen

The Theme

This month we challenge you to create a space where evil plans are hatched and devious plots are set in motion: a villain’s lair. Think about who your villain is, where they live and/or work, and what sorts of tools, props, and other items they might have around their space. Tell us a unique story with your scene.

Read on to learn full prize details, how to enter and contest terms & conditions. To give or get feedback on challenge entries, head over to the Sketchfab Forum or Discord. And to see all the entries, check out the tag gallery.

Villain’s Lair (“Contest”) is hosted by Sketchfab Inc (“Sponsor”). The Contest is subject to the Official Contest Rules, available at https://sketchfab.com/blogs/community/official-contest-rules/ (“Official Contest Rules”), and which are deemed incorporated herein by this reference.

Prizes and Winner Notification

First Place Prizes

    • $2000 cash prize
    • 1 year of Sketchfab Premium ($948 value)
    • 1 year of ArtStation Pro ($120 value)
    • $100 ArtStation gift card
    • 50,000 RealityCapture PPI credits ($125 value)
    • $100 credit for the Unreal Engine Marketplace

First place prize approximate retail value (“ARV”): US $3393.00 / €2990.00*

Second Place Prizes

    • $1000 cash prize
    • 6 months of Sketchfab Premium ($474 value)
    • ArtStation: 1 year of ArtStation Pro ($120 value)
    • $50 ArtStation gift card
    • 40,000 RealityCapture PPI credits ($100 value)
    • $50 credit for the Unreal Engine Marketplace

Second place prize ARV: US $1794.00/ €1580.00*

Third Place Prizes

    • $500 cash prize
    • 3 months of Sketchfab Premium ($237 value)
    • 1 year of ArtStation Pro ($120 value)
    • $50 ArtStation gift card
    • 30,000 RealityCapture PPI credits ($75 value)
    • $25 credit for the Unreal Engine Marketplace

Third place prize ARV: US $1007.00 / €887.00*

*Euros conversion provided for informational purposes only, based on exchange rates as of February 15, 2022.

Limit one (1) prize per person or household. All cash prizes will be awarded via PayPal.

Potential winner(s) will be notified on or about April 15, 2022.

Requests to obtain a list of winners may be made by mail and must be postmarked no later than ninety (90) days after the end of the Contest.

Contest Entry Period

Contest begins at 12:00pm Eastern US Time on February 28, 2022 (16:00 Greenwich Mean Time (“GMT”) on February 28, 2022) and ends at 11:59pm Eastern US Time on March 28, 2022 (03:59 GMT on March 29, 2022) (“Contest Period”).

During the Contest Period, upload a 3D scene of a villain’s lair (“Submission”) to Sketchfab with the hashtag #VillainsLairChallenge.

You must have or open a free or subscriber account on Sketchfab.

Contest may be entered in or from the Eligible Jurisdictions (as set forth in the Official Contest Rules, available at https://sketchfab.com/blogs/community/official-contest-rules/). Entries originating from any void or prohibited jurisdiction are not eligible for entry.

Limit one (1) entry per person.

If you use concept art to create your work, you must obtain written permission from the concept artist, credit them, and link back to their work.

Judging Panel and Judging Criteria

On or about March 29, 2022, all eligible Submissions will be judged by the following panel of judges:

All Submissions will be judged based on the following equally-weighted judging criteria:

    • Quality
    • Creativity
    • Presentation
    • Adherence to the Contest Theme
    • Effective use of Sketchfab 3D Viewer Settings

In the event of a tie, the tying Submissions will be re-judged with double weight given to “Creativity”.

Sponsor and the information contained on Sponsor’s servers relating to dates and times shall be the sole determiner of the winner(s).

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