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Fractalforums.com
9th Annual Fractal Art Competition 2016


Fractalforums.com is holding our "Annual Fractal Art Contest" for the 9th time in row in the year of 2016.
 
Prizes are, as every year, winning images printed on coffee cups.

Statement regarding voting system:
 everything stays as it was in the year before, the total sum of gained
stars in the voting process are the one and only thing relevant for the final outcome. We are aware that the process
is not perfect. A voting system needs a whole rewriting of the whole process of the participating/voting for that
where simply no resources available to create a voting/gallery system with a special voting system. Presumably the
voting system will be changed at the 10th birthday of the competition, perhaps we will have found a sponsor by then as well...
Read below for a detailed description of current system.


The most important link for the compo comes first, the gallery is where everything takes place, uploading
and voting. This is the link to the gallery section:
http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=113

Official Sponsor for this years contest is (again) : NO ONE, everything related prize giving and prize sending is
handled by the administrator alone, a very long delay has to be accepted for prize receiving, due to this
only the first placed entries in each section will get a prize. But remember, being part of it is all that counts!

BUT RUNNER UP SPONSOR IS: XENODREAM SOFTWARE, read more about it here (http://www.fractalforums.com/9th-annual-fractal-art-competition-2016/compo-2016-official-sponsor-xenodream-software/):



Time Schedule
- Submission Period begins on 1st of May at 00:00 Central European Time
- Submission Period ends on 31st of May at 23:59:59 Central European Time
- Voting Period begins on 1st of June at 00:00:00 Central European Time
- Voting Period ends on 30st of June at 23:59:59 Central European Time

Rules:

*new, not obligatory*
Please sign your work, by placing the text "fractalforums.com Annual Fractal Art Contest 2016" inside your production
you state crystal clear that you have produced it especially for the contest, and future viewers of the product will have
a straight time location from when the product was produced. This was originally meant to be obligatory from the administrator
but has been rejected by the admin people who thought that it would restrict artistic liberty too much, so make the admin happy and include it!

As every year, a contributor may enter up to 3 entries in each section of the competition,
so every contributor may enter up to 9 total competition entries.

The Competition is (as always) split up into 3 sections, which are this year "Film","Still Frame Wildstyle" and
as varying section we have this year the "Deep Exploration Mandelbrot" section.

It is desirable to publish "new" stuff in the contest, do not bore us with already known stuff. Anything
already competing in another contest, or somehow already known to a wider public is unwanted. The
administration team for the contest is not strictly excluding anything from the contest
so it is up to you to either bore us to death or come up with inspiring new work. It would be to hard
to verify every entry by hand, so nothing will be disqualified, but keep in mind that something already
known wont get too much votes ...

The whole voting and submission is done in the gallery. This year - for the first time - video submission are submitted
by using the "Enter Video" feature of the current gallery, most of popular video hosting sites are included.

Remarks
Remark about the voting System
The winner is determined by the total sum of stars. Which means that a single 5 star vote can not outnumber
for example an entry with two 3 star ratings. Although there was an effort to introduce a new voting counting
system, it will stay this way for this year - and presumably until 10th anniversary of the contest.

Remark about Time Schedule
Time scheduling caused confusion, due to contestants spread over the whole world, each of the schedules is
a "soft" schedule, especially the entry time. If you come up with your entry half a day late ( but no more than a day),
it is perfectly fine. Consider that entries which are longer in the view of reviewers have a better impact, and that
later entered entries might get overlooked.

Remark about Voting System I
During the time of the submission period and the voting period the display of view counts and current voting is
globally disabled in the gallery.

Remark about Voting System  II
Each section will feature 2 winners, one by the most total counts, and one by the best average count.

Remark about Gallery File Sizes and Dimension
The hosting package for the website is now at maximum, the allowed image sizes have been incread immensely,
now 5000x5000 pixels and a file size of 25 megabytes is now enabled for uploads


The Competition is split up into 3 sections:

Competition Sections
Still Frame Wildstyle
The still frame section allows submission of any image without any restrictions, photography,
layering, post works, painting. Express your feelings through an image. Attenuate Details, make
use of modern image editing software to get the most out of your image. Single Click and render images
might not be enough to become even recognized this year! Let your mind flow to create something new!

Still Frame Wildstyle Gallery section
http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=114

Deep Exploration Mandelbrot
This years third section is deep mandelbrot exploration. This section has 3 rules:
- Only pure mandelbrot, just escape time coloring, smoothing
- The location has to be shared within the image description
- Minimum zoom depth should be around 10^100

Deep Exploration Gallery section
http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=116

Film
in the film section (long) fractal videos are accepted. Let your creativity flow,
Use Voxel Stack exports to bring the Fractals into your favorite 3D Program. Use a camera tracker
to place Fractal Objects in real film recordings. Create a stunning soundtrack that is perfectly
synchronized to the film. Use Sound Syncing fractal rendering software that is nowadays available (jwildfire)
Your creative mind might need an extension for this. This is the champions league of fractal art!
 
The film section now requires that you include the following text in the intro/outro of your production:
"Fractalforums.com Annual Fractal Art Competition 2016"
this is for specially recognizing it as competition entry.

include greetings as you like greeting other fractalists is a nice way showing we are alive

Film Gallery Section:
http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=115

 :worm:

hooray! :D

but,
no distance estimate colouring allowed? :(

it seems like kind of a murky distinction also since it is possible to use escape time information to do distance style coloring?

just dont get too crazy with coloring, distance/escape time is roguhly the same, use what better fits, just dont use orbit trap coloring or such and you are good to go

Cool. Now all I need is an inspiration.

Maybe try something like Kickstarter.com  :hmh:  if it doesn't make a minimum then coffee mugs and slow shipping, you could have a graduated prize package scheme for higher levels of support, coffee mug + T-shirt @ first level over minimum, coffee mug + T-shirt + custom FractalForums mouse @ second level over minimum etc. etc. of course this doesn't mean the more an individual contributes the bigger their prize will be but it would let supporters show their appreciation to what ever extent they feel comfortable with and take the funding issue off of your back :D
I feel it's not at all unreasonable to make this sort of option available for those who can afford to participate.

...just a thought ;)

edit: maybe do a poll?

it goes on like this, one reason for not having an official sponsor is my lack in search for one, and kickstarter would impose additional administration time to spend, so prizes might get up for next year anywas (reinvesting ad income)
 but if not a sponsor asks me i am not spending time in search for one ... so lets make it an awesome experience again anyways :D

Any tip on how to insert a video ?
I do not see the add a video link on the film gallery.(only add picture).
For the video, does the gallery accept vimeo link ? or youtube only ?

Thanx

Hi.

To post a video, just pick a frame from it for the image to post, then post the URL of the image from either vimeo or youtube in the description. The video should embed automatically from that.

Just be sure to use the actual URL of the page as displayed in your browser's address bar and not the embed code those sites provide.

If you have any troubles, feel free to ask for help!  We can correct any errors along the way, so feel free to experiment if you need to.

Thanks for taking part in this year's competition   O0

The upload limit per day in the submission period of the Annual Fractal Art Competition should not be 1. Someone may want to upload all his images on the last day.

As a general feedback (not intending that anything is changed because of me, only as feedback): I'm not doing this stuff in a professional way and have only time in my spare time. Problably this is true for a few others, too.
It is a really hard challenge to produce any serious movie (which is not the usual MB3D-flytrough) in three weeks under this conditions.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to attend and will try my best ;-)

Best regards,
Andreas

the "add video" button is right beside the "add image" button, it allows to directly post a youtube link and import the video data from there

will adjust upload limit to 9 thx sergio

Hi want participated but my english is poor :(

Im tried to understand Still Frame Wildstyle is editting fractal ?

Hello and welcome to the forums   O0

Wild Style allows for, but does not require, editing the fractal.

It is an open ended category with few, if any, restrictions - other than including a fractal of some kind as the primary focus of the work.

Hope that helps!

Hello and welcome.
I would like to answer your question but I can't really get what you are trying to ask. Could you try to ask the question again? :)

Alternatively, could you tell us what language you speak? A moderator or member who speaks your language might be able to help you.

i think still frame wildstyle is anything you want as long as it involves fractals.

edit: oh sockratease just said that  O0

The forum banner says 2015...    :police:

lol, you got me, will exchange it after workdaytime.... done

side note: everybody can upload 1000x90 images to that category (link below image) and contribute to the banner amount

side question: is it true that no body can see the "add video" button ?!?!?

Thanks for answer sorry Im speak spanish hehe.  Im need put parameters or not necessary.  Other things what is in pixels need the imagen for contest thanks for all help. Im said 1500 x 1500 example or more big  :embarrass:

For the wilddstyle section its not required to share parameters, but of cours you could do that if you like.

The size of your image doesn't matter. As long as you can upload it to the gallery. It simply is not possible to upload images larger than 5000x5000.
I would say 1500x1500 is large enough but if you want more detail in your image I would recommend trying a larger one.

Personnaly i can't see the add button..and i cant see video too(looks like a broken picture). So i must read the source to get the link to youtube)

Cheers

:) Put in 3000 x 4000 pixels imagen ty.  

great, there seems to be an issue regarding video linking, please just use the embedding of video links by pasting the youtube url in the description of your submission

Is there someone who could translate the contest information to Spanish and would be willing to do that?

How long are the video submissions supposed to be?

Do they have to be uploaded to the forums?  If so, what is the file size limit?  If not, is there a preferred storage / streaming site?

Is there a preferred resolution?

Thanks!

Apeirographer

they may be as long as you like, they have to be uploaded to a standard video streamer, like youtube or vimeo, resolution? as bis as possible, 16:9 2160p :D

Standard video streaming compression tends to wreak havoc on my pristinely prepared mp4 files.

Is there a size limit at which it could even be uploaded to the board directly?  Or is it simply best to also provide a secondary link to an "original quality" version?

Thanks!

including a direct download link is definitely a good thing to do  :)  i dont think you can upload huge files to the forum directly.  youtube is just awful.  judging from other people's posts, vimeo seems okay i guess if you want a streaming link with better quality than youtube.

vimeo is better than youtube , I think the quality ends up being determined by your connection, if it's fast then good quality but when slow it adjusts to compensate, a vimeo expert might have a better answer but this is my impression, youtube just seems to mash them into the smallest possible stream.

Another feedback after looking at some of the images in this years "main section" (=Deep Exploration Mandelbrot): it seems pointless to me in terms of "competition". So, no doubt, it is a nice show case of some deep zooms, but for me it would impossible to "judge" about them. Or is simply deeper = better (no pun intended as it would be too obvious)?

You could look at it technically but if you don't want to you could simply look at them and judge them by how you think they look.

Indeed, the purpose is to explore the deep, and structures found there have higher details and stuff in them, at the ens of the day its just your personal taste

Maybe this is a silly question... but how can you vote? Today should be the start of the voting period... I tried to find the button, I'm new here thanks :)

Adistu, I think they wait until the time table worldwide will be 1 June. (or maybe I'm stupid ;)  To give everyone a fair change in uploading their entry for the competition. The button will be the same as always the stars.  So when the competition is officially close you can vote by giving stars to the ones you like best from 1-5 stars.    Enjoy this annual Fractal Feast !!  :)

So, strictly speaking, being that I'm in the UK and we are GMT, it should have been at midday today my time, or an hour before.  I don't think we should begrudge an extra few hours though for those who maybe couldn't upload earlier.

Just bear in mind that entries that have only just been made will not be so remembered as those made a few days or weeks ago, so may be at a disadvantage being posted so late.

I look forward to voting, and I hope I don't make the mistake this year of following a link to another gallery then spending an hour and a half voting on pictures that weren't even in the competition.  I will be paying more attention this year

:rotfl:

yay, please bare with me i can only make this working when concentrating to it, it might take until weekend when voting is working, i try to find a little time for it tonight and send out a voting newsletter on weekend

Exactly, we should not be rigid and especially with video for I think that the time you know on what criteria the movie should be (horrible English I know, I'm sorry)  and the time given for a really stunning display of the art you are capable off, can not or very difficult be done in just a few weeks.  Maybe we should be so flexible as to put the challenge idea and parameters more early than just the fractal art.  That is a lot less time-consuming then a video...?
just an idea to give more credit and possibilities to those amazing people that can make such incredible art.  We really should cherish them is my simple opinion.
 

I always go through all three galleries, starting from the first item, with the "next" button, to review them all and vote once the voting period starts. So it doesn't affect my vote when an entry was made, as I see it, either for the first time or again, right before voting on it. Do others not do likewise when voting?

agreed  :)

Me too, I'm gonna  take all the time I want and need to go through all the pictures and make a first selection for the very best and check it again and then I rate them from 1 to 5 stars.  The same with the video's I look at them at least twice more.  It is all so very high quality that is a difficult compo but a great Fractal feast :)  I enjoy it. 

I have always felt that every image should be voted upon by everyone also.  Anyone who takes the time to make an entry deserves at least *some* feedback, even if it is just a single star rating.

However, each year many images get far fewer (or far more) votes than others.  In the past I suggested a way to help with that by requiring all participants to rate every entry in whatever category (or categories) they post any (entry or entries).  Any Artist who does not vote on each entry in whatever section(s) they entered would have their work disqualified.

This seems a reasonable "entry fee" to me, but it was shot down in discussion.  But time has passed, and maybe opinions have changed.  If others like this idea, we can consider using it next year.

The arguments against it may have been valid.  Some thought it would be too difficult to confirm for our staff  (which may well be true - I am not well versed in php and am unsure how complicated it would be to write a script to check that).

So we just strongly encourage all participants  (and all members who did not make any entries) to please rate every entry in each category if your schedule does not prohibit it!

Is there a pure voting view of the entries?
thumbnail on left, stars to select on right ... it would make the voting process so much easier than opening 167 posts.

Sadly, no.

This gallery was not designed with competitions in mind and has many shortfalls from what would be ideal if we could design our own   :sad1:

What you say is one reason voting remains open for a whole month.  I just do a few a day and they get done.

On the bright side, it is hard to rate a detailed image from a thumbnail, so there is that one point in favor of going through them all post by post.  But I do understand your frustration and wish we could do so much more to make this gallery more suitable for such competitions.

Apologies for the inconvenience, and thanks for your participation!

i was actually just thinking the opposite, that anyone who submits an entry for a category should not vote in that category, as their self interest would bias their motivation for rating?  also the idea of giving every entry a rating seems like a not ideal approach?  lots of entries wouldnt really deserve less than a high rating, so if you were being honest you would probably end up giving similar high ratings to lots of entries.  given that most entries will probably be good, but the goal is still to select a winner or a couple of winners, it seems like maybe a better approach would be to have everyone select a #1, #2, #3, or something like that.

@quaz0r I second that motion, a #1 #2 and #3

i just loaded one of my entries out of curiosity and the rating thing isnt disabled so i guess you can vote for yourself, doh..   :-\   88)

It should show the option, but if you actually try to rate your own image it should display a message saying that is not allowed.

As I said, this gallery was not designed with competitions in mind, but I'm pretty sure it does not allow rating your own images   :police:


EDIT:  Yup - I just tried rating the banner I made for the contest and saw the error.  Screenshot attached.

oh, thats good   :D

yes thats base functionality of the gallery :) as sock said it was not meant to host such an event, but has been used 9 times in a row by now

How about changing the rules for the next competition (I assume it is too late for current).
Use the star system to allow people to pick at the most 5 entries and rank them using stars (5 to 1)?
Then use a preferential voting system to identify the most liked entry.

I don't know whether that would work since some people have already voted for entire sections. And I don't think every entry get an equal chance that way.

As TheRedshiftRider said, that (like every system for voting in such contests) has drawbacks.

Main problem with that is the same as the problem with my favored alternate system of requiring a participant vote for every entry - namely; how to check it?

I like the idea of using a forum poll in some way.  But with hundreds of items, that can get messy.

Threads where people list their "Top Three" or "Top Five" entries also present the problem of not seeing the entries when rating.  And the bigger problem of tallying hundreds of replies made in text form as posts in a thread.

My point is that Every system has advantages and drawbacks.  All can be twisted by members who think they can influence the outcome via "strategic voting" or not voting.  Even (or especially?) the current system.

Ultimately, due to the sheer workload involved with nearly every other system, the in-gallery ratings will probably remain the system of choice regardless of any drawbacks it may entail.  

Unless we have any php wizards who can write a whole new plug-in for smf forums!  But then, to maintain veracity, it would have to be submitted to smf forums directly so people will know it has been vetted by the forum software makers as a secure system which can't be easily abused.

There is no easy answer and no perfect system.  

So...  Ummm...  Moo?
(http://www.sockratease.com/imgz/only-way-2-travel.jpg)

If you only vote for the 5 best entries there will be no use for most members  to participate. Lets be honest, some are so good that they usually stick out above all others with a length between them.  So why would other members participate?  By giving every entry at least one star the outcome is a list in which all participants are viewed and 'judged' You understand what I mean?  I fear that in the  only the top 5 ranking there will be few participants left.  But maybe I'm wrong ;)

You are right, that was the kind of answer I was aiming for.  ^-^

I agree that would be best, but when I suggested we require all participants (let alone all people who want to "vote") rate every entry, there was a flurry of (largely legitimate) criticism.  The idea was very unpopular   :'(

I guess people think of no vote as a "Zero Star" rating?

As it is, people are free to vote, or not vote, as they see fit.  Which, in the past, was the way the community seemed to want things.  Times change, and the member group fluctuates, so maybe someday we will have a new system, but honestly - I think we are stuck with this one right up until we finally upgrade the forum software all together!

But that is an entirely different, and frankly much bigger, problem...

Well Socrateas ao. To me I'm fine with the situation as it is and I vote as integer as I possibly can. And I give everybody at least one star because I honor each and everyone of them that they took the time, the effort and their creative skills to make themselves a piece of art for us to see and for them as a way of testing their own progress/creativity in a contest. 
I'm glad for example that it is great to see how many new members we got lately and with a lot of enthusiasm and some even participate in the competition, what i consider to be a Fractal party a feast of people with the same interest but still so very diverse.  Well, that is my 'humble' opinion   :beer:

After possibly a painstakingly thorough analysis of all voting data since the competition was first ran, I came across the alarming fact that the good images are consistently winners, that there is a definite bias in the voting system towards the good stuff.

Without even thinking seriously about it, I would strongly suggest the Less Ticking Method.

You mentally rate the images out of 5 stars but only enter the votes for 4 and 5 star images. So  the  contest becomes between the images deemed above average. This way I don’t find out that I am an even bigger loser than I thought, and can proudly consider myself as a "not above average" fractalist.

I vote with all the 5 stars, so depending on how I like it I'll give either, one or two or three, four or five...!   Right?  Don't you?

im not interested in giving people bad ratings, so i just pick a handful of favorites and give them five stars and call it a day.  i imagine im not the only one who does it like that

Wait...

Good images are usually the winners?

Bias?  HERE??

Can't be.

I wish I noticed that trend before...

I'd have submitted good stuff all along   O0

And Caleidoscope - I believe I sense a tiny bit of Sarcasm in mclarekin's post   :dink:


EDIT - we posted at the same time!


So it was only partly sarcasm?  Or is my own Sarcalepsy  (uncontrollable Sarcasm!)  (my favorite imaginary disease!!)  (I made it up myself!)  tainting my judgment?

I know ;)  I'm very fond of Maclarekin  :-*   and a bit of fun, a bit of sarcasm and a bit of teasing, all part of the game so I give all of you a digital beer  :beer:  :beer: :beer:
(it is hot and damp down here in the Netherlands so...you get thirsty  :beer: )

 @ Sockratease     Sarcalepsy LOL

Yes I was having fun, BUT with an element of truth.  My last years voting system :-

void VotingSystem(in.image, out.vote)
   if( not classed as "clearly above average" image)   vote =  ***;    // minimum 3 starts for entering
   if(clearly equals 5 stars) vote = *****;
   else vote = ****;

I had to speed up my voting, because over at Mandelbulber Mega_Multinational Inc I only get a 20 minute "lunch" break half way through my 16 hour coding shifts (8 days a week),

SO,  a faster voting system may allow/encourage more people to vote, and the 3 stars reward for entering reflects the  fun community nature of the competition.  Oops my 20 minutes is up, and the boss man  will be back with his cattle prodder

I noticed that the Youtube embed on the forums only allowed to you watch it up to 720p so I tried to edit in a comment and now it got moved out of the film category. It's just sitting at the bottom of all the other categories and I can't figure out how to move it back.

No problem, Ive moved it back to the right section.
Its kind of a strange situation. Normal members can't move their picture. I guess one of the moderators might have made a mistake. Or maybe theres a system preventing edits in the voting period. :hmh: that would be strange though.

Hi, I could do it, but maybe it's too late already.

Thanks for the offer. But yes, a bit late.

It doesn't matter. :dink: we haven't had any problems involving other languages after that post.

Thanks again. :)

I see you are allowing really large images. Just want you to know I can't see them, and scrolling doesn't help. Hard to vote on something you can't see. Don't suppose there's any way you could open these somehow so they could be viewed?

a lot of the ones in the mandelbrot category get screwed up by the huge lines of text for the location information in the description, it took me a bit to realize i had to scroll sideways a bunch just to see some of the images, and the browser kinda slows down and chokes on the whole deal..

though ive also had it where the server seems to just not want to send the image..

the problem with the huge text lines should have been fixed a month ago, some images are huge, yes, scaling using the browser scale methods helps ctrl +/-

Hmm.. I thought I had gone through the images to add code-tags where needed to make the changes to the code-tag usefull and every page readable.

What browser do you use?

Christian, could you enable the normal site banner now that we have voted? Looking at these is nice but a bit more variation would be nice. :)


Edit: 512, woo! ;D

done

Thank you.


Edit: Some banners seem to disappear. See attachment.

Same here. Most pages show no banner  :'(

this is the occasionally popping up ad banner :D you nasty dude have disabled banner display (i know it is a super nasty way of hunting for cliks, will be disabled later)

I can't remember disabling ads for fractal forums. It was just something I noticed. I will just refresh the page if I want to see the forum banner. :tease:

okay, just checked the ads where called, but the ad display code was commented out :) i adjusted it so that only forums banners appear above now