First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded. The prize for the best picture will be a DanceMaster 24-dancer model plus $5000L. The prize for second-best picture will be a DanceMaster 12-dancer model plus $2500L. The prize for third-best picture will be a DanceMaster 6-dancer model plus $1500L. If necessary due to a large number of high-quality entries, one or more honorable mentions may also be awarded. The prize for honorable mention will be $1000L. All DanceMaster prizes may be accepted in the form of a credit against the purchase of a larger model, a Duo model, or as a gift certificate (to enable transfer to someone other than the entering photographer).
Winning pictures and the names of the winners will be posted at the main DanceMaster store (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Boundless/161/203/28) and announced to the DanceMaster Interest Group on or about March 1st. But the entry deadline is February 15th, so don't delay! Get your friends together, get dancing, and get those pix!
Complete contest entry instructions and rules:
1) Anyone may enter pictures in the contest; you don't need to own a DanceMaster or purchase one. The DanceMaster Interest Group may be used as a way to find DanceMaster owners willing to assist. (Contact Bryndyn Burton for an invite to join the group if you need one.) Either a DanceMaster or a DanceMaster Duo must be used to position and animate dancers for a picture to enter in the contest.
2) You may submit up to three pictures, but you can only win one prize in the contest.
3) All pictures must be submitted as textures or snapshots with minimum dimensions of 512x512.
4) Each picture to be entered must be placed into a notecard. The name of the notecard must include the words "DanceMaster Foto Fest Entry" and your avatar name. In addition, the notecard must identify the date when the picture was taken, the location (with a landmark or SLURL) where the picture was taken, the name of the owner of that location, and the name of the owner of the DanceMaster used to arrange and animate the avatars. Do not place more than one picture into a single submitted notecard.
5) Each entry notecard and picture must be submitted with full SL permissions (modify, copy, and transfer). In addition, by submitting a picture to the contest, you as the photographer are thereby agreeing to give Bryndyn Burton a royalty-free perpetual license to reproduce, edit, and use the picture and its content in subsequent DanceMaster publicity and advertising materials. You must also have the permission of the owner of the picture location to submit your picture to this contest in order to be eligible for a prize, unless the picture location is a public sandbox. (This permission will be verified before prizes are awarded.)
6) Each entry notecard (and the picture it contains) must be placed in Bryndyn Burton's inventory by the original photographer by the end of February 15th, 2009, SL time.
7) Entries that do not conform to rules 3, 4, 5, and 6 will not be eligible for prizes.
Bryndyn Burton will evaluate all pictures and select all winners. His decisions will be final. Pictures will be evaluated against the following equally-weighted criteria:a) Action -- pictures should suggest motion and/or capture a visually distinctive moment of an animation.
b) Synchronization -- pictures should show all dancers in synchronization or using a clear synchronization pattern.
c) Clarity -- pictures should make the shape of formations clear, and should avoid extraneous avatars, obstructing objects, and distracting particle effects.
d) Technique -- pictures should show an innovative use of animations, formations, orientations, and/or stagger settings.
e) Completeness -- pictures should show completely filled formations if possible; partially filled formations without obvious "missing" dancers are acceptable. Having the DanceMaster itself recognizably visible in the picture is a plus but is not necessary.
f) Theme -- pictures should have a readily identifiable theme as represented by the setting, the avatars, and their outfits/attachments; common outfits or costumes for the dancers are allowed but are not necessary.
g) Content -- pictures should be suitable for display to a broad range of audiences, and may be dramatic, funny, realistic, or fantastic; mature content is acceptable but is not preferred.
h) Composition -- pictures should make effective use of all other image aspects, including camera angle, spatial arrangement, colors, textures, and lighting. Post-processing outside of SL to apply image effects or correct defects is acceptable but is not preferred.
A perfect picture would excel in all of the above criteria. However, a picture may still receive a prize even if it does not satisfy all of these criteria.
9) Do not submit any other materials, objects, IMs, etc. These will be ignored in the evaluation of the pictures.
10) No entry materials will be returned to you, so be sure to keep your own copy of your pictures.
11) There is no guarantee that Second Life servers or software will successfully place entry notecards into Bryndyn Burton's inventory. Questions about whether a submission was received before the deadline will be resolved by examing Bryndyn Burton's SL transaction log.