[nicole]

Hi everyone,

We have seen your questions and worries about the Maxwell material website competition, and as things are starting to heat up I would like to clarify a couple of things regarding the contest.

Ratings
We know that some people give unfair ratings, and we will look into ways to prevent this for future competitions. For now, it should be clear that the ratings on the MXM website do not influence the outcome of the competition in any way. The winner is decided by the independent Maxwell tech team, and we do not look at the rating at all. Therefore, there is no point in rating up your own material or rating down someone else's material to get your own higher in the charts.

Originals/ copies
We have seen that some users upload copies of others' original materials with only a few changes. Completely original materials will be favoured over copies for the competition, simply because we judge originality. We will be able to trace originality by looking at the upload date of materials and by looking at technical aspects. If it is absolutely clear that a material is an obvious copy, it will be disqualified. We are also considering a temporary download stop until the end of the contest, but this might not be (technically) possible. More about this later.

General
Any type of negative or unsportive behaviour (including unfair rating) will not be accepted and this will be taken into account when judging the materials. If you behave unsportive, this will only give you less chance of winning. We want to keep this a fun, friendly and honest contest without any cgsphere-type of situations. So please, be fair and friendly.

If you notice any kind of strange or dishonest behaviour, or if someone has clearly copied your material for the contest, you can send an email to mxmgallery@nextlimit.com. Please send along your original material and the copy. We will look into every case and act accordingly.

Now, let's hope we can keep up the Christmas spirit Good luck in the contest and keep up the good work

Cheers,

Nicole[/b]

[deadalvs]

thx a lot.

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deadalvs

[Frances]

Would there be a way to have the contest materials available for download only after the contest is over?

[Neil Evans]

I don't think a download bad would be a good idea, I am not doing the contest but do use the material download on a resonably regular basis.

Unless you mean that you are only blocking the competition files..

[tom]

We are also considering a temporary download stop until the end of the contest, but this might not be (technically) possible. More about this later.

[JCAddy]

I'd also like to suggest setting a limit to how many materials one can submit to the competition. I see some have submitted up to 5 materials for this one competition alone.

Just a thought.

[Maximus3D]

Yea, good suggestion Hyperballad. A fixed set of mxm's per user and challenge can only be uploaded. However i understand the current rule.. as it helps boost the mxm's gallery size more. It may not be good but it's necessary as the current loose rule is unfair for alot of participants in the challenges.

/ Max

[nicole]

Hi everyone,

As the December contest has now ended, we have made some decision regarding the rules of future mxm contests... You can read the rules here: http://mxmgallery.maxwellrender.com/mxmcontensts.php
We have decided NOT to implement download stops or restrictions, as users who download materials for use in their professional work might suffer from this. The purpose of the mxm website is to provide a huge library of materials to use for everyone, whenever...
We have also decided NOT to limit the number of materials you can submit for the contest. First of all, because our aim is to make this material library as big a possible, to continue to make it grow. Besides, we judge the quality of the materials, meaning that any great materials can win. If you create 5 great materials, you stand more chance of winning. If you create 5 crappy materials, you stand less chance of winning. The more work, thought and effort you put into it, the more chances you have.
I hope you will understand these decisions. For further details, please have a look at the mxm contest page (link above)...
I also hope we can continue to mxm contests in a friendly, fair and honest way, so that we can all enjoy!

Best of luck in the future contests!
Cheers,

Nicole