3rd Annual It's Raining Men Contest - Discussion Thread

Knittingmommy

It's that time again when men rule the forums or at least the Art Studio. We are once again having the It's Raining Men Contest. This is a DAZ sponsored challenge here in the Art Studio. As in previous years, the rules are fairly simple. Submit renders that feature the men. Females can be in your render but the man must be the focus. Two things have changed this year. We are going to open up the voting to the forums for the best overall image and see what happens with the use of a survey site. All voters will be required to submit their username here on the Daz Forums. We are also going to have a separate entry thread to hopefully make it easier to create the voting thread this year. So while you can post images to the main thread if you wish, only those images posted to the Entry Thread will be submitted to the survey site for voting. The Re-Puposed entries will still be voted on by a judging panel.

So show us your best Male renders.
Any Humanoid Male figures can be used. 
 

The Challenge has Two Parts
Prizes for Best Render, 2nd and 3rd Places
Separate prize for Best, Most Original Re-Purposed Non-Male clothing Item 

(Please note this doesn't mean just stuffing poor Michael (or whoever) into a dress -  it needs to be a genuine alternative usage of a non-male item.) Chohole has kindly donated a $30 dollar prize for the best, most original use of a female item. This image from the first It's Raining Men contest would be a perfect example of what we are hoping to see. 

All images will be entered for Best Image; any image which uses and mentions a re-purposed item also will be entered for Best, Most Original re-purposed item. However no image can win the same level in both categories.
For the re-purposing voters should favor those who give some explanation of how they re-purposed.
Donations to the prize kitty by both Vendors and Forum members will be gratefully appreciated. We will continue to take prize donations until the end of the contest.

Challenge starts now, November 1, and will end on December 31 midnight DAZ time, to give you plenty of time to do your best for our poor hard done by 3D men.

Rules  

1.  You can enter up to 3 Images
2.  Entries must all be new renders.
3.  Please submit your entries to the Entry thread with an attached file for voting purposes.  We do need the attachments to compile the voting thread.  In the spirit of the contest, please post your entries here before entering other DAZ contests.  Entries can be submitted to other DAZ contests once they have been entered here as long as it isn't expressly prohibited by the other contest.  Yes, you can post to your DAZ Gallery and your Deviant Art gallery. Being able to post to your DA gallery was widely requested last year and so we are allowing that this year.
4.  Entries can use any render engine/program of choice as long as the main focus is the male figure.
5.  Title is optional, but please state if your image is to be considered for the Re-Purposing category by tagging it Re-Purposed.  You can tag an image Re-Purposed by putting the word Re-Purposed somewhere in your post when you submit your image to the Entry Thread. 
6.  Postwork is allowed.   
7.  Female figures are allowed in an image, but the main focus of the image must be the male figure.
8.  Keep it within the TOS.
9.  Re-Puposed Category - This category is to take an article of clothing NOT designed for the males and using it on or with the male figure in a new way.  This does not mean throwing the male into a dress and calling it done.  For inspiration, please check out voting threads from previous years in the links and look for those images which are tagged Re-Purposed.
10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.
11.  Swapping out an entry is allowed as long as your final entry is in by the "end date".  No swapping will be allowed once I've posted the  'Contest Closed' post and whatever image you have posted at that time is the entry you will have to keep.
12. Prize listing for Special Carrara Incentive.  If your entry was made in Carrara, please post a screenshot of your entry in Carrara in your entry post along with your entry.

If you are unfamiliar with the It's Raining Men Contest here are links to previous It's Raining Men Challenges/Contests year's contest:
It's Raining Men - Forum Team Challenge to the Forum Community
It's Raining Men - Challenge Winners
Mod Challenge It's Raining Men Thread for Judging (ALL 140 ENTRIES WITHOUT COMMENTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS THREAD)

It's Raining Men Again (2016) Contest

Knittingmommy

This is not a complete list yet. I still have some prizes to add but had questions for the donors before I posted them.  Also, I will be taking donations until the end of the contest. I will update this post if more prizes are donated.

1st place
    $20.00 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Daz 3D
    Two Male Characters from DarwinsMishap’s store (excluding Daz Original products)
    $20 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Redz
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from L'Adair
   $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Isidorn 

2nd place
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Daz 3D
    One Male Character from DarwinsMishap’s store (excluding Daz Original products)
    $20 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Diomede
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from L'Adair  

3rd place
    $5 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Daz 3D
    One Male Character from DarwinsMishap’s store (excluding Daz Original products)
    $20 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Worlds_Edge
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from L'Adair  

Best, Original Re-Purposed entry
    $30 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from Chohole
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from L'Adair  

Prize for Best entry created in Carrara
    One item from TangoAlpha’s store (excluding Daz Original products)
    One item from PhilW's store (excluding Daz Original Products)
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from L'Adair  
    $10 Daz 3D Gift Certificate from wgdjohn

 

Updated Prize Listing 11/02/2017

L'Adair

And... Already bookmarked. I'm really excited to see what the community comes up with this year, especially with the new dForce in play. This is gonna be fun!

Saphirewild

It sure is going to be fun to render some men for a change giggles even if I have to dress him up pretty for the camera!!!!

Knittingmommy

L'Adair said:

And... Already bookmarked. I'm really excited to see what the community comes up with this year, especially with the new dForce in play. This is gonna be fun!

Yep, I'm looking forward to a lot of creative work this year. dForce could be a great asset for renders this year. :)

wgdjohn

KM... I just sent you a PM.

scorpio

10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.

I find this a bit confusing textures are ok but morphs aren't, morph swapping is also a 'pretty common occurrence for most of us' has been since GenX arrived, I don't often swap textures, female texture on males are to me usually pretty obvious whereas morphs not so much a elf ear from a female is just an elf ear same with most morphs whereas a  texture there are in particular cetain areas that are pretty much 'Female'. I would like to understand better your rationalisation on this decesion as to me it seems a bit bias - either both should be usable or neither.

Carola O

also bookmarked... been looking forward to this one :)

mori_mann

Sounds fun! Didn't make it on the previous ones, but who knows, I may get my act together this year. I do have a few males in my stables, I should be able to persuade one to pose for this ;)

Carola O

Mori, flutter eyelashes and smile sweetly.. and bring out the big cannons with bribes and I'm sure you can persuade some of them :)

Knittingmommy

scorpio said:

10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.

I find this a bit confusing textures are ok but morphs aren't, morph swapping is also a 'pretty common occurrence for most of us' has been since GenX arrived, I don't often swap textures, female texture on males are to me usually pretty obvious whereas morphs not so much a elf ear from a female is just an elf ear same with most morphs whereas a  texture there are in particular cetain areas that are pretty much 'Female'. I would like to understand better your rationalisation on this decesion as to me it seems a bit bias - either both should be usable or neither.

@ Scorpio  One of the major reasons to allow the textures and not the morphs, is that textures are a more of a material thing and isn't considered in the judging for the Re-Purposed category. However, the morphs aren't allowed as the purpose of the contest is to be more creative with how a participant uses a female item. The whole reason this contest was started was to celebrate our 3D men in their own right. Allowing those digital men to 'borrow' some female morphs kind of spoils the whole fun and spirit of this contest. We want our digital men to be able to stand proud with as little help from the females as possible. I hope this explains our stance on this particular rule. Thank you.

L'Adair

Knittingmommy said:

scorpio said:

10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.

I find this a bit confusing textures are ok but morphs aren't, morph swapping is also a 'pretty common occurrence for most of us' has been since GenX arrived, I don't often swap textures, female texture on males are to me usually pretty obvious whereas morphs not so much a elf ear from a female is just an elf ear same with most morphs whereas a  texture there are in particular cetain areas that are pretty much 'Female'. I would like to understand better your rationalisation on this decesion as to me it seems a bit bias - either both should be usable or neither.

@ Scorpio  One of the major reasons to allow the textures and not the morphs, is that textures are a more of a material thing and isn't considered in the judging for the Re-Purposed category. However, the morphs aren't allowed as the purpose of the contest is to be more creative with how a participant uses a female item. The whole reason this contest was started was to celebrate our 3D men in their own right. Allowing those digital men to 'borrow' some female morphs kind of spoils the whole fun and spirit of this contest. We want our digital men to be able to stand proud with as little help from the females as possible. I hope this explains our stance on this particular rule. Thank you.

Also, if we have Skin Builder 3, we can create a new skin just for our male character(s). But SB3 only works with G3F, so we need to create those textures for G3F and then use UV Swap to put them on G3M, (or G8M.) If "female" textures weren't allowed, we wouldn't be able to use SB3 to create our own. Here's an example of an SB3 skin on a male from the SB3 contest last summer. (There were actually quite a few. This one is mine.)

and a good example of why female morphs aren't allowed is this one, a centaur I did before the female centaur was released.

mori_mann

Carola O said:

Mori, flutter eyelashes and smile sweetly.. and bring out the big cannons with bribes and I'm sure you can persuade some of them :)

 

That will work on some, not so much on others, but believe me, I am fluttering ;)

Knittingmommy

Okay, everyone. I've updated the prize listing with more goodies. More will be added soon. :)

scorpio

Knittingmommy said:

scorpio said:

10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.

I find this a bit confusing textures are ok but morphs aren't, morph swapping is also a 'pretty common occurrence for most of us' has been since GenX arrived, I don't often swap textures, female texture on males are to me usually pretty obvious whereas morphs not so much a elf ear from a female is just an elf ear same with most morphs whereas a  texture there are in particular cetain areas that are pretty much 'Female'. I would like to understand better your rationalisation on this decesion as to me it seems a bit bias - either both should be usable or neither.

@ Scorpio  One of the major reasons to allow the textures and not the morphs, is that textures are a more of a material thing and isn't considered in the judging for the Re-Purposed category. However, the morphs aren't allowed as the purpose of the contest is to be more creative with how a participant uses a female item. The whole reason this contest was started was to celebrate our 3D men in their own right. Allowing those digital men to 'borrow' some female morphs kind of spoils the whole fun and spirit of this contest. We want our digital men to be able to stand proud with as little help from the females as possible. I hope this explains our stance on this particular rule. Thank you.

Sorry that really doesn't make sense you are borrowing textures from the females, is this contest only about repursing female items.

 I know why the contest was started it was an aim to promote male items, so allowing female textures is promoting the females a lot more promantly than morphs ever would.

Skin Builder 3 is only for the females a shame but thats how it is - surely by using it you are saying we don't need male textures as we can use female ones, and its not going to incourage PAs to create male versions.

Chohole

scorpio said:

Knittingmommy said:

scorpio said:

10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.

I find this a bit confusing textures are ok but morphs aren't, morph swapping is also a 'pretty common occurrence for most of us' has been since GenX arrived, I don't often swap textures, female texture on males are to me usually pretty obvious whereas morphs not so much a elf ear from a female is just an elf ear same with most morphs whereas a  texture there are in particular cetain areas that are pretty much 'Female'. I would like to understand better your rationalisation on this decesion as to me it seems a bit bias - either both should be usable or neither.

@ Scorpio  One of the major reasons to allow the textures and not the morphs, is that textures are a more of a material thing and isn't considered in the judging for the Re-Purposed category. However, the morphs aren't allowed as the purpose of the contest is to be more creative with how a participant uses a female item. The whole reason this contest was started was to celebrate our 3D men in their own right. Allowing those digital men to 'borrow' some female morphs kind of spoils the whole fun and spirit of this contest. We want our digital men to be able to stand proud with as little help from the females as possible. I hope this explains our stance on this particular rule. Thank you.

Sorry that really doesn't make sense you are borrowing textures from the females, is this contest only about repursing female items.

 I know why the contest was started it was an aim to promote male items, so allowing female textures is promoting the females a lot more promantly than morphs ever would.

Skin Builder 3 is only for the females a shame but thats how it is - surely by using it you are saying we don't need male textures as we can use female ones, and its not going to incourage PAs to create male versions.

The reason that KM says no female morphs to be used is because they make it so much easier to turn a male into a more female body shape and then the repurposed item will fit better.   textures are nothing to do with the repurposing, it is just that sometimes a female texture fits the bill more than a male one, especially when the male in question is very young or is of a race that doesn't grow facial hair, such as elves. The problem is there are very few male textures which do not have some indication of facial hair. TThis as well as the reason L'Adair has given as to how to use skin builder to make a male skin.

scorpio

Chohole said:

scorpio said:

Knittingmommy said:

scorpio said:

10.  Female morphs are not allowed in this competition including, but not limited to, the use of such products as GenX which enable users to apply female morphs onto the male body.  We want to concentrate on the male figure.  However, scripts that allow artists to swap UVs allowing female skins to be used on the male figure WILL BE ALLOWED as no morphing is involved and UV swapping is a pretty common occurrence for most of us.

I find this a bit confusing textures are ok but morphs aren't, morph swapping is also a 'pretty common occurrence for most of us' has been since GenX arrived, I don't often swap textures, female texture on males are to me usually pretty obvious whereas morphs not so much a elf ear from a female is just an elf ear same with most morphs whereas a  texture there are in particular cetain areas that are pretty much 'Female'. I would like to understand better your rationalisation on this decesion as to me it seems a bit bias - either both should be usable or neither.

@ Scorpio  One of the major reasons to allow the textures and not the morphs, is that textures are a more of a material thing and isn't considered in the judging for the Re-Purposed category. However, the morphs aren't allowed as the purpose of the contest is to be more creative with how a participant uses a female item. The whole reason this contest was started was to celebrate our 3D men in their own right. Allowing those digital men to 'borrow' some female morphs kind of spoils the whole fun and spirit of this contest. We want our digital men to be able to stand proud with as little help from the females as possible. I hope this explains our stance on this particular rule. Thank you.

Sorry that really doesn't make sense you are borrowing textures from the females, is this contest only about repursing female items.

 I know why the contest was started it was an aim to promote male items, so allowing female textures is promoting the females a lot more promantly than morphs ever would.

Skin Builder 3 is only for the females a shame but thats how it is - surely by using it you are saying we don't need male textures as we can use female ones, and its not going to incourage PAs to create male versions.

The reason that KM says no female morphs to be used is because they make it so much easier to turn a male into a more female body shape and then the repurposed item will fit better.   textures are nothing to do with the repurposing, it is just that sometimes a female texture fits the bill more than a male one, especially when the male in question is very young or is of a race that doesn't grow facial hair, such as elves. The problem is there are very few male textures which do not have some indication of facial hair. TThis as well as the reason L'Adair has given as to how to use skin builder to make a male skin.

Sorry but I thought this was about highlighting the male items that are available, female textures have bad eyebrows for men young or old, honestly I really have trouble with the logic of this, you mention elves, female elf ears are no different to male elf ears and yet they can't be used but a female texture with feminine eyebrows, possible shading under the breasts and female genitals is ok.

Butch

scorpio said:

Sorry but I thought this was about highlighting the male items that are available, female textures have bad eyebrows for men young or old, honestly I really have trouble with the logic of this, you mention elves, female elf ears are no different to male elf ears and yet they can't be used but a female texture with feminine eyebrows, possible shading under the breasts and female genitals is ok.

The Raining Men contest, started out in response to the lack of items available for male characters.  If the elf ears are made for, and sold as, female only, that's exactly the issue being highlighted in these contests - it's not male, therefore it can't be used.  

But Scorpio does have a point.  If SB3 can only be used on a female figure, how can it be considered ok for this contest? 

 

Knittingmommy

I realize that some might think that if we allow the use of textures and materials designed for the ladies to be used on the men then we should allow morphs as well. However, look at it from my position. I want a fun competition where there are minimal rules. 12 rules aren't all that much. When I look at materials like shaders and textures, I know that even though they are geared for one purpose we all, as artists, use those same textures and shaders on items they weren't meant to be applied. If done well, no one would even notice that female textures had been used unless the artist revealed that info. The same thing can not be said for morphs. They are obvious and take more work to get them onto the male figure if they aren't designed to be there. While I would love for there to be a product designed to make skins for my male characters, I don't wish this contest to be sidelined by the debate.

After careful consideration (and I appreciate all the feedback) the rules will stand as written. I realize some will disagree and I apologize for any inconvenience this may bring to those who wish to participate. 

barbult

I think the bottom line is that the person who creates a contest makes the rules. The contest sponsors contributing the prizes did so with Knittingmommy's rules in mind. Other contests have other rules. There are always several competitions going on (RRRR, Freebie, New User, Carrara Challenge, PC+, etc.). There is something out there for everyone, I imagine.

Let the fun begin!

Butch

Sounds good enough for me, ladies.

scorpio

Knittingmommy said:

I realize that some might think that if we allow the use of textures and materials designed for the ladies to be used on the men then we should allow morphs as well. However, look at it from my position. I want a fun competition where there are minimal rules. 12 rules aren't all that much. When I look at materials like shaders and textures, I know that even though they are geared for one purpose we all, as artists, use those same textures and shaders on items they weren't meant to be applied. If done well, no one would even notice that female textures had been used unless the artist revealed that info. The same thing can not be said for morphs. They are obvious and take more work to get them onto the male figure if they aren't designed to be there. While I would love for there to be a product designed to make skins for my male characters, I don't wish this contest to be sidelined by the debate.

After careful consideration (and I appreciate all the feedback) the rules will stand as written. I realize some will disagree and I apologize for any inconvenience this may bring to those who wish to participate. 

I respect your decision but still feel your logic is wrong, you wouldn't not know if female transfered morphs were used, would you really spot a figure that has used the femal version of shape shift or creature creator on a male instead of a femal. Shaders, and shader presets are totally different to textures which actually are a lot harder to transfer from some generation figures to others, whereas due to Gen X its usually a lot easier, perhaps you aren't familiar with how easy GenX is.

Personally I don't think either should be allowed.

Knittingmommy

And, we have our first entry! Nice image, @Divamakeup. 

Oops! Forgot to add, Diva can you add the file as an attachment? Thanks so much. It would make my life so much easier when it's time to put the images together for the voting.  Thanks.

3Diva

Knittingmommy said:

And, we have our first entry! Nice image, @Divamakeup. 

Oops! Forgot to add, Diva can you add the file as an attachment? Thanks so much. It would make my life so much easier when it's time to put the images together for the voting.  Thanks.

Thank you, Knittingmommy! And OOPS! I guess I missed the part about the attachements. Sorry about that. Fixed. :)

Carola O

Gah.. i'm so stupid LOL made a picture I had wanted to do, made two different versions due to postwork being done.. andn ow I can't decide which oen to use hahaha oh wel.. still got time to make up my mind

Knittingmommy

Carola O said:

Gah.. i'm so stupid LOL made a picture I had wanted to do, made two different versions due to postwork being done.. andn ow I can't decide which oen to use hahaha oh wel.. still got time to make up my mind

Yep, plenty of time still. It's early yet.  :)

3Diva

Carola O said:

Gah.. i'm so stupid LOL made a picture I had wanted to do, made two different versions due to postwork being done.. andn ow I can't decide which oen to use hahaha oh wel.. still got time to make up my mind

Send me the links? I can help you decide. :) One thing I'm never lacking - an artistic opinion. lol 

Knittingmommy

We've had a great start to the contest, everyone! I'm impressed we've gotten that many entries during the first few days already. Keep it up!  :)

Knittingmommy

@Diomede Can you change the color of your text, Not an entry, to red to make it stand out more? It would really help me out when I go through the thread. Thanks.

Changing the subject names to the threads for the It's Raining Men contest just a little bit to make sure you guys know why we are trying to do two threads this year. I'd like all discussion to be kept in this thread. All pictures go in the Entry thread. I forgot about NAE pictures. So, I'm adding the words Pictures only to the Entry thread.  You guys can keep putting NAE images in the Entry/Picture thread but make sure the Not an Entry part is in red to make it stand out more, please.  Thank you for your patience as we try this out this year.  Last year was just a little bit confusing trying to wade through all of the discussion and just pick out the images.  I was afraid I was going miss one between bought of conversation. 

So, if anyone wants to discuss an image that's been posted or entered, do that here.  Let's keep the Entry/Picture thread just that. Pictures only.  Thanks.

Diomede

Fixed. 

 

Knittingmommy said:

@Diomede Can you change the color of your text, Not an entry, to red to make it stand out more? It would really help me out when I go through the thread. Thanks.

.

 

Knittingmommy

Diomede said:

Fixed. 

 

Knittingmommy said:

@Diomede Can you change the color of your text, Not an entry, to red to make it stand out more? It would really help me out when I go through the thread. Thanks.

.

 

Thanks, @Diomede!