MOPs…gust? MOPsgust.

This August, we’ll be hosting the Summer of MOPs contest! You’ll have until the end of August to submit a looping animation using MOPs and Houdini. Winners will get free MOPs+ FX licenses (or a free extension to their existing licenses!)

The theme of this contest is: summer!

Submission Rules

All Summer of MOPs submissions are due by 11:59 PM PST on 8/31. Submissions must be looping videos, at least 5 seconds long and no more than 30 seconds long. Videos should be related to the contest theme, “Summer”, and must use MOPs or MOPs Plus. MOPs Plus entries will be judged in a separate category, to make it fair for users who are only working with open source MOPs.

Submissions should be hosted on public video platforms such as Vimeo or Youtube. All submissions will be displayed publicly on the MOPs website. Please do not include NSFW, inappropriate or hateful content in your animations.

Each submission must include a link to the .hip file they were generated from. These files will also be publicly hosted.

Only one submission is permitted per person. Make it count!

You can submit your video and .hip file to either the MOPs Discord channel or the MOPs Forums:

MOPs Discord link

MOPs Forums link

By entering the contest, you give MOPs the rights to display your video and to host your .HIP file for the purposes of advertising or education. You otherwise retain all rights to your submissions.

Winners and Prizes

The top four entries will get a free 1 year subscription to MOPs Plus (FX license, works with Indie too)! Judging criteria is based on the overall quality of the finished work, the clever use of MOPs tools, and the expression of the theme “Summer.”

There will be four winners overall: two in each category.

Category 1: MOPs (open source)

This category is for users of just open source MOPs. The top two entries will receive a free license of MOPs Plus with one year of updates. Entries must make use of open source MOPs tools.

Category 2: MOPs Plus

This category is for existing users of MOPs Plus. The top two entries will receive a one year extension to their existing subscription. Entries must make use of MOPs Plus tools.

Guest Judges

The judging panel is comprised of veteran Houdini and MOPs artists:

Carlos Dordelly

Carlos is a 3D motion designer and co-founder of Dyne Studio, a motion design studio based in Santiago, Chile. He has experience in different fields in Motion Design such as television, advertising, and corporative videos, and a bit of experience in education as well.

Paul Esteves

Paul didn’t write me a blurb in time so I’m just going to say he’s a very fine designer, a nice person, and the “It’s Houdini Time!” guy.

Moritz Schwind

Moritz is, of course, one of the original developers of MOPs. Though he left the project in 2019, his design sensibilities and production experience greatly influenced the creation of the toolkit. Moritz is also one of the founders of Entagma.