Alienware design challenge.(Portfolio)

The current generation of hardware and digital content creation software is allowing today's artists to create imagery that is out of this world. To illustrate this point, Alienware, maker of high-performance computer systems, and graphics art portal CGNetworks hosted a 3D contest for which artists submitted original images of mysterious alien locations. Approximately 1550 people entered, submitting a total of 3873 pieces ranging from science fiction to abstract to fantasy.

Industrial designer Jari Saarinen of Finland was awarded the grand prize for "On the Edge of Time," which consists of several hundred boxes that were modeled and placed individually into the scene. According to the judges, "It was dynamic with movement, thereby creating an experience in which you can see the motion and hear the surface crackling." Liu Wei of China received first runner-up honors for "Bugbears," which has numerous light sources. "It has a strong color scheme and composition that adds to its sense of depth," note the judges. Monsit Jangariyawong of Thailand was second runner-up with "Alien Gate," an image judges say "contains good composition and a sense of depth and movement."

Several winning images are featured on these two pages. All those garnering awards can be viewed on the Alienware Web site at www.alienware.com/CGChallenge.

Clockwise from left:

Grand Prize "On the Edge of Time" by industrial designer Jari Saarinen of Finland captivates viewers with its implied motion. This dynamic image was modeled in Rhinoceros, and then imported into 3ds max, where the final scene was created and rendered. Final compositing was completed in Photoshop, where ...