June 17, 2009 — Side Effects Software, The Pixel Farm and 3D World Magazine are pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Apprentice Challenge. In Issue 114 of 3D World Magazine, artists were asked to add a visual effect or animated character to a pre-tracked live-action shot then post the entries to YouTube. Each video’s popularity and ratings were used to pick the top entries which were then reviewed by a panel of judges at Side Effects Software.

The winners of the 2009 Apprentice Challenge are Pavel Siska for the Most Realistic entry titled World without Us and Igor Kharitonov for the Most Entertaining entry titled Dancing in the Rain. These entries were from a collection of excellent entries and three honorable mentions have been listed below.

Both Pavel and Igor will be receiving a copy of Houdini Master and PFTrack. With Houdini's procedural animation and VFX tools and PFTrack's match moving capabilities, both of these artists will have an impressive toolset at their disposal. Congratulations to both of them and to everyone who met this year's challenge.

Winner Most Realistic: World Without Us by Pavel Siska

This entry puts the tracked scene under the water in a future time when the land has been consumed by the sea. A whale is attacked by a giant octopus which uses the office building from the live-action footage as its home.

Here is the winning entry inside Houdini:

Winner Most Entertaining: Dancing in the Rain by Igor Kharitonov

The most entertaining entry also received lots of praise for its realism but it was its sense of whimsy which won over the judges. In this video, the building itself comes alive and dances to the music while remaining integrated in the live action footage and the digital rain.

Here is the winning entry inside Houdini:

Honorable Mentions:

They are Already Here by Rudi Nieuwenhuis:

The Beast by Fabio D'amico:

Untitled by Scott Smith:

Click here to check out the contest group on YouTube which lists all of the entries to the contest.

Product Information

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.