3D World CG Awards: winners revealed

By Kulsoom Middleton
( 3D World )
published

Discover our winners and be inspired to explore new software, apps and CG art.

For the last few months, 3D enthusiasts all over the globe have been nominating and voting in the 3D World CG Awards (opens in new tab) for what they believe represents the very best products, technologies and CG content of the last year. Now, the voting is over and the results are in. Here we present the 2014 winners and runners up in each category.

Technology

New Application - Substance Painter

Substance Painter is an empowering tool that brings fun back to texturing

Substance Painter is an empowering tool that brings fun back to texturing

"This is a great honour, especially considering how hard we've been working on the tool!" says Allegorithmic CEO Sébastien Deguy. "We strongly believe that Substance Painter is a game-changer, so this award seems to confirm we share that thinking with others."

Software Update - V-Ray 3.0

The leading raytracing renderer gets faster and smarter

The leading raytracing renderer gets faster and smarter

"A lot of work went into V-Ray 3.0, and this recognition is not taken lightly," says Chaos Group chief commercial officer Lon Grohs. "I think artists recognise how big an update this is to V-Ray's rendering core, and they can see the results of their input. V-Ray 3.0 is a direct response to artists' needs."

Plug-in - Nevronmotion (Lightwave)

A new tool that democratises the motion-capture process

A new tool that democratises the motion-capture process

"This award is very exciting for us as a vote of confidence in this new plug-in," says Rob Powers, president of the Lightwave Group, NewTek. "NevronMotion resonates with artists because it brings motion capture to a level where anyone can easily create amazing character motions."

Software Innovation - Meshfusion (Modo)

A whole new approach to Boolean modelling

A whole new approach to Boolean modelling

"We’re honoured and humbled," says Brad Peebler, president of the Americas, The Foundry. "This is one for the engineering teams who worked so hard on both these amazing projects. We must give credit to the Braid Art Labs team who we've worked very closely with on the creation and delivery of MeshFusion."

Hardware innovation - Cintiq Companion

Graphics functionality meets raw power in this new tablet

Graphics functionality meets raw power in this new tablet

"We are very proud to have won this award," comments Rüdiger Spohrer, VP marketing, Wacom Europe. "It is important to see how our products are perceived by those people who actually use them to their full extent. The award shows that we are very close to our user
groups, and that's great to know."

Creative

CG Animated Feature Film - The Lego Movie

Seamless faux stop-motion, built brick by brick

Seamless faux stop-motion, built brick by brick

"It's a great honour to have the tireless effort of The Lego Movie's crew recognised by such a respected publication," says Grant Freckelton, production designer at Animal Logic. "We were lucky to be working with a strong script, so our focus was to ensure the CGI lived up to the quality of the story."

CG Animation Short - The Blue Umbrella

Both the story and Pixar's CG work on short film The Blue Umbrella are mesmerising. "A virtuoso combination of delightful character animation and environmental realism bring this deceptively simple love story to life," says Shelley Page, CG Award judge and head of international outreach at Dreamworks Animation.

VFX Feature Film (scene) - Gravity

Zero-gravity destruction with a poignant human context

Zero-gravity destruction with a poignant human context

The sheer length of many of the shots in Gravity – the opening tracking shot is 13 minutes long – presented effects house Framestore with a huge technical and logistical challenge, demanding a rock-solid pipeline, proprietary tools, and many late nights.

"It's always nice to have our work recognised, especially [since] the project was such an amazing experience," comments Max Solomon, animation supervisor at Framestore. "Realistically recreating microgravity has only been attempted a handful of times, with varying degrees of success."

VFX Film Short - Human Revolution

"Many thanks for the love and support!" says Charif. "We are humbled and hope to keep learning and fine-tuning our craft with each project we are a part of. It's a great compliment when people watch the film without noticing that Jensen’s arms are totally CG."

CG Commercial Campaign - PETA 98% Human

"This has been an incredible journey for everyone involved," says executive creative director at The Mill Angus Kneale. "We felt so passionately about the project. It was two years in the making and all the dedicated hard work that went into it has helped make it one of our most successful collaborations ever."

Arch-vis still - Gardenian House

A dreamlike still that blends artistic flair and technical nous

A dreamlike still that blends artistic flair and technical nous

"It is a huge honour to win this award, having been shortlisted with such great artists," comments CEO, Merêces Arch & Design 3D Visualization Studio, Sérgio Merêces. "I really love what I do, and in all my images I try to realise my vision and bring the beauty of the art and fantasy into my 3D renders. I think the readers can feel that."

Arch-viz Animation - OVO Wroclaw Project

Atmospheric animation that nails the client brief perfectly

Atmospheric animation that nails the client brief perfectly

CEO at Studio Aiko Meny Hilsenrad comments: "We often hear from our clients that the high level of detail in our projects is something we are well known for [but] we put a lot of effort into the OVO Wroclaw visualisation, and we are excited to see it appreciated by the people who voted for us."

CG Video In-Game - The Last Of Us

"It feels amazing to have won," says lead VFX artist at Naughty Dog Eben Cook. "[It's] a testament to everyone that worked on The Last of Us. A lot of blood, sweat, sleepless nights and tears went into making it. We're passionate about the project, and it feels wonderful to know others appreciate it."

CG Videogame Promotion - Elder Scrolls Online Trilogy

Blur Studio's director Dave Wilson comments: "Many passionate artists gave a lot of themselves to see all the details in those trailers realised and it's great to have that hard work recognised – especially alongside so many other great nominees, whose work we're continually inspired by."

3D World Hall of Fame - Vladimir Koylazov

V-Ray’s co-creator shook up rendering forever

V-Ray’s co-creator shook up rendering forever
(opens in new tab)

This year's shortlist celebrated the industry's unsung heroes: the developers who create the tools we all rely on each day. And what better winner could there be than a man whose work has touched every sector of the industry, from visualisation to VFX?

"I'd like to think I won this award as V-Ray has affected artists in a positive way," says Koylazov. "I try to listen to their input on the forum, to respond to their problems, and implement their suggestions. A direct connection is needed to understand artist's unique challenges."

Community

Live event - SIGGRAPH

The granddaddy of CG events is still the one to beat

The granddaddy of CG events is still the one to beat

"SIGGRAPH is honoured to win this award," says 2014 conference chair Dave Shreiner. "From the Computer Animation Festival to the Emerging Tech area and our ground-breaking Technical Sessions and Art Gallery, we are always working to create an event that's rewarding to attendees on many levels."

Find out more about all the winners and runners up of the CG Awards (opens in new tab) in the latest issue of 3D World – on sale now (opens in new tab)!

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Kulsoom Middleton
Kulsoom Middleton

Kulsoom has contributed extensively to various magazines and websites, specialising in photography and the creative industries more widely. As well as Creative Bloq, she has written for Digital Camera and NPhoto, and she was the editor of 3D World magazine. An expert in a huge range of consumer technologies, she also has over a decade’s experience in the CG industry.

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