Colossal Castle Contest II

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
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Post by architect »

I was wondering if you can use other colors in the yellow castle catagory, as long as the walls are yellow. The set has pieces in red, black and light gray. I was hoping to use inverted and regular slopes in black, as well as lt gray plates. Can I use red roof slope pieces?
Yes. The yellow walls represent yellow plaster put over the stone. So the exterior walls should be yellow except perhaps around window surrounds, quoins, and the battlements. The interior use other colors like grey. Roofs could be red or black or blue (but not brown, sand red, etc).
Do the Characters have to be completelly original?
Edit: Since creativity is one of the three things we are looking for, using a non-original character will probably hurt your creation score. So yes you can make a character from LOTR or some other source but an original idea would likely score higher.

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Post by forester3291 »

Will the amount of pics effect your score?

I took three pics of one of my customs. Then the custom was broken( I nearly killed that dog.). Then I uploaded the piucs onto my computer and saw that two of them didn't turn out. What can I do? I know you're only alowd three and I only have one. But will the amount of pics and views effect my score?
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Post by Mr. Shiny & New »

Why is there a rule that limits it to three pics? My creation is complex enough that I can't capture all of its details in just three photos; can this rule be relaxed a little? If I had, say, 6 photos, I could probably caputre the detail properly. This is for the hideout MOC, so it's fairly large, not like a cart or a minifig, which is physically much smaller and thus easier to photograph from one angle.

Or, can we do composite photos? That is, have one main photo and have other photos inside it, showing some detail from a different angle. Or maybe two photos, each 400x600 combined together into one. That sort of thing.

Also, while I'm on the subject, why is there a limit of 800x600 for the photos? I can work around that; I'll just photograph stuff normally then shrink the photos, but it seems like a needless loss of image quality.
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Post by doctorsparkles »

Mr. Shiny & New wrote:Also, while I'm on the subject, why is there a limit of 800x600 for the photos? I can work around that; I'll just photograph stuff normally then shrink the photos, but it seems like a needless loss of image quality.
My guess would be so that when the picture is viewed, it is fitted to the screen, and has a quicker load time. I have a cable connection, so downloading large pictures isn't a problem for me, but I do hate having to scroll around to catch all of the details.
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Post by Mr. D »

Mr. Shiny & New wrote: Also, while I'm on the subject, why is there a limit of 800x600 for the photos? I can work around that; I'll just photograph stuff normally then shrink the photos, but it seems like a needless loss of image quality.
Actually, if you have pretty good photo editor, there should be no loss of image quality. Resolution will go down (duh!), but (unless your viewing the picture at larger than 100% of it's size) the quality should stay the same. I edit photos all the time and shrink them to less than 50% of their original size, and I've never had a problem with decrease in quality.

Hope I helped.

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Post by Mr. Shiny & New »

Mr. D wrote:Actually, if you have pretty good photo editor, there should be no loss of image quality. Resolution will go down (duh!), but (unless your viewing the picture at larger than 100% of it's size) the quality should stay the same. I edit photos all the time and shrink them to less than 50% of their original size, and I've never had a problem with decrease in quality.
Well, actually, I consider a loss of resolution to be a loss of quality; with fewer pixels you can see less detail in the image, thus it's lower quality. I'm not so much concerned with artifacts appearing in the shrinking process or anything like that.
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Post by Glencaer »

forester3291 wrote:Will the amount of pics effect your score?

I took three pics of one of my customs. Then the custom was broken( I nearly killed that dog.). Then I uploaded the piucs onto my computer and saw that two of them didn't turn out. What can I do? I know you're only alowd three and I only have one. But will the amount of pics and views effect my score?
That is an icky problem to be sure.

Having a single photo that properly displays your creation will be enough - we aren't going to subtract points for people who have less than three photos.

I'm not sure what you mean by "views" - are you refering to the number of times the brickshelf folder has been viewed? Then, quite obviously, no - we don't take that into consideration. Our only consideration is the quality of the creations.

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Glencaer
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Post by Glencaer »

Mr. Shiny & New wrote:Why is there a rule that limits it to three pics? My creation is complex enough that I can't capture all of its details in just three photos; can this rule be relaxed a little? If I had, say, 6 photos, I could probably caputre the detail properly. This is for the hideout MOC, so it's fairly large, not like a cart or a minifig, which is physically much smaller and thus easier to photograph from one angle.

Or, can we do composite photos? That is, have one main photo and have other photos inside it, showing some detail from a different angle. Or maybe two photos, each 400x600 combined together into one. That sort of thing.

Also, while I'm on the subject, why is there a limit of 800x600 for the photos? I can work around that; I'll just photograph stuff normally then shrink the photos, but it seems like a needless loss of image quality.
Both of these rules are for a very simple reason: We don't have infinite time. Every Admin will 'grade' every creation submitted. Last year, we had over 200 submissions, and needless to say, grading took a while. If every submission had 6 photos instead of 3, this would increase the time it takes to grade by almost double.

My suggestion is to be creative with how you take pictures. Composite photos are only going to allowed when they show some sort of action before and after.

It should be noted that you may take more pictures and post them in another Bshelf folder (that is, have a seperate folder for your contest entry) - and share those with your friends while the contest is progressing. But when it comes time to evaluate the contest entries, the Admins will only look at the 3 photos.

For several of our Admins, their only access to the internet is via dail-up - photos larger than 600x800 take an excessive amount of time to load, plus they are often larger than our cpu Monitors. It may be higher photo quality, but it is a rare MOC that really needs that much extra detail.

On a personal note, photos much larger then 600 high on Brickshelf really annoy me - they take forever to load, and I have difficulty looking at the MOC because it is too big on my screen.

Another key part of this is that we want this to be a contest for MOC building, not a photography contest, not a who has the most expensive camera contest. This contest is designed to be open and winnable by anyone who enters - you dont need massive amounts of brick or a fancy camera to win.

So, to sum up - the rules are gonna remain in place: photos should be 600x800 at the largest (or, obviously, 800x600), and no more than three per entry. Please have each entry in a seperate folder.

-Lenny
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Post by Mr. D »

Ah, I see.
Why is there a rule that limits it to three pics? My creation is complex enough that I can't capture all of its details in just three photos; can this rule be relaxed a little? If I had, say, 6 photos, I could probably caputre the detail properly.
I agree completely; I am struggling to do justice to my MOC with only three pics.

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Post by forester3291 »

Glencaer wrote:
forester3291 wrote:Will the amount of pics effect your score?

I took three pics of one of my customs. Then the custom was broken( I nearly killed that dog.). Then I uploaded the piucs onto my computer and saw that two of them didn't turn out. What can I do? I know you're only alowd three and I only have one. But will the amount of pics and views effect my score?
That is an icky problem to be sure.

Having a single photo that properly displays your creation will be enough - we aren't going to subtract points for people who have less than three photos.

I'm not sure what you mean by "views" - are you refering to the number of times the brickshelf folder has been viewed? Then, quite obviously, no - we don't take that into consideration. Our only consideration is the quality of the creations.

-Lenny

Okay. It shows the main part of my customizing work so it won't effect the score I guess. I giess I just askd to be re-assured. And when I said "views" I ment rear view, front wiew, side view, exc. The only pic that turned our was the front view so I should fare well.


I also noticed that Mr. Shiny said that he had a large hideout MOC. I thought the rules said the MOC had to be on a 16x32 baseplate. The reason I am asking is because I am entering with a 16x32. I'm not trying to complain I just wondered if we could have the hideout on a 32x32 since it sounded like Mr. Shiny has a large MOC. Thouhg if we're only alowd it on a 16x32 I will stil be satisfied becuase I don't have many bricks.


And On a different note. In the "Shop" catagory it says that you have to make a shop. I thought it had originally been an every day medieval life catagory. The reason being I made a MOC and it's not a shop. And I was going to enter it into the Every day lfe catagory.

Another thing is. What exactly is a tudor house?
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Post by Mr. D »

A question for the Admins: the rules say that an image may be edited to clean up the photo. Does this include erasing backgrounds and adding simple (obviously) computer-created ones? I'm talking about pictures such as this.

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Post by architect »

I also noticed that Mr. Shiny said that he had a large hideout MOC. I thought the rules said the MOC had to be on a 16x32 baseplate. The reason I am asking is because I am entering with a 16x32. I'm not trying to complain I just wondered if we could have the hideout on a 32x32 since it sounded like Mr. Shiny has a large MOC. Thouhg if we're only alowd it on a 16x32 I will stil be satisfied becuase I don't have many bricks.
Do not jump to conclusions about someone else's moc which you havent seen (or should not have seen until it is entered). This contest is about small and medium sized creations with good playability, details, and creativity. It is not about gigantic castles. Those can be entered into miscellaneous. So the 16x32 baseplate rule for the outposts will stay the same. If it is plenty of space for LEGO's 6066 Camouflaged Outpost and 6075 Wolfpack Tower, then it will work for contest entries too.
And On a different note. In the "Shop" catagory it says that you have to make a shop. I thought it had originally been an every day medieval life catagory. The reason being I made a MOC and it's not a shop. And I was going to enter it into the Every day lfe catagory.
If you feelt that your "classic shop" entry is not a shop or does not have a wall connected to it, feel free to enter it into the "Medieval Life" category. The wording of these two categories were not changed and are also the same as they were in last years contest.
Another thing is. What exactly is a tudor house?
A "Tudor" house is usually meant to be a timber frame house. This has large wooden timbers with "wattle and daub" (woven twigs and clay) in between which is covered by plaster. Set 3739 Blacksmith Shop is a good example of a timber frame "Tudor" type of house/shop that we are looking for.
A question for the Admins: the rules say that an image may be edited to clean up the photo. Does this include erasing backgrounds and adding simple (obviously) computer-created ones?
This is allowed but will not affect your score. It could distract from your creation and I would not spend much time doing it. Plain white backgrounds usually look best, or just normal unedited photos.

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Post by forester3291 »

Okay. This is getting embarrising. I still don't quite understand the Shop catagory. I read it over and over and still can't understand it. Maybe I'm dense. Who knows?

It says "Build a shop with a LEGOLAND wall facing inward." I don't understand. Do I have to build a wall that connects to the Shop? I kow I'm illiterate about this and understand if yoiu Admins don't answer this question. :oops: Maybe a pic of someone's creation will help....
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Post by Mr. D »

Alright, Ben; thanks! I edited my photos (the example is one of them) because the background was extremely distracting.

Oh, I didn't think it would add to my score, just wanted to see if it was allowed.

Thanks again!

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Post by architect »

It says "Build a shop with a LEGOLAND wall facing inward." I don't understand. Do I have to build a wall that connects to the Shop? I kow I'm illiterate about this and understand if yoiu Admins don't answer this question. Maybe a pic of someone's creation will help....
Ok, Ill put some picture links of LEGO sets which fall into this category.

Image

Image

Image

As you can see, each of these sets is a sort of shop: Armor Shop, Blacksmith Shop, and the Guarded Inn. These shops are all connected to a "LEGOLAND" style wall which is modular and can be connected to sets like 6080 King's Castle. Build your shop in the style of these sets and you will be fine.

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