Add a Visual Effect or Animated Character to a
pre-tracked Live-Action Shot for your chance to Win!

From Hollywood movies to BBC’s The Wrong Door, integrating CG into live-action has become a familiar sight. For 3D artists, bringing together the virtual and the real can be a rewarding experience. For the 2009 Apprentice Challenge, artists are being asked to use Houdini Apprentice to add CG to a live-action shot then post the results to YouTube.

Sponsored by 3DWorld, Side Effects Software and The Pixel Farm, the 2009 Apprentice Challenge is open to artists from around the world,

To access the software needed to enter the contest, you can download Houdini Apprentice for free. This personal learning edition includes virtually all of Houdini Master’s features. It has small wordmarks in the viewer and renders which are limited in pixel size. The $99 Houdini Apprentice HD increases the render size to HD quality, removes the render wordmark and is also limited to use for personal projects such as this competition.

For the competition, there are two sequences to choose from that have been match-moved in PFTrack. The first is a shot of a young man running down an alley while the second is a street shot of a typical office building. It is up to you to enhance the scenes with a swarm of killer bees, an alien invasion or maybe a meteor shower. The "Hamster Attacks" video already up in the YouTube group should provide some inspiration.

Entries will be judged based on their quality and popularity on YouTube. Prizes will be awarded to the Most Realistic and Most Entertaining entries. Each winner will receive full commercial versions of both Houdini Master and PFTrack.

Official rules for the contest are available here.

How to Enter

• Register for the contest by entering your name and email at the top of the sidebar on the right or on the 3D World website. You will then receive instructions for downloading the live action plates and the Houdini file with a tracked camera ready to go.

• In Houdini Apprentice or Houdini Apprentice HD, add either a character or a visual effect to one of the live action sequences.

• Models can be imported from other packages but the final animation and rendering must be completed in Houdini.

• You can use either all or only part of the supplied image sequences in your final entry. If you need to trim the shot to support your idea then this is fine.

• Voices and other sound effects can be added to support your shot. This is not required but may help make your entry more appealing.

• Entries which contain obscene content and/or copyright infringements will be disqualified.

• Save out a movie file, upload it to the 2009 Apprentice Challenge YouTube group then email the YouTube URL to to confirm your entry and include the words '2009 Apprentice Challenge' in the Subject line. Entries will be reviewed by Side Effects Software before being added to the group.

• Entries must be posted before Midnight, 1 May 2009 to be eligible.

• Entries will remain posted on YouTube for one month after the deadline then judging will commence. Since the popularity of your entry will be one of the criteria for picking a winner, this month will provide time for people to discover and react to your video.

• Winners will be asked to provide Houdini files to verify its use for the contest.

Prizes

Most Realistic: Houdini Master and PFTrack ($13,495 USD)

Most Entertaining:Houdini Master and PFTrack ($13,495 USD)

Houdini Master – Workstation license ($7,995 USD)

Houdini Master is a full-featured 3D animation and visual effects software renowned for its particle and dynamic tools. Houdini’s node-based workflow can also be used by modelers, animators and character riggers and includes a built-in compositor for integrating completed shots into live-action plates.

Click here for more information about Houdini Master

PFTrack ($5,500 USD)

PFTrack is the Match Mover of choice for high-end visual effects productions. PFTrack includes ground breaking features such as integrated optical flow, geometry tracking, true 3D Stereoscopic solves, multiple motion solving and per pixel Z depth extraction. To try PFTrack for yourself, The Pixel Farm has a personal learning edition available on their website.

Click here for more information about PFTrack.