The Meet Mat 3 - Adobe Substance 3D Contest (“the Contest”) is hosted by The Tasman Theory Pty Ltd (“the Organiser”).

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS CONTEST.

HOW TO ENTER

The Artist must submit an entry directly from a category page for the Meet Mat 3. Only entries that are submitted here will be reviewed by our judging panel and considered an official entry. Submission uploaded to the Projects section of the website will not be considered.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Entries Open 20th November, 2023
• Entries Close 19th January, 2024
• Finalists announced 2nd February, 2024
• Winners announced 16th February, 2024

Dates mentioned are at 11:59 pm on the date in question. All dates are based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

ELIGIBILITY

The contest is open to young creatives who meet the following eligibility criteria:

Minimum Age:

Entrants must be at least 18 years of age or older.

Maximum Industry Experience:

Entrants must have no more than one year of professional industry experience at the time of the contest’s closing date, which is June 1, 2023, working in the fields of 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Concept Art, Game Development, Visual Effects, Architectural Visualisation, Motion Graphics, Immersive Media, Product Design or Virtual Fashion.

Definition of Professional Industry Experience: Professional industry experience is defined as experience gained by working in a professional environment, such as a studio or agency, as a paid employee or independent contractor, or experience gained by working on projects for clients or customers.

Related Industry Experience: Entrants with a maximum of 3 years of professional experience in industries that are similar or related to the contest categories may be considered for eligibility at the discretion of the Rookie Awards team. Related industries are those that involve skills or techniques that are transferable or applicable to the fields of 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Concept Art, Game Development, Visual Effects, Architectural Visualization, Motion Graphics, Immersive Media, Product Design, or Virtual Fashion.

Example: A professional Graphic Designer with 3 years of experience, but has no 3D Animation industry experience, may be considered for eligibility if our team determines that their skills and experience do not give them an unfair advantage over other entrants.

Exclusion of Internships and Work Experience:

Internships and work experience do not count towards the total experience.

Verification of Experience:

All finalists must be prepared to verify their experience to confirm eligibility to participate in the competition. Verification may include providing evidence of prior employment, such as a signed letter from an employer or a copy of a contract.

Misrepresentation of Experience:

Entrants who are found to have misrepresented their experience or provided false information during the verification process will be disqualified from the competition.

Deliverables

• 2 x Renders: Each entry should include renders using the provided ‘MeetMAT’ project cameras. Render a single image from both ‘Render Cam Front’ and ‘Render Cam Perspective’ at 4096 x 2160 pixels. Additional renders can be included.
• Regular Updates: Provide a minimum of three work-in-progress updates on your entry page to document different stages of your creative process. Date timestamps are automatically added to your entry page for each official update that is shared.

Guarantee of the Artist

The Artist guarantees to The Organiser that:

• You are limited to 2 submission per artist.
• Your contest submission must not have been shared publicly prior to the contest.
• You must share minimum of three work-in-progress updates on your entry page. Each update should include a timestamp to document different stages of your creative process.
• Texturing must be done in Substance Painter. You may import resources (such as textures, alphas, filters, or other assets into Substance Painter) as long as the creative texturing work is done in Substance Painter. You cannot simply import and apply final textures that have been created in another tool.
• You must use the default Substance Painter shaders.
• You may not modify any aspect of the mesh template. Displacement within Substance Painter is allowed to add some interesting details, as long as it does not break the ‘Meet MAT’ identity. Baking from a custom high-poly mesh** is** allowed.
• Submission must include two Iray® renders using the camera included in the ‘MeetMAT’ project. You have to make the cameras C1 and C7 from the MeetMAT scene. Ideal rendering resolution: 4096 x 2160 pixels. minimum resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels. Additional renders can be included as well. Make sure to have a look at the rendering guideline section to get the best results.
• No third-party models/assets can be used
• Include the hashtag #MeetMat3 if you share on your social media.

Ownership

• The Artists will maintain ownership of all ideas and materials/images uploaded to the website, and any utilization beyond promotional purposes for this Creative Challenge will only occur with the artist’s consent.
• The Artist can only enter work that has been created by The Artist and that you have the right or authority to enter and publish.
• The Organiser will not support or promote spec work of any kind and will not monetize submissions in any way.

Third-Party Content

• Entrants may include third-party content such as 3D files, concept art, or other media that is not owned by them in their entries.
• If an entrant includes third-party content, they must disclose who owns it and how they used it in their entry.
• Entries that include third-party content must not infringe on any copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of the third-party content owner.

Fan Art

• Fan Art is allowed. The Artist can enter work inspired by concept artists, but The Artist must credit any other artist’s work.

AI-Generated Artwork

• All entries must be the original work of the entrant, created without the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) algorithms.
• The contest organizers reserve the right to request additional information or documentation from entrants regarding the creation of their entries, including proof that no artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) algorithms were used.

Judging Criteria

• The Process - we want to see your process from start to finish. This contest uses the Play by Play project builder which means you can share every little update similar to a forum.

• The judges will be looking for entrants that show great technical and creative skills. The judges will also be looking for entries that share regular updates and get involved in the community.

• We are looking for attention to detail, execution, and (most importantly) a ‘WOW! That is friggin cute’ factor that leaves us speechless.

• Feedback sessions will be available on The Rookies Discord server and occasionally a judge may live stream to the server providing real time feedback.

Sponsor Prizes

Prizes are non-transferable and must be accepted as awarded. No cash or other substitution may be made. The Contest Sponsors will send prizes directly to winners in a timely manner at the completion of the Contest.

Disqualification

Any content submitted by teams, third-party vendors, educational facilities, studios or non-amateur artists (anyone with more than 12 months professional employment) will be immediately removed from the Contest. The Organiser reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend any related content on the site.

The Organiser reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend an Artist if they believe they have too much professional experience (No more than 12 monhts) in any field that puts them at an unfair advantage to other Artists.

The Organiser reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend the Contest should virus, bugs, unauthorised human intervention, technical failures or any other factor beyond or

The Organiser’ reasonable control corrupt the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper operation of the awards.

Any media content deemed to contain content that depicts explicit acts that are overtly violent, sexual, cruel or brutal will be disqualified. Such entries may, at The Organiser’ sole discretion, be closed at any time during the event.

Employees of Contest Sponsors and The Organiser are not eligible to enter this event.

Winner Notification

Each Winner will be notified by email at the completion of the Contest.

The entrant is responsible for entering their correct email address at the time of submission and prizes may be forfeited if the entrant cannot be contacted or their identity cannot be verified.

Once notified of winning, the Winner will have three weeks in which to claim your prize. Failure to respond within this time period will result in forfeiture of the prize although The Organiser will make reasonable efforts to contact the winner to ensure this does not happen.

The Organiser reserves the right to forfeit a prize if not claimed.

Acceptance

Participation constitutes the Entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and our Terms & Conditions. By participating in the Contest, The Artist is representing and warranting that he/she has read and understood, and agrees to be bound by, these rules. Including the guides and rules referred to herein, these Official Rules constitute the entire agreement between The Artist and The Organiser in relation to the Contest. They govern the Entrant’s participation and supersede any prior or other agreements between The Artist and The Organiser and relating to the Contest.

In no event will The Organiser, and or their parents, affiliates, subsidiaries and related companies, their advertising or promotion agencies or their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, be responsible or liable for any damages or losses of any kind, including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages arising from access to, or use of, this web site, electronic or computer malfunctions, or entrant participation in this contest, even if The Organiser has been advised of the possibility of such damages.