Mission to Minerva Prize Pool: The World Builder's Toolkit

The KB3D Community is hard at work constructing a new galaxy in the Mission to Minerva Challenge. When we began putting the mission together it became clear that this provided the perfect opportunity to call on some of our great friends that make the other essential elements of building fantastic virtual worlds. From the hardware and software used by the pros, to education from the top institutions around the world, what we’ve assembled with our partners is a prize package that contains everything a world builder needs to take their next missions to new heights. 

Reminder: if you haven’t already, be sure to download your free Mission to Minerva Kit and visit the challenge landing page to contribute your world and have a chance to win the amazing prizes below.

Kits

First off Kits…lots of Kits. Winners in both categories, Concept and In-Motion, will receive gift cards to the KitBash library to help fill out whatever assets they need for their next creations. 

HARDWARE 

Wacom

The best way to create, bash and design with the Kits, is on a Wacom Cintiq. Wacom is a global leader in the pen display and tablet market providing artists with cutting-edge digital ink solutions. 

KB3D Co-Founder Maxx Burman says "I can't imagine painting without my Cintiq. There's just nothing that comes close to the precision and speed that it gives to an artist. If you're doing art professionally, then you need professional equipment, and that starts with the Cintiq.”

Nvidia

Next, you’ll need power. NVIDIA makes the GPU graphics cards that power a lot of the movies and games industries. With few competitors, the speed of rendering and processing power afforded by an RTX card gives artists more time to create and less time waiting for renders to bake.

Many of our machines in the KitBash office benefit from NVIDIA cards. Our Head of Kits Mike Reese says, “My team uses RTX graphics cards all the time. Not only to render our scenes in real time, but also to realize our visions so much faster than we would be able to without their 3D software integrations. NVIDIA cards are an essential tool for anyone looking to keep up with the speed of modern 3D creation pipelines.”  

EDUCATION

In addition to the hardware used by the pros, every great artist is constantly learning new skills and techniques. So next in the World Builder's Toolkit we teamed up with two of the top educational institutions that offer classes worldwide to bring the highest level education offerings into the Minerva prize pool. 

The Gnomon Workshop

An extension of the award winning Gnomon School, a staple of visual FX education for over 20 years, The Gnomon Workshop offers an online library of video workshops available anywhere in the world. Workshops cover every step of the production process, from concept design and pre-viz to modeling, rigging, texturing, and matte painting.

Our own in-house cinematics artists learn new skills from TGW frequently. Liosha Shyp says “Taking classes at TGW from my desk has been an awesome way for me to continue learning while working full time and I can implement the new knowledge immediately!”

Many classes from TGW feature KitBash Kits, like this one from teacher Jose Vega (who is also the Valhalla cover artist) Check out Jose Vega’s tutorial using KitBash3D! 

CG Spectrum

CG Spectrum is featured on The Rookies as one of the top online game development, VFX, and animation schools in the world. They offer online courses giving direct access to industry experts with years of real-world experience, and a comprehensive curriculum developed with the input of major studios. 

“What’s exciting about CG Spectrum is their attention to detail.” Says Carmen Moreno from the KB3D Partnerships team. “They have tailored their classes to be very small, providing students with deeper focus and personalized attention from their mentor creating a nourishing environment for anyone looking to pursue their dream career.”

Check out this free tutorial of CG Spectrum’s Head of VFX Daniel Hourigan livestreaming with the Mission to Minerva Kit! 

PRESENTATION

ArtStation

The last piece of The World Builder's Toolkit is a place to showcase your incredible work. Since 2014, ArtStation has provided artists with a singular place to showcase their portfolio, find work and connect with opportunities. Over the years, they have established themselves as the leading community platform for games, film, media & entertainment artists. Artists can create a free account and share with the community at any time and Minerva prize winners will each receive ArtStation Pro subscriptions.

"Showcasing your work and marketing yourself well is a crucial part of any 3D artist’s path” says Banks Boutté, KB3D Co-Founder. “ArtStation has created the ultimate all-in-one portfolio management solution. At KitBash, we are constantly looking through portfolios on their site and hiring new teammates through their Jobs platform. But most importantly, we love collaborating with the AS team, who are deeply community focused and driven to improving the lives of artists everywhere.” 

We wouldn’t offer prizes that we don’t stand behind and, with The Mission to Minerva World Builder’s Toolkit, we are honored and grateful to our amazing partners for joining us. We hope you are just as excited as we are and we can’t wait to see the artwork you contribute! Be sure to tag #KB3Dchallenge to contribute your piece to the Minerva Galaxy!