For judging we used only the neutral front, front 3/4, side, rear 3/4, and rear images, all shot in the same scene preset (same light & everything). For prejudging, the photographs entered were used due to how insane the volume of pictures to render would have been otherwise.
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butā¦ you rendered all the cars, right? im not misjudging this video?
Loving the results so far!
I can certainly see where my design itself fell short, but I am curious for some feedback on the photograph; was my picture a good or bad contributor to the carās score?
Correct, from one angle. Those were just used for that video specifically.
just wondering, were my chances of getting into the cat F finals killed just because i forgot to put a driver in the car, or is there a much bigger reason why
Pretty sure a driver was not a specific requirement (unless I missed something in the brief). But if your picture was an action shot of the car in motion, just would seem a little strange to not have a driver of courseā¦ Well, unless itās being remote controlled. 
So likely there was another reason whyā¦
That said, given the large number of entries, you certainly shouldnāt feel bad at all about not being selected - just look at the ones they did review, and up your game for the next contest (thatās my plans - well, and to not bring a convertible to a coupe/sedan fight). Iām sure they had a very hard time narrowing things down to those ten, then an even harder of a time getting it down to three - so pat your self on the back for a good job. 
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If possible, Iād recommend a standardized photo preset for next time (wherein all entrants would shoot their cars from the same angle, with the same lighting and camera settings, in the same scene). This should also give the less photographically inclined among us (myself included) a fighting chance, by leaving the judging to be based solely on the car.
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For the teaser, every car had just the one shot rendered for it. And to give you an idea of the scale of this, that took an entire working day and then some to complete on my desktop, and itās more powerful than probably 95 percent of what Automation players use. Also, we did more than just render the five images of each finalist, we also did seven action shots of each finalist too, from which we would choose one or two to be used in the judging videos.
I rendered out all the images on my own PC for the finalists, and it literally took a hundred hours of render time, and that doesnāt even touch the three PCs at the office that ran more or less continuously for a week, rendering out the animatics we needed for the finalists.
Yāall seriously underestimate the scale of this undertaking.
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Honestly I donāt know why your car didnāt get more votes than it did; I quite liked it, and I thought it was well-presented overall. Canāt speak for everyone elseās taste though unfortunately.
Just speaking to the photo alone, the background is pretty distracting, and it sort of draws your eye into all of the space where your car isnāt.
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I would like to get some feedback on my category E and F entries aswell. I guess my race car photo was a bit over stylized and a photo with sporty kei-car wasnāt composed too good but maybe thereās some more things to improve.
Also it would be interesting to know how to improve the designs.
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imo the cat f car looks somewhat trucklike. it is feels tall and square. i think the composition is fine. however, i designed my cat f car around different principles, so my eyes are biased towards my own style, and my opinion should mean nothing if it counters your original design goals.
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Your Cat E car looks generally alright from my perspective, but here are a couple details here and there Iām not overly keen on though; the front facing indicators in the bumper a maybe a bit disproportionate? Also, while the action shot is fun, itās maybe not the best-executed concept for showing your car off.
Cat F feels like a bit of a bizarre mix of styles going on, with the front and the sides almost immediately not really feeling like the same car. Also I should point out that thereās some weird framing going on with theā¦whatever that isā¦in the very near foreground in the left side of the image, it gives the picture a very unsettling feeling.
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2nd place yaaaay!! still a bit suprised by what i got beaten by but i guess i cant complain! next time i might go a bit easier on the 3d fixturing 
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Yeah, I really shot myself in the foot with the photo, and my ādesign languageā is veryā¦ simple. But at least I can say that I entered. I do wonder if mine was the only Japanese Kei influenced entry in this category.
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how/when do winners receive prizes?
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I have 2 category suggestion for next year:
First is Anachronistic replicas, build a real car but reimagined in the wrong time, extreme exemple would be āwhat if the first countach was designed in the 50sā or āwhat should the 1985 model T look like if Ford never stopped updating itā
Second is alternative history: āwhat if jeep succeed in staying in the road car market, could the Cherokee be a luxury limo?ā Or āIn a world where owning and working in a small farm is a fashionable rich people hobby, what would a Ferrari Ute look like?ā
you could even split the last one in 2, one for original alternative history cars and another for alternative history real world replicas, which is what i was suggesting
I feel both offer a challenging mix of creativity and attention to real world design language that would be super entertaining and less open ended then the āeverything goesā category ( not that iād ever want that one to go, but something in between from normal categories and free for all would bridge the gap in a nice way)
Entry would only need a little line of chosen context by their maker, like "what if the countach had been designed in the 50ās " so judges know what to base their opinion on
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Prizes will be awarded after the competition has been completed. Winners will be notified by email.
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Welp, so close, yet so far, -1. I predicted it that just simple tuner will not be enough with those crazy builds there. Better luck next time it seems 
(Iām pretty sure that my pc, deep frying automation rendering did the most damage for pre-judging)
At least i done my ātaskā of making that tuner, it is something. 
Edit:
Congratulations to @cake_ape for winning Tuner vehicles group, your Hot Rod got to the finals! (Actually only one Tuner type car in finals) Iām not much a fan of rusties, but still, you did great, congratz!
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just wondering, were my car rejected for creativity? or was it something else?