Last year we hosted two of our NEW Unreal Community Challenges, and we cannot wait for the Challenges that will be coming in 2023! If you are interested in seeing the previous challenges, check out; Better Light Than Never and Creep It Real.
Each challenge will focus on a specific skillset or feature within Unreal Engine and general development. In future iterations, we aim to offer unique opportunities to collaborate with other community members in even larger events, like the Epic MegaJam.
But without further 'ado, here is your challenge:
THE CHALLENGE
For this event, Unreal Challenge: Spellar Performance we encourage you to create a short video showcasing your VFX abilities, pulling inspiration or guidance from the title itself. Build up a scene yourself, leverage available Marketplace products, or anything else youâve stashed away in your Vault, then make your creation come alive! We want to see how you make those visual effects convey feeling.
Your efforts earn you a chance to win up to $1,000 in cash, ArtStation giftcards, plus Houdini, and SketchFab licenses. Oh, did we mention there will also be swag?
Not only that, but weâve set aside a round of prizes for students!
Youâll have four weeks to complete your taskâall submissions are due by March 2, 2023 at 7:00 PM EDT. 2023-03-02T05:00:00Z
Join the dedicated Spellar Performance group to make sure you get any and all important announcements and chat with fellow participants!
VIDEO REQUIREMENTS
Your video must:- Be between 10-60 seconds of content
- Be a minimum of 1920 x 1080 resolution
- Not contain any post-production editing
MovieRenderQueue & Path Tracer
Your video file should be encoded directly from Unreal only, using any methods in the documentation. We reserve the right to ask you to provide a screen recording of running the render from Movie Render Queue.
Path Tracing is permitted for this challenge
And will be scored (1-5 points) on each of the following criteria:
- Visual Effects (up to 10 points)
- Composition
- Conveyance of Mood/Atmosphere
- Use of Theme
HOW TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY
- Create a new Discussion in the Unreal Challenge category and use the tag 'SpellarPerformance
- Include a title for your video
- Link to your video or embed it in the topic
- Indicate whether or not you are currently a student
- Include which Engine version you used to create your project
- Attach a screenshot of your project in Editor
Calling All Students!
Are you a student? We want you to compete too! The Unreal Education team is paramount to giving students further opportunities, learning, and growth. Whether a technical challenge like this or the Epic MegaJam, you can expect the team to have students at heart!
We also understand that it can be somewhat daunting to compete against industry veterans and that many students might doubt their abilities- but know that you are all fantastic and deserve the same opportunities and to be seen and heard- thatâs just one of the reasons why we have three finalist spots specifically for student participants.
Weâve added the tag âStudent-Entryâ for this category. If you a student submission, please use the tag along with the âSpellarPerformanceâ tag.
For even more student resources check out our student page.
GET STARTED
On Thursday, February 2 at 2 PM ET, join us on Inside Unrealâairing on both Twitch and YouTubeâas we kick off the proceedings. Donât miss this chance to meet Senior FX Artist Eric Ketchum and Senior Technical Artist Jan Kaluza who work on Fortnite, along with Cinematic FX Artist Juan Collado and Principal VFX Technical Artist Matt Radford from the Unreal Engine development team. Theyâll answer your questions about this Unreal Challenge, and run through some VFX and Niagara fundamentals and best practices, as well as serving up some swanky examples to get your inspiration going.
SPONSORS
Sketchfab
Weâre honored and excited to have Sketchfab as a part of the Challenge family, we believe the combination of tools available within the ecosystem is paramount to the encouragement of the community, and the opportunity it provides. Sketchfab is the leading platform for 3D & AR on the web. Publish, share, and discover 3D content on web, mobile, AR, and VR. 50+ File Formats. Over 5 Million 3D Artists.
Not only is Sketchfab a fantastic place to get assets, but it is also a great place to showcase your own, no matter its style or format.
ArtStation
Weâre pleased to welcome ArtStation as a sponsor of this Unreal Challenge. ArtStation provides you with a simple, yet powerful way to show your portfolio and be seen by the right people in the industry. Itâs super fast and sleek. Showcase high resolution images, videos, short clips, Marmoset and Sketchfab 3D scenes, 360 panos and more. Add your work and production experience. Blogs enable you to share your work in progress, articles and be seen. Analytics lets you see whoâs checking out your portfolio. You can even sell your digital assets and prints.
Houdini
From 3D models to animations to VFX and more, Houdini Indieâs procedural workflow can automate repetitive tasks and allow game dev teams to generate higher amounts of quality content in shorter times. Houdini Indie quickens iteration time, thereby improving gameplay by allowing for much more variation. Houdini Indie can also connect to Unreal Engine via the free Houdini Engine Indie plugin and can provide highly controllable procedural assets directly in UE4 & UE5 itself.
Houdini will also be generously offering a 2-month Houdini Indie license for the participants of the Challenge! Request the license here.
Are you looking for Houdini learning content? Look no further than here! They have hundreds of tutorials with everything from Environments to Destruction FX!
PRIZES
| Overall Prizes | Student Prizes |
|---|---|
|
First Place:
Second Place:
Third Place:
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First Place:
Second Place:
Third Place:
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Community Recognition Award
In addition to the above awards, this Challenge we are trialing the âCommunity Recognition Awardâ in which the most voted on eligible entry by the community will receive the following:
- One (1) $250 in Marketplace Credits
- One (1) ArtStation one-year Pro upgrades from ArtStation
- One (1) featured highlight on the official Unreal Engine blog
- One (1) feature in the form of the Unreal Challenge: Creep It Real Sizzle Reel
Community voting will open from the submission deadline for seven days.
Refresh your memory, or learn something new!
New to Unreal Engine 5? Check out the course below!
When youâre done with that course, dive into Begin Play | Niagara | Tutorial!
Are you new to the world of visual effects? Donât worry about it! We have a whole host of resources curated by Epic as well as the community that can supercharge your efforts.
First things first, be sure to bookmark the Creating Visual Effects documentation, which covers everything from getting started with Niagara, Niagara Fluids to Custom Modules, debugging, and more!
There are many different possibilities with Niagara within the world of visual effects and beyond, such as Simulating Large Crowds in Niagara. This presentation covers vertex animation, bottlenecks, and large scenes, all with examples!
If youâre an intermediate user and have dived into Niagara before, why not learn something new and flow into Niagara Fluids?
Want to learn how to do even more tricks with MRQ using FFmpeg with the Command Line Encoder?
Be sure to check out even more fantastic resources and learning content on the Epic Developer Community portal such as:
If you plan to craft an environment to house your fantastic VFX, why not try some tutorials and courses around environment design, level design, and world-building!
They are all amazing, but this one is incredible!
When it comes to Sequencer and Movie Render Queue, the following learning resources may be of assistance:
The UE ecosystem community in itself is a marvelous resource, and there are tons of creators that curate their own tutorials and learning resources for the wider community.
In light of this challenge, here are some of those amazing creators that are definitely worth a follow and a look at what they are teaching!
Winbush - a Multi-Award-Winning Motion Graphics Artist.
JSFILMZ - an Award-Winning Real-Time Filmmaker, Virtual Production, and Metaverse Content Creator.
William Faucher - Veteran VFX and CG Generalist with over 14 years experience in the industry
OFFICIAL RULES
