Inside the Vault: Unity 3D Environment Art Contest w/ Asset Store & Substance

News & General Discussion
1

Hi everyone!

Along with the Substance team, we are excited to announce the first Asset Store challenge, the Inside the Vault: Unity 3D Environment Art Contest! In case you don’t know, Substance Painter and Designer help power some of the highest quality art available on the Asset Store, including Buried Memories Vol. 1: Yggdrasil, the first release from the Unity Icon Collective.

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Working solo or as part of a team of two, show us what you think is inside the Yggdrasil vault in the Buried Memories world. Texture your contest entry using Substance Painter and get creative with rooms, characters, weapons, vehicles or other props. When you’re satisfied with the result, upload a diorama of your work to the Unity Asset Store, where you can share it for free with the Unity community or sell it and earn extra income.

Here are the contest prizes to be won (which are per person if a team wins).

1st Place

  • Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 graphics card
  • Wacom Cintiq 16 tablet
  • 1-year Substance subscription
  • 1-year Unity Pro subscription

2nd Place

  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card
  • Wacom Intuos Pro M tablet
  • 1-year Substance subscription
  • 1-year Unity Plus subscription

3rd Place

  • 1-year Substance subscription
  • 1-year Unity Plus subscription

We can’t wait to see what you create! Get all the details and sign up here. The contest ends at midnight PT on Thursday, April 11, 2019, and winners will be announced in May.

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Seems like a nice contest, I’m just disappointed that Unity seem to have forgotten about the Indie and hobby developers, who can’t afford Substance Painter. Having a contest rely on an expensive piece of 3rd party software seems against Unity’s goal of inclusivity for all developers…

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Hey @space928 ! You’re able to get a free trial of Substance here, and if you’ve already claimed a free trial then you can contact substance to get an extension for the contest. We hope that helps!

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Do we need to post the submission only the last day or we can update it on multiple days during the challenge?

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You can post in any order you’d like, but before the contest ends you need to have submitted the content to the Asset Store and signed up on the Connect page.

Sharing WIPs is always something we encourage :smile:

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WO yao cai jia

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Can you clarify that Allegorithmic are changing their license conditions for this competition? Their Terms and Conditions would seem to not allow this use case:

“Evaluation License” means a License granted to the User for a limited version of the Software (“the Evaluation Software”) for a limited duration, generally of thirty (30) days unless agreed expressly otherwise by Allegorithmic (“the Evaluation Term”), to enable the User to evaluate the Software in connection with the User’s internal business purposes to determine whether to purchase the non-evaluation version of the Software. Commercial Use, publishing or redistribution of the Software, the Substances or the Licensee Content is strictly forbidden under an Evaluation License.
…
“Licensee Content” means textures, images, Substances or other content otherwise called derivative work that You developed from Your Use of the Software or the Copyright Assets.

https://www.allegorithmic.com/legal/general-terms-and-conditions

It would seem like uploading content created with this license to the Asset Store puts the user in violation of that clause? Are you also able to give some clarity as to if students using the student Substance license are able to participate? That license explicitly allows entry in contests, however by uploading that content to the store it could then be commercialized which again seems a violation of the license.

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Hey, Vincent from Allegorithmic, in the context of this contest, we are making an exception: you can use the trial license during the contest, then put the produced content in the Unity Asset Store (even for commercial purpose)

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Thanks for the clarification. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for chiming in @cgvinny !

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I just found out about this contest yesterday, and I’ve decided to throw my time at it.

Its hard to find reference though.

Theres only a few, low resolution beauty renders through the asset store. And that pre-rendered video…

Sure its enough to jumpstart the creative minded, but youre judging also based on technical skills…

I cant look at the topology, i cant get close enough to anything see the consistency of details nor observe the shaders used.

Its difficult to determine the ‘scale’ of the scene, the dimensions of the vault, the shapes of the vault door and landmarks…

I dont want to buy the icon pack 1 for $150, though, if I want to do a great job… I need to.

The sample assets provided, are not very helpful, theres only 2 and from a material standpoint they are the same object.

The scene is a beautiful mix of concrete, scifi steel, hanging wire, and organic shapes, all with beautiful carvings on all of it.

None of that is in the sample.

Can you give us a non commercial copy of icon pack 1 to study?

One must never do art without reference.

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The difficulty with this challenge is indicative of how difficult the concept of buying art asset packs off of the asset store is, in general:

Its hard to copy the visual appeal of another artists work.

If you’re a 3D artist and you’re making a game by yourself, at least you know all of the art will be visually consistent…

If you’re copying someone else’s work you literally have to be as capable of an artist as they were in order to match and expand on their body of work.

Its still early in the contest, but I think how varied the art styles of the other submissions are speaks to how difficult matching visual aesthetic is.

If I wanted to create one game using the art of the icon pack 1 and the submissions to this contest… I think the result would look noticeably inconsistent.

But… I’ll try anyways, yeehaw.

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Agreed, with some of these points. I am happy that i joined this competition, and so far am having a lot of fun with it. I as well was also curious about the particular details of the exterior vault that has been shown.

It is nice that they do have the picture of the character standing outside near the entrance to help judge a bit of the overall sized of just the vault, alone. And it is nice that they give us free roam on what we are able to create, be it any size scene, etc… Which is good so that we wont get “down voted” if its not exactly similar to whats shown in the promotional video. Having free roam is nice.

And yes, there are many different styles going into this competition which is nice. I also wished (at first) that i can have a larger sample of even just the vault door itself to play with, as i would not buy such an expensive pack just to play with one item.
But as my plans and concept ideas have been created, I’ve leaned away from needing the exacts of the dimensions and overall texture appearances, and kept it similar (from an eye view standpoint) in my own way.

Even without the “references” that we artists like to have when creating. Its still nice to just create it how you see it, in your own way. Even with my submission, things are a bit more “shiny” and less “old.” But as the competition is, who knows exactly what is inside, or how long its been there?

Its interesting how our submissions are to be made into asset packs, and can even be charged for, to make extra income. I like that. And it gives me just that much more passion to really make this pack work, and match close enough with the styles, in my own way. (Plus I’m already a modular artist, so this is a passion in its own as well… I love creating modular packs!)

I’m happy to join, and i thank you Unity for this event. It’ll be a fun one.

Cheers,

  • Aquarius Max -
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@AndrewAssetStore

"12. Additional Terms and Condition.
You agree that this Contest shall be subject to and governed by the laws of the state of California.
You may choose to publish your Entry as a paid Asset on the Unity Asset Store, in which case you hereby waive your rights to payment by Sponsors, Sponsor Affiliates and Contest Partners for their use in connection with this Contest and any other contrary licensing restrictions contained in the Unity Asset Store Terms of Service and EULA."

So does this mean that if i make this a paid asset, i will not receive any winnings from the prize pool if i do win top 3? I’m just curious about this, making sure i read this right, and don’t want to get in trouble for anything or whatnot…

Thanks.

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As a bit of followup feedback to Unity for this, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are less entries for this competition than other similar ones. I’ve talked about this competition with a couple of our students and while they find it interesting they can’t enter as they don’t have time to learn a free modelling tool like Blender, and using other educational tools like Maya would violate their licenses due to commercially releasing the work produced.

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** @MJohnson24 **

Yeah I understand what you mean.

If I do this i want to do it in the spirit of which the competition was intended.

"
What can you create?

Create whatever you think would behind the vault door. Environment props, scenery, weapons, vehicles, or even characters. Or even a combination of things. Create a diorama containing all of your creations____. The important thing is that your work fits within the technical and aesthetic requirements of the Yggdrasil world.____
"

To properly execute on that directive, my reference needs to be on point… Its an uphill battle for anyone who doesn’t have that Icon pack, it’s working in the dark.

It’s a pet peeve of mine when I import a set of models from online and I think they will look okay with another set of models, then I import them and they look like they were made by two different civilizations or cultures.

It’s noticeable from a mesh level, but if you want to sell that two objects are in the same space together the materials/shaders have to be 1:1 in a variety of material properties, same consistency of detail, and reasonable wear and tare.

The culture that built the outside of the vault would have conceivably built the inside as well, so the inside needs to carry a lot of the same shape language, construction bits, carvings, lights, railings, base materials, even the connection point between objects matters a lot…

The insides of the walls and the outsides of the walls need to look like they were crafted by the same civilization, with the same tools, using the same construction materials, during the same time period…

That is to say… For me to be satisfied with what I create / feel like I accomplished what was asked of me.

Sure, I could say:
“On the inside of the vault they were experimenting with alien technology”
or
“ancient primordial magics”

That would explain why the objects in the vault look relatively different, but it doesn’t explain why the inside has no vault door, or it has the door but it looks crazy different. The inside of the walls need to be made out of visually consistent blocks and steel beams as used on the outside.

The devil is in the details, and I cant see the details :stuck_out_tongue:

@Adam-Bailey

As I understand it this competition is specifically targeting established 3D artists who might otherwise not be utilizing the asset store as a way to sell their art.

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I’d like to create my own replica of that Vault Door. I have not purchased the Icon pack, but will be creating it from reference point of the screenshots…

But i wonder… Since this is our personal representation of what we think is inside the vault, shouldn’t we also have that vault door in the beginning of our scenes?

So if i were to create that vault door myself as close as i can to how it looks in the display promotion screenshot, will that be considered copyright? or will that waive into this competition, so that we can re-create it without getting in trouble for “copying?” I really want the vault door in my scene, or should i just create my own door that looks nothing like this one?

Thanks

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Hey all!

You don’t have to include the physical “inside” part of the large door. What is “inside the vault” could be a small room, one of many, even though you only create one. We wanted to leave it open to interpretation as to not limit artists.

Winners will get prizes and any income you earn from the Asset Store is separate :slight_smile:

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The vault door is just an example. I don’t think I can explain in a way which you would understand. Oh well, I’ll keep going with what I have.

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Why the resident of the Province of Québec are excluded from such official Contest ? The Fee from Loto-Québec aren’t big enough to justify these exclusions. That’s sad that big constest like that are Closed to a Nation who helped alot the videogames industry by forcing others country to follow their steps on Tax’s Cuts and Subvention into R&D.

‘‘3. Eligibility. You may enter the Contest as an individual or as a team of two individuals. You are eligible to enter this Contest if each entrant meets all of the following requirements as of the time and date of entry submission: (i) you are at least 18 years of age (or older age of majority, if applicable in your place of residence); (ii) you are NOT a resident of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria, due to U.S. Export regulations and you are NOT a resident of the Quebec providence of Canada or the countries of Brazil or Italy; (iii) you have NOT won a prize from Sponsors or Sponsor Affiliates within the last twelve (12) months; (iv) you are NOT an employee of Sponsor, Sponsor Affiliates or any Contest Partner nor an immediate family member or household member of any such employee; (v) you represent yourself as an individual and are not entering into the Contest or submitting an Entry on behalf of your employer or as an agent for any third party; and (vi) you are NOT prohibited by an employment or similar contract or by any applicable law or regulation from participating in this Contest.’’

PS : We Say ‘‘Province du Québec’’ or ‘‘Province of Quebec’’