January 1, 2014 08:00 AM
by Editor in Chief
Among so many amazing renders realized in Blender in 2013 and featured as winners of the Render of the Week Awards, it might be disputable to pick just five among them. There were certainly many more that should have been featured again as winners of the Render of the Year Awards 2013. As you read the about the five winners, please be mindful that other candidates for this award weren't necessarily a lesser artist than this years final winners. Their works, however, are a good reminder of what Blender can do for top notch studios and freelancers.
1. Best Blender Render:
Steve
by Robert Chudy
Although "Steve" is an scanned model (
http://www.ten24.info/?p=1164), Robert's rendering has successfully demonstrated one of the most significant new features of Blender introduced in 2013, that is, SSS in Cycles. This render has put Blender on par with or above any other render engines in the industry for rendering realistic human skin. Robert has credited Brecht van Lommel for the core of the skin shader.
2. Best Concept Art:
"Her Majesty's Zeppelins"
by Gleb Alexandrov
Probably, one of the most talented Blender artists discovered in 2013, Gleb has consistently produced top-notch renders in Blender, including the render above, originally created as a submission for a competition organized by a popular CG portal in Russia and eventually won the first prize.
3. Best Industrial Render:
Gabriela Narutowicza Square
by Mariusz Drabik (in collaboration with Maciej Kolendowicz and Jan Biernawski).

For CG artists and studios, Blender is notable only when it can meet professional needs. And it obviously has met the needs of Mariusz Drabik a landscape architect as shown in this stunning render. Although some might find fault with the "perfectly clean" and streets and roadways "with no wear and tear," it was obviously good enough for Mariusz to demonstrate his landscape design.
4. Best Character Modelling:
Violet
by Lucas Giudici de Barros Falcao
There have been several amazing character renders that have made it to this category. Lucas model, however, was the only production-ready model with all relevant features such as hairs, cloth and etc.
5. Best Architectural Render:
Schloss Charlottenburg
by Matthaeus Wende

While ultra-realistic indoor renderings seem quite common among arch viz, those of very convincing outdoor rendering seems quite rare. Even top-notch artists with amazing indoor scenes often end up with outdoor scenes that look like a huge architectural set shot in an indoor studio. Although new to architectural visualization, Matthaeus has successfully demonstrated Cycles' potential as a successful renderer for outdoor scenes.
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