Reallusion has just released its list of winners for its 2024 3D Character Contest, which ran May 1 - September 30, 2024. 267 submissions were received from 55 countries, showcasing the best 3D character design and animation created using Reallusions powerful character production ecosystems - Character Creator for 3D character creation, iClone for facial and body animation, and AccuRIG for rigging.At Reallusion we are proud to see an influx of high-level character artists who are adopting Character Creator and iClone into their professional pipelines, said Enoc Burgos, Reallusion Director of Partnership Marketing. The contest proved the viability of using Character Creator to create unique 3D characters without thematic limitations. We congratulate all who participated, and look forward to bringing more innovations to the industry.Prize Sponsored by Renown Industry LeadersThe 2024 3D Character Contest was hosted by Reallusion and sponsored by industry leaders such as NVIDIA, Maxon, Rokoko, Noitom, KitBash3D, 3DConnexion, KeenTools, TexturingXYZ, and Fox Renderfarm. Through this contest, artists produced a wide range of stylized work, pushing Character Creators extensive pipeline that allows artists to seamlessly integrate a new workflow designed for rapid creativity with zero sacrifice in character quality. Watch Overview VideoWINNERSThe 2024 Reallusion 3D Character Contest offered cash and prizes valued at over USD$47,500 thanks to our A-list sponsors who partnered with Reallusion. Here are the winners:REALISTIC CHARACTER DESIGNUnder this category, entrants create a realistic human character in Character Creator by combining the character base with tools like ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Blender, Wrap, Texturing.xyz, and Maya. 1st Place: The Last Entry - by Konrad Hetko, 3D Character Artist"Reallusion's tools were incredibly helpful, especially the ease of switching between Character Creator and ZBrush using GoZ. But what I appreciate the most is FaceTools, which takes care of the most tedious aspects of working with morphs and dynamic normals by automating everything with just one click!" - Konrad Hetko2nd Place: Shannaz - by Tom Babka, 3D Artist"I really like tools from Reallusion. Especially the Character Creator. They help me speed up the character creation process tremendously. Quality textures, Topologies, Meshes and Morphs are of a high standard and very well made. As well as tools and addons for Blender, ZBrush, Unreal or Unity. Any pipeline including characters can be significantly sped up." - Tom Babka3rd Place: Hard Battle - by Jeet Shah, 3D Character Artist "Character Creator introduced me to a refreshing new way of creating 3d characters with a very non-destructive approach with its hundreds of sliders for full body modifications. I could easily try out new proportions, and new ideas without fearing that I won't be able to revert to the old one." - Jeet ShahSTYLIZED CHARACTER DESIGNUnder this category, entrants create a stylized character in Character Creator by combining the character base with tools like ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Blender, Wrap, Texturing.xyz, and Maya 1st Place: ASTIN - Chemical Oasis - by Jorge Leonardo Ayala Arias, 3D Character Artist"It's such an ease to have a faithful base to the concept, reducing the time to see in action for the created assets and the character. Character Creator provides the possibility and versatility of adding bones for extra accessories, giving life to the character." - Jorge Leonardo Ayala Arias2nd Place: Avice - A Knight of the Realm - by Kurt Boutilier, Digital Sculptor / 3D Print Artist"Reallusion tools helped me create a base mesh for my character, as well as the ability to rig and pose her much faster than modeling or rigging a character from scratch." - Kurt Boutilier3rd Place: Seeker - by Duai Sebastian Florez, 3D Character Artist"Character Creator 4 is an incredible software; it helped me save 50% of the time in my character creation pipeline. Additionally, it allows me to pose characters quickly without needing complex rigging methods. Its integration with ZBrush is so seamless that they almost seem like a single program." - Duai Sebastian FlorezREALISTIC CHARACTER ANIMATION Under this category, entrants use iClone to create a realistic animation for a character made with the CC3+ Base. The character model can be customized with Reallusion tools and content or third-party software like ZBrush, Blender, Unreal Engine. 1st Place: Lisa & Fia - by Robert Lundqvist, 3D Hobby Artist"Easy and fast character creation with Character Creator and Headshot." - Robert Lundqvist(Watch Roberts full entry)2nd Place: The Playful Deity - by Kay John Yim, Architect by day / CGI Artist by night"Character Creator 4s Ultimate Morphs allowed me to create my character's foundation non-destructively, which seamlessly integrated into iClone for posing and animation. I utilized ActorCore motions as the base for the character animation and relied heavily on iClones 'Edit Motion Layer' and 'Motion Correction' for user-friendly animation adjustments." - Kay John Yim(Watch Johns full entry)3rd Place: NeuroNexus - by Hamidreza Hamzehpour, CG Generalist - Film/Animation Maker"Initially, I used the base 3D model of the character creator and sent it to ZBrush using the ZBrush Face Tool Plugin to sculpt my character on the base m, then exported the rigged character to Cinema 4D. Also, I've used iClone to mix some animations like walking to stop, start to walk, etc." - Hamidreza Hamzehpour(Watch Hamidrezas full entry)STYLIZED CHARACTER ANIMATION Under this category, entrants use iClone to create a realistic animation for a character made with the CC3+ Base. The character model can be customized with Reallusion tools and content or third-party software like ZBrush, Blender, Unreal Engine. 1st Place: HellGal - by Loc Bramoull, Cinematics for indies and AA studios"Character Creator is always amazing to kickstart any humanoid character production, already supporting the really accessible facial motion capture in iClone, here with my iPad via LiveFace." - Loc Bramoull2nd Place: Dance of the Flying Spirit - by Melis Caner, 3D Generalist"As a 3D generalist, creating a character from scratch has always been challenging. Reallusion tools helped me build my character and animation significantly easier, faster, and more efficiently." - Melis Caner(Watch Melis full entry)3rd Place: Nesting Realm Keeper - by Varuna Darensbourg, Artist & Game Dev"For this challenge, I was able to complete everything using CC4, iClone, PS and GoZ+. I needed to work as streamlined as possible. CC4 & GoZ+ really helped me finish my character efficiently and helped to quickly create props, like the Dragon egg, pillar and more. Another supermassive time saver was using the facial capture from the Voice video, using AccuFace." - Varuna Darensbourg(Watch Varunas full entry)BEST ACCURIG CHARACTERSUnder this category, entrants use AccuRIG to turn their static characters into fully animatable projects in any topology. The winning characters showcase high sculpting details with attractive poses and professional renders. SPECIAL AWARDSSpecial Awards and Prizes are reserved for outstanding achievement in certain areas of the competition. These awards are juried by our judges and add more to the winnings. HONORABLE MENTIONSThe judging process for the "2024 Reallusion 3D Character Contest " proved to be quite difficult and took many hours of deliberation. Besides the top 3 placements from Best Character Animation & Best Character Design, Reallusion also selected 48 winners for AccuRIG characters, Special Awards, and Honorable Mentions. See the Winners Page for winner details and showcases. Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.