Winners:

1st Place: Glen – prize: $225

2nd Place: Ra Tascon – prize: $140

3rd Place: magnet king – prize: $85

4th Place (tie): Purple Ixora – prize: $50

4th Place (tie): liner – prize: $50

6th Place: Dufko – prize: $30

7th Place: MrGrabble – prize: $20

Thank you to all the participants for all the hard work and fun you had making these Cybertrucks and videos. These entries certainly both met and exceeded our expectations. We’ll be in contact with the winners shortly with their winnings.

If you somehow made it here without watching any of these videos, check them out below and try making your own. Keep in mind that contests held here are independent of the Zen Gallery. Magnet sculptors can always submit photos to gallery.zenmagnets.com to win magnets as well. Spectators, keep your eyes peeled for the next contest, because you choose the winners.

We had 7 total submissions for the Cybertruck video contest. Link for voting can be found at the bottom of the page. Here are the Cybertruck videos, presented in no particular order:

MrGrabble:

magnet king:

Dufko:

Glen:

liner:

Ra Tascon:

Purple Ixora:

Voting deadline is January 24, 2020.

Vote in this google form for your top 3:

[button link=”https://forms.gle/35oeB8moD9tkQ2ao7″ type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Vote[/button]

When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

Elon Musk

The scope of December 2019 contest is as narrow as the lines on Tesla’s new Cybertruck. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to build a Cybertruck, and capture your build on video.

It’s like if a Delorean and a Hummer had love child that was rendered on a Nintendo 64. If you haven’t seen or heard of the recently revealed Cybertruck, the question on your mind is “Is this real?” Yes, this boxy brutalist beast is real. More likely you have heard of it and you hate it. Or you love it. One of those two. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

This time we’re doubling the prize pool to $600. If you’ve been following past contests you’ll know that the contests that are more complex tend to have less participants, leading to larger prizes for the few who do. If you’re the only one to submit a video for this contest, you get all $600. Your video must be uploaded to youtube, and show the completed cybertruck from a few angles, as well as document it’s construction to some degree.

You can use Zen Magnets, but you don’t have to. There are no brand or quantity restrictions. Use as many or as few magnets spheres as you want to build your replica. Maybe 217 magnets are all you’d need to make a fantastic representation..? Maybe.

Though the goal and shape is specific, videos always allow for a wide amount of creative freedom. Aside from video duration being a max 2 minutes, and minimum 15 seconds, you have the full range of creative liberty on editing, style, and effects.

Just ensure that we see the final product from multiple angles, and you capture the building process (in a time lapse or montage or however you want to impress your peer judges.)

Summary of Requirements

• No limit on number of magnets, brand, or size of magnets
• Video must be uploaded publicly on youtube.
• The title must have “Tesla Cybertruck” in it.
• The description must have #zencontest and a link to this contest page ( https://contest.zenmagnets.com/74-cybertruck-build-video/ in the video description.
• Video must be between 15 and 120 seconds, at 720p resolution or above.
• Video must show multiple angles of your finished Cybertruck, plus some active construction footage.
• Submission deadline December 31st, 2019
• 1 submission per person
  

The prize pool for this contest is $600, to be distributed among the winners. The number of winners will be decided after submissions have closed. Follow button below to submit:

[button link=”https://forms.gle/GMjvRJC4uM6yXAvz9″ type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Submit[/button]

Everything you submit goes into the public domain. And of course, the first and foremost requirement is that you have fun!

Mathnetism’s magnetic ghost dominoes pulled ahead for the big win. The columns topple each other without ever touching, and the constructions themselves are quite precarious to build. Mathnetism receives $250 in Zen Credits for 1st place.

2nd Place: Aidan

Aidan’s clever use of completing a chain to initiate a reaction favored well with the judges. Aidan has $100 in Zen Credits rolling his way for 2nd place.

3rd Place: KLAW

KLAW’s magnetic pendulum construction gathers skewered spheres. The pendulum grows longer each time enabling it to gather all the spheres, until collapsing under it’s own weight. KLAW receives $60 in Zen Credits for 3rd place.

4th Place: Jett Williams

Jett utilized some LEGO to keep his magnets separated, until the reaction yanks the magnets from their comfy resting place. The reaction sends the magnets flying, definitely the most chaotic reaction we received. Some good slo mo here, folks, if you haven’t watched yet. For 4th place, Jett receives $40

5th Place: DBOI

DBOI had a similar idea to Aidan, though demonstrates that the magnets will follow the chain like a train on a track as they roll up. No doubt the stunning special effects and epic music helped slip DBOI into 5th place, earning him $20 in Zen Credits.

If you haven’t already, watch the videos! And keep in mind that contests held here are independent of the Zen Gallery. Magnet sculptors can always submit photos to gallery.zenmagnets.com to win magnets as well.

Spectators, keep your eyes peeled for the next contest, because you choose the winners.

Contest Winners, we’ll email you your prizes soon.

In our quest to summon radical videos of magnetic mechanical exothermic reactions we received 7 submissions. Stop writing whatever work email you have open, or silence your phone and hide it in your desk from your teacher and watch these videos right now.

Quick review of requirements: 5mm magnet spheres, no other props to contribute energy, maximum 15 seconds, high quality video.

Luke Cunningham:

Matt Wilson:

Aidan:

Jett Williams:

KLAW:

Mathnetism:

DBOI:

1st place gets $250 in Zen Credits, the rest will be announced with the winners. Voting deadline is midnight  12/5 MST.

Vote in this google form for your top 3:

[button link=”https://goo.gl/forms/2pb6boQuW13fKNdn1″ type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Vote[/button]

“Nothing is lost. . .Everything is transformed.”

― Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

$250 First Place

The November 2018 Zen Magnets contest is to capture footage of a magnetic mechanical exothermic reaction. #1st place gets $250. At least 5 winners.

Create a situation one small movement releases the potential energy of  many magnets through a cascading conversion to kinetic energy, and creating a small amount of entropy on the side.

In other words, make a chain reaction.

For Example:

Toppling Dominoes

Threaded Popsicle Sticks

Magnet Discs

Don’t worry about making the video loop in reverse like those examples. Nor should you worry about making your chain reaction as spectacular as the examples above. Seeing as how we know of very few ways to make such a chain reaction happen with magnet spheres, you should consider yourself impressive if you can figure out any such chain reactions where one small motion results in a lot of magnets moving.

Any brand of 5mm magnet spheres may be used. Slow-motion and editing of playback speed is allowed. The time limit for the video is 15 seconds max, so don’t build a gigantic rube goldberg machine.  If you have more to show than 15 seconds, link another video in your description because we’re sure to be curious.

Summary of Requirements:

• Any brand of 5mm Magnets Spheres.
• No other props that contribute energy may be used, aside from whatever is used to start the reaction.
• Video must be maximum of 15 seconds, submitted to youtube.
• Video quality must be at least 720p in resolution at 30fps.
• 1 Submission per person, no later than 11/30/2018. If you send multiple, the last one will be considered.

As usual, the judges will be your peers. There will be at least five winners, and possibly more depending on participation. The prize for first place will be $250 Zen Credit, and second place will get $100.

[button link=”https://goo.gl/forms/hkkKA3KSuRQH8qop1″ type=”big”] Submit Here[/button]

Everything you submit goes into the public domain. And of course, the first and foremost requirement is that you have fun!

Submitted on June 28, 5:11PM (MST), with 3490 Zen Magnets used, Mathnetism’s Cubic Figure-eight knot wins $200 in magnets.

And although we didn’t expect to have multiple winners, some really great submissions came in soon after. For example, Magnenaut’s submission which came in five hours later at 10:28PM (MST)

Notably, Magnenaut’s entry uses the same thickness cubic rope, measuring 5 magnets across diagonally. The structure is similar to Mathnetism’s build but simplified with all connection lengths shortened as much as possible. Only 2618 Zen Magnets were used.

We’re granting Magnenaut’s $50 in magnets for the quick submission, excellent photos, and quality build.

Third was NealisNeal’s entry, shot a day after on June 28th, another unique submission that used even less magnets.

Built with only 1404 Zen Magnets, NealisNeal uses a thinner connections measuring 4 magnets across diagonally. We’re giving NealisNeal $25 for a successful cubic figure-eight knot, that can be built with a single Mandala set.

Three impressive entries, all submitted faster than we expected.

For notifications on upcoming contests, subscribe to Newsletter>Contests on newsletter.zenmagnets.com

.. in designing a planetary gear set, with non-circular planet gears, using only magnet spheres. This was an expert build, of a genius design. $300 Zen Awarded.

Here’s his demo video:

And here’s our recreation of Mathnetism’s design, to confirm form and function:

The video above is already in red/cyan, since YouTube 3D seems less consistent with it’s YT3D feature. In case YT3D is working for you, here’s the same video in side-by-side format.

We followed Mathnetism’s tutorial video (here) the best we could, but what he does on camera in ten minutes, literally took us hours to recreate.

Creating the exterior ring gear was so much harder than Mathnetism’s tutorial makes it look. Starting with a wobbly 9 sheet, and converting it into a solid rigid configuration by laying down a precise line of magnets, is insane. Don’t even attempt it if you don’t have good chain manipulation habits, because your dominant hand will need to have a continuous feed of magnets that must not attach anywhere unintended. The base structure for the ring gear, built in the first four minutes of Mathnetism’s tutorial video, literally took us 2 hours to make, and we had to use a different method. We couldn’t get past solidifying the 3rd section of the ring gear without making a terminal error; in the end we built the sections individually and connected them. It was messy.

The planetary gears are a relief to construct, compared to the ring gear. Though, again, at 8:25, is wizardry that is beyond our skill level. “Whoa what the hell is going on.” The manner in which he shifts two columns of magnets in a ring, consistently, for a loop that is decreasing in diameter with every shift, is mind-blowing. Or perhaps our fingers are fat, and we never realized it until now.

To top it all off, Mathnetism slides the sun gear in there with a little bit of jiggling, as if a brain-surgeon’s precision isn’t a big deal. A few centimeters error in this part, will probably result in unfix-able situation that wastes some time.

Once everything is together, you’re still not out of the woods. The sun gears like some configurations better than others, and certain combinations of planetary gear position/rotation will result in slippage, which will then result is a gear that breaks itself. But there do exist positions that the planetary gears can be in that will allow the gearset to continue operating indefinitely.

Mathnetism makes this using only his two hands. No cards, no tools, no 3rd hard. That’s crazy. If you are up for a challenge and have a mandala set (or specifically 1206 magnets) give this try. It was a humbling experience for us. Our skills are apparently rusty. Or Mathnetism is a freaking magnet magician. Or both.

We received 61 entries, 44 of them qualified for at least a free set of magnets, about thirty are arguably better than the original video, but only 12 could be selected for the judging panel. The amount of video generated by the magnet sphere community was incredible. The 44 qualified videos amount to 4 hours of video, and incredible amounts of effort and innovation.

[button link=”https://www.youtube.com/playlist?action_edit=1&list=PLsh-Pj64-i__XyzssSt9mo9yGMJTWh9P_” type=”big” color=”blue” newwindow=”yes”] View All Qualified Entries[/button]

If one of these videos were yours, hold tight, we’ll be contacting your shortly about your magnets.

Prizes

Winner gets $2500 cash or bitcoin. Runner up gets $1000 cash or bitcoin. Free set of Zen Magnets for all who followed the rules.

Rules

The proposed challenge was to “make one trick demo to rule them all, using one single set of Zen Magnets.”  The video must start with the magnets in a 6 Stack hex cylinder, and end with the magnets put inside the red embroidered velvet bag. Maximum 6 minute, minimum 720p, no manipulation tools besides Zen PVC card.

Scoring

Final scoring is weighted according to the following criteria:

• 40% for Presentation
• 40% for Technical Merit
• 20% for Visual Fidelity

Presentation:
If there was a score for “overall feel” it would be presentation. It refers to the performance, pacing, execution, choreography, scene aesthetics, framing, hand placement, and video transition flow. How well the magnets are presented, and how effectively this video might grab attention from something else? This will inherently be the most subjective score. Judges are instructed not to include any of the factors that are included under Visual Fidelity when choosing a score out of 10.

Technical Merit:
Will be a score out of 10, that refers to magnet sphere mastery. What level of skill is shown? How difficult are the objects made, and what are transitions in between? How many objects are made? Also points for making something difficult look simple and easy.

Visual Fidelity:
A score out of 10 that refers only to: Video resolution, upload quality, camera focus, steadiness, proper aspect ratio, tone and contrast.

 Judges

In addition to the Presentation, Technical and Visual scores from Zen Magnets staff, four esteemed judges were invited to participate in judging. Two magnet sphere experts, and two product photography experts. The 12 entries were shown in a different order to all four judges to minimize first impression bias. Meet the judges:

[author] [author_image timthumb=’off’]https://contest.zenmagnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/koozdra-icon.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]

Magnet Expert: Koozdra

I’m a computer programmer with an interest in math and algorithm design. I love hiking, motorcycling and being out doors. I’ve been doing magnetic sphere origami for several years. I was always looking for a medium to construct geometric shapes. I’ve owned many constructor sets but none were as dynamic or as manipulable as the magnetic spheres.[/author_info] [/author]
[author] [author_image timthumb=’off’]https://contest.zenmagnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/yoyobandalore-icon.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]

Magnet Expert: YoYoBandalore

I became addicted to Zen Magnets several years ago and went crazy making stuff which piqued my interest in photography. I’m not as prolific as I once was, but I still follow those in the magnet world and enjoy the beautiful and truly awesome figures they create and share with the group.[/author_info] [/author]

Magnet Experts score the Presentation and Technical Merit, and are given the following instructions: “When judging, please ignore the music, or mute the video. Also, do not give additional points for introduction or exit graphics or animations. As a Technical Judge, please view videos at 720p resolution, at the distance of 5 times the width of the video screen. So if the video is 8 inches wide, have your eyes be 40 inches away.”

[author] [author_image timthumb=’off’]https://contest.zenmagnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ilyafilms-icon.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]

Photography Judge: Ilyafilms

Digital Cinema Specialist, Photobooth Builder, Freelance Artist, DJ, Information Technology Consultant, Overall Badass.[/author_info] [/author]
[author] [author_image timthumb=’off’]https://contest.zenmagnets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/popplusphoto-icon.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]

Photography Judge: Pop Plus Photo

I am a professional photographer and video editor with 15 years experience creating content for print media and broadcast television.[/author_info] [/author]

Photography Judges score the Presentation and Visual Fidelity, and are given the following instructions: “When judging, please ignore the music, or mute the video. Also, do not give additional points for introduction or exit graphics or animations. As a Photography Judge, please view videos at maximum resolution, at distance that is no more than 2 times the width of the screen. So if your screen is 28 inches wide, view at a distance that is at 56 in (4.6ft) away.”

 Final Scores and Commentary

The top twelve were incredibly hard to select. If the goal is to surpass the original Zen Magnets demo video, there were certainly more than twelve that did so. Every video that qualified is listed in this youtube playlist, and there are many videos of quality comparable to those below. Although all scores are out of 10, do remember that the twelve entries that are scored represent the the top 20% of quality. They are shown in the order uploaded.

GalaxyTraveler

Comments

Koozdra: Some nice demonstrations with base shapes.

YoYoBandalore: I liked the spinning hexagon stack. Cool face figure trick. I liked the closeups.

Zen Magnets: The rotating clip at 4:30 is the best showcase of the coating among all videos. So clean it almost looked computer generated; visibly polished for the shot. Fairly difficult to recreate actions. Like how far sheet of 4×4 clip off at 2:53, and flawlessly pulling off the faces of the dodecahedron at 5:22. Seems to be a few stuck pixels on the camera CCD, and some ghosting of motion on the green background which may be a compression artifact. Not quite the sharpness that would normally be expected from 1080p video.

Ilyafilms: Those macro cut scenes with the finished structures are epic obviously. I really liked the creativity of your shapes, they kept the video interesting. The lighting however left a bit to be desired, otherwise great video.

Pop Plus Photo: I would like to see all of the magnets in the frame, even when not in use. I kept wondering where the “extras” are going, and thus it is hard to tell how many magnets are in use. Noticing some minor auto focusing which can be distracting. Overall good presentation, but inconsistent flow makes it a little hard to follow.

Creator Comments: Equipment setup and quality-testing did take most of the time, weeks in my case…Placing of tripod ON my table is not good cause the table jiggles a bit. When placing in front of the table it prevents me from working on the table…So the camera incl. tripod had to hang in the air somehow, also allowing me to choose the best angle for hand placing. First I used thin plastic coat-hangers extended by wires in order to hang up the tripod on the ceiling-lamp. This way the weight only was on one side and shifted the glass of the lamp, making the whole lamp unstable and swinging as well. In my improved version I came up with belts going around the whole lamp, making it more stable. A wire attached from the heater to the tripod for keeping position and reduce swinging – however I always had to wait until the swinging stopped after pressing the record-button – bad for timing because the cam I finally used also has a limitation of 10 min. per file. Cheap cameras need a LOT of artificial light, you can see my final setup in the following album: http://imgur.com/a/84ebf#0 … I also tried 4 different fabrics as background before I found a turquois bed sheet that finally was ok for the full-automatic camera, with darker ones it increased ISO and tried to make them brighter than it actually was (resulting in awful image-quality even with all lamps I could find). The Full-HD cam I got from Ebay just was used for the short detail-sequences (spinning / “monument” shape). It records nice quality in nature, but had huge problems with artificial light and changing auto-focus all the time when moving hands. So for the rest I used a cheap 720p point&shoot cam from my parents that at least didn’t change the focus – but had no manual settings at all as well… The final actual recordings (after weeks of testing and changing setup) were done in 2 days. Video speeded up between 200 and 300% most of the time. Cutting and color-correction, searching for music and little audio-editing. The music is free and ALLOWED for commercial use.

Zach Gable

Comments

Koozdra: Some really nice transitions. The one handed manipulations were also very interesting. The base shape constructions transition efficiently.

YoYoBandalore: Cool one-handed manipulation. Interesting and smooth transitions from one figure to the next. I liked the occasional closeups.

Zen Magnets: The overall color toning is a bit dull and the background is sorta dirty. But whoa, is this whole thing seriously real time? Convincingly one nonstop continuous run. Incredibly well choreographed. If this isn’t real time, it’s pretty hard to tell. Very creative non-stop morphing. Magnets are never even pulled into a chain. Although none of the shapes are mindblowing, the entire path from beginning to end is stunning. This video makes it look incredibly easy to work with magnet spheres, yet in all reality, most would not be able to imitate the first 15 seconds of the video anywhere near the pace shown. The basic vignetting added around the corners helps with the glare on the upper left of the video.

Ilyafilms: The closeup macro shots were off the hook. The main shot however is not that great, the glare in the top left corner is very distracting, and washes out the entire image overall. I really liked the use of real-time pacing for the video here, and enjoyed your presentation.

Pop Plus Photo: Nice editing and flow, although the lighting is a little distracting – backlighting makes the video appear flat. Side camera angle adds interest, and close-ups are a nice touch.

Creator Comments: I was thinking of doing something unique and different from others, first thing that came to mind was stop motion, since I did many other videos ( not all on youtube), it was one of my strengths. I wasn’t sure it if it was acceptable or not, so I emailed you guys: it was acceptable. And so I started.

Ridvan Song

Comments

Koozdra: The stop motion animation was really nice. Very good basic shapes.

YoYoBandalore: Cool stop-n-go transitions. Liked the top which showed the magnets in motion. I liked the Fast-Forward replay of the figures at the end.

Zen Magnets: This was a captivating stop-motion magnet adventure. Creative and full of different construction methods. Wonderful job filling the frame. White balance and auto exposure change frequently, video looks slightly washed out like lens may be dirty. Satisfyingly sharp video.

Ilyafilms: Love.

Pop Plus Photo: Excellent presentation – really like the animation feel. Hands are less prominent and this improves the presentation of the magnets. Focus is a bit off at times and could be improved with manual focus setting in the camera. Video is well lit, and editing has a good flow.

Creator Comments: I was thinking of doing something unique and different from others, first thing that came to mind was stop motion, since I did many other videos ( not all on youtube), it was one of my strengths. I wasn’t sure it if it was acceptable or not, so I emailed you guys: it was acceptable. And so I started.

Daniel Notary

Comments

Koozdra: Some nice basic shapes.

YoYoBandalore: Not easy to see what’s being done. A bit too fast.

Zen Magnets: Great framing. Coil being finished at 2:06 was momentarily mesmerizing. Many interesting, yet non-intimidating shapes made. Skipping past repetitive motions was good for holding interest. 4:3 upload of a widescreen video leaves crop. Solid entry. Feels fluid.

Ilyafilms: You obviously know what you’re doing with tiny balls, years of practice? Nice lighting.

Pop Plus Photo: Video is cropped and does not fill the frame. Good lighting. Out of focus at times. Could do without the fancy transitions as they are distracting. Does not flow well and seems to jump around. A wider angle would improve presentation as some of the action is outside the frame.

Creator Comments: This is my second submission, because the focus issues on my first video were bugging me. It’s not perfect this time, but it’s much better. I also changed the order of the shapes for more fluid transitions (instead of just smashing and stringing them out each time). I have one shape on here that I thought was fairly unique – the pyramids that join together to make a cube-like shape (@ ~2:50). I’ve since seen 2 people make the same shape in their videos, even though I’ve never seen it anywhere else online. I could very well be wrong about thinking I was the first to put it in a video, but I didn’t want the originality of my shapes to be in question. Things like the cube are obviously very common, but it was used as more of a wrap-up for the video than complete originality. Not sure that this even affects scoring, I just thought I’d mention it. Thanks guys!

MusicalTeslaCoils

Comments

Koozdra: Starting from the same point is an interesting idea. It establishes a baseline for all the shapes. Some great shapes here. The mistake in the middle detracted from the flow.

YoYoBandalore: Jerky, hard to watch. Figures not very exciting.

Zen Magnets: Overall simple shapes and well documented methodology. The first subunits made are a simple but unique configuration that looks like fun to experiment with. Even as a timelapse, pace felt slow compared to others due to screen time of subunit production. But Ohhhhh so sharp at 1440p. So crisp. So clear. Even if your screen is 1080p, let this video load in 1440p. You Will notice a difference. Rare focus and auto-exposure issues.

Ilyafilms: Natural light and setting very pleasant. However the editing could have been a bit tighter.

Pop Plus Photo: I realize this is intended to have a stop-motion feel , but the jumpy edits cause the video to not flow as well as I would like. Specifically, I would like to see how you get from one point to the next without a hard cut. I do like the rock as a background, but the hard shadows and inconsistent lighting are a bit distracting.

Creator Comments: I believed that the best way to record this video would be to make a time lapse. This way, there would be time to make several complex designs within the allotted 6 minutes. I did the entire the entire video in one take, rather than editing together several scenes. This helped give the video a continuous feel. The time lapse suits the video by shifting the focus of the video from the manipulation of the magnets to the overall structure and process of creating the sculptures.

Boyd Edwards

Comments

Koozdra: Great level of complexity and a great presentation. Very nice round up of the platonics and construction techniques.

YoYoBandalore: Like the Platonic solid theme. Nice transition and flow from one figure to the next. Well planned and executed.

Zen Magnets: Love the two intro scenes which sets a persistent theme for the entire build path. Pace is flawless. Shapes are reproducible with moderate experience and skill, but significant dexterity and magnet sphere understanding needed to perform five transitions continuously with almost no errors. Close attention paid to where the frame boundaries lie. Clean black background, consistent tone and lighting, picture quality, and framing all impeccable.

Ilyafilms: Visually this film is spot on. The lighting is even, and with the black background the product contrasts very well. The theme and titles throughout were well thought out. Overall a strong showing, however a 9 for presentation because I was not particularly blown away by any of the structures, they were all familiar.

Pop Plus Photo: Excellent editing and flow. Magnets are presented well and methods are easy to follow. Most informative and professional looking video of them all. Excellent lighting and choice of background. Focus, brightness, sharpness, and color are always consistent.

Creator Comments: Dear Zen Magnets, The Platonic solids present an exciting challenge to build using Zen Magnets because of their geometrical beauty and variety. The goal of the video is to use single-strand rings to build all five Platonic solids in a single take, with interesting transitions between shapes, and without ever having to pull the magnets into a chain. For me, it’s fun to build shapes that actually have names, and the five Platonic solids turn out to be plenty challenging to build in 6 minutes. Be sure to select a resolution of 1080p when you play the video… I had a lot of fun putting this video together and I invented some new ways of building these solids in the process, the subjects of future videos and photos. It was fun to be encouraged to find amazing things you can do with just one set…The “Never Let Go of Childhood Wonder” video sets an amazing standard for quality, originality, dexterity, imagination, and just plain fun. The shadow of that amazing video hangs over everyone who presumes to enter this contest, including me…Thanks for encouraging the magnet community by hosting and incentivizing such amazing contests. -Boyd

Yosi Nacach

Comments

Koozdra: Great round up of base shapes and constructed shapes.

YoYoBandalore: Pace was a little too fast. No cool transitions. Overall a bit boring.

Zen Magnets: One of the most surgically paced videos. Four shapes are built nearly from scratch before the halfway point, and the building speed doesn’t feel too fast or slow, but a bit more time could be spent showing off finished shapes. Love the subunit at 0:50, which was unfamiliar to us and surprisingly strong upon recreation.  Cool way of making 2×2 squares at 2:30. Ending feels abrupt. Good framing. Video compression artifacts were somewhat woeful, behind auto-focus issues.

Ilyafilms: The light blue background is really nice, however since it is so bright your exposure overall was a lot darker because the camera was likely set to evaluative metering. I really like the shapes that you were making, which kept the video interesting. The focus was the major issue here, which since also set to auto was very distracting from the content and the magnets.

Pop Plus Photo: Jerky edits and constant auto-focusing make this video difficult to watch. Video looks flat and low quality, even at 720P. Dull and flat looking. Presentation is ok, but I want to see from my perspective, not looking across the table.

Creator Comments: Well, first I thought it would be nice to do something similar to the example video provided. In turn, I started trying to come up with as many different shapes that used EXACTLY 216 magnets while later attempting to choreograph it artistically in a single continuous shot… My first attempt at a “trick video” proved disappointing, yet it helped me greatly on my next try. I discovered the challenge of using precisely 216 magnets was very entertaining for me and a great arithmetical exercise but it didn’t seem to capture the dynamic I was searching for. I chose to discard it and move on to another idea… What I did next was to record myself doing as many distinct shapes as I could think off, while trying to make them as different from each other as possible in order to show a contrast of possibilities using this artform. This time it didn’t matter if the shape would add up to exactly 216 magnets and thus it was much more fruitful in its results… I thought that my second attempt, in contrast, seemed to more adequately reflect the message I intended to convey in my video ( that magnets aren’t simply a desk toy or novelty item, but instead hey are an incredible creative and artistic medium with infinite possibilities)… With the short time allowed for this contest entry I tried to make as many shapes as possible while keeping the viewer interested and equally captivated by the intuitive nature of the way shapes are created. Unfortunately some shots were not ideal, but I didn’t have time to do retakes after already spending abnormal leisure time creating this. 

Stephane Gervais

Comments

Koozdra: Nice creative shapes.

YoYoBandalore: I liked the naming of the figures and closeup 360’s. Nothing too difficult or exciting.

Zen Magnets: Loved the wood box featured at the beginning. Interesting and unique shapes. Pacing a bit drawn out at times, but perfect for beginners. Points for continuously planned choreography. Transitions are fun, especially the skull of course. Colors are over-saturated, perhaps stylistically so. The contrast seems a bit strong.

Ilyafilms: I liked how you had a good mix of realtime speed and fast speed. The transitional cut scenes with the finished pieces was a nice touch. However the lighting was very biased towards the top half of the frame, creating a harsh shadow. Stylistically in certain cases this dramatic effect can be a powerful tool, however in [this video] it becomes very difficult to see the product itself.

Pop Plus Photo: Well edited video with good timing. Interesting and easy to watch. I like the red background. Good hand and magnet placement. Lighting does not cover subject evenly at all times – especially when subject moves close to camera. Camera’s auto iris and focus adjustments are distracting.

Creator Comments: I did my video thinking about getting the attention of your potential customers. I was not trying to impress current magnets users by complexity. I wanted to appeal to magnets-virgins… So I entered your contest choosing to do shapes that are easy to make and dynamic. Thus emphasizing on the simplicity of playing with these magnets. I was very careful to edit out or accelerate any boring moment. I wanted a video that is playful and make people want to get their own magnets to start playing with them. Also I was happy to incorporate a shape that was not geometric but figurative since we dont see enough of these. Less mathematical et more artistic… Myself, I decided to buy your set magnets in part because of your beautiful bamboo box. That is why I made sure to incorporate it at the beginning of your video. I think it sets you apart from the competition… I entered your contest because my son entered your contest. Watching him and helping him got me interested in your contest. Our videos have a few common features of course, but they have very different flavours. I don’t think mine is better than his; they’re different. Since we didn’t want to “compete” against each other, he had the idea that if either of us win, we would use the money for a family vacation.

Geometric Magnetics

Comments

Koozdra: Great variety of shapes. Some are fairly complex. I like the how the video explores the different facets of the shapes.

YoYoBandalore: Nice closeups. A bit blurry. Some good transitions. A little too fast at times.

Zen Magnets: Excitingly paced. The first twenty seconds feels like a roller coaster drop. Slowly raising anticipation to 0:15, then whooosh. The unwrappings at 2:00 and 2:29 were almost magical, had to watch that a few times to see what you did there. One continuous morphing in front of the camera for the entire first 3:20 of the video was quite impressive. Some of the best framing and pacing. Ending seemed hurried and spazzy. Really liked how close the magnets were held to the camera for close-ups, leaving any background scenery out of focus. The autofocus was rough at spots, but most of the time it was in your favor. Table surface was unsightly. Medium video upload quality. Overall one of our faves.

Ilyafilms: Excellent white balance, lighting is perfect. However the focusing issues distract from the subjects. I enjoyed the variety and difficulty of shapes that you created, and the editing had a good pace.

Pop Plus Photo: Constantly shifting auto-focus is distracting. Presentation is good and showcases the magnets as well as the methods. Hard to watch because of video fidelity.

Creator Comments: Zen Magnets are captivating, and have brought a wealth of creative experience and geometric knowledge to my life. I wanted to use this wonderful opportunity to enlighten more people to the endless possibilities of building and experimenting with spherical units. By using this video to show how to do a variety of cool tricks that make interesting new shapes, I aim to help the common or beginner magnet artists realize the vast potential of 216 magnets spheres and beyond… The title for my video had to reflect this notion of endless, creative possibility, because it is such a main part of the art for myself, and others that I know. Zen magnets do a good job of doing what the name implies, by easily causing one to be mindful and Zen while creating forms that can light up a room as well as the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This led me to the somewhat cheesy but bold, and memorable word “Zenlightenment” that sums up a lot of the understanding and awareness I now associate with a successful build… I found it quite natural to utilize the hexagons in various forms and efficient transitions (especially folding 2Rhexagons into a Tri-force triangle and making Pac Man out of them) before making a single magnet chain to build something else. I had decided early on that I would shoot the whole video in one take, which proved more challenging than ever anticipated. Filming countless good takes with just one or two small mistakes hurting the fluidity of the video… I started by filming a rough video copy of my first game plan, that I had written for choreographing the transitions of all the different shapes. Then moved onto filming multiple takes of a good copy, which thankfully led to discoveries for a even better copy with better builds. I wanted this to be my best zen magnet video yet, and it is… After much experimentation, some contemplation and a small survey of my peers, I eventually developed a best version that I rigorously reviewed and re watched while taking notes on how and where to save time. This greatly helped me add in more magnet art to help make my final entry everything that I hoped it would be. I also have my video available with no music, and the original magnet clicking sounds… On the contest page you mentioned that your video had become a bit stale after 4 years. To show more of what else these magnet spheres can do, I decided that I wouldn’t feature any of the old but still awesome tricks from the first video. Hopefully some of it has never been seen before and sparks even more interest in this growing art form and multifaceted learning tool… Thank you kindly for this wicked awesome contest, and even more so, the Zen magnets. ~Geometric Magnetics

Sam Chaney

Comments

Koozdra: Even though my heart sank when the ferrofluid was pored over the magnets, it was a fascinating demonstration. The shapes increased in complexity nicely.

YoYoBandalore: I liked the variety and complexity of the shapes, but I think they were a little too complex.  The construction pace was fast and not easy to see how to build these shapes.  Some of the figures were just shown. I would have preferred smoother transitions from figure to figure.  The ferro-fluid was a bit too much. IMO the video needs to attract new enthusiasts.  While this video had some cool stuff, I think it might overwhelm the intended audience.

Zen Magnets: Direct light makes magnet surface appear harsh, and sometimes hand motion is jittery. Despite this, the transitions with moving lights, sharp focus, clean background, wonderful framing, quick pace, overall creativity, and brilliant title calligraphy net this entry a 10 in Presentation from us. Dodecahedron with embedded ornament was awesome. Shape at 5:40 must have been a pain to make, and exactly the kind of stuff We’d like to see more of at gallery.zenmagnets.com.

Ilyafilms: Excellent editing and transitions. Display of built objects very pleasant. Ferrofluid moved ya from 9 to 10.

Pop Plus Photo: Slightly wider angle would improve presentation and perceived fidelity. I like the close-ups and shifting light effects. Painting letters and use of ferro-fluid is way cool! Overall this is a fun video to watch. Lighting is good, background color is nice, and only noticed slight soft-focus at times.

Creator Comments: I use the magnets for a few minutes every day at work as a kind of meditation, which allows for my subconscious to make connections normally impeded by fleeting thoughts. This helps in problem solving and grounds me with the tactile and visual immersion. I made a new shape every day for a few weeks, and filmed the creation with my SLR camera which I previously used only for photos. I used one of my own music pieces as the soundtrack to add personal connection and guide the creative framework of the video, then I ended up going back and adding to the song due to inspiration from the video. I am very fond of creative feedback loops like this. I actually edited the entire video with a free, demo version of Adobe Premiere. Now I have a deep appreciation for Platonic and Archimedean solids, and magnet art will forever be an enriching part of my life.

KylarF

Comments

Koozdra: Some really interesting shapes. A great demonstration of framing with one set.

YoYoBandalore: I liked the initial product comparison visual. Nice pace.

Zen Magnets: A fun well paced video. You made at 2:07 what the original Zen Magnets video failed to do. Of 4 shapes, all were built from scratch. Scene is a bit dark. Good framing and sharp video. Relatively good autofocus for the variety of depths. Using a backdrop with some texture probably helped with that. Fun to watch with audio on, even though it doesn’t affect score.

Ilyafilms: The intro is really cool here, definitely showing off the diversity of the magnets vs. old skool type hand manipulative games. The lighting overall is quite dark though, making it difficult to see the magnets.

Pop Plus Photo: Video quality appears to have some compression artifacts. Focus has a little trouble trying to keep up. I like the first-person camera angle and it makes me feel like I am playing with the magnets. Lighting appears consistent and magnets/hand placement are in frame.

Creator Comments: Up to mid April I didn’t plan to create a video but as I saw the first entries on youtube I got motivated to give it a try  I never did a video before this contest so the hardest part was to find/ understand a cutting-software. The main question I asked myself was how I could present ZenMagnets and I ended up with ‘Next Generation [Desk] Toy’. Sry for the letters at the beginning… just recognized it after completing everything and I couldn’t take another software :(. All in all it was a wonderful contest, it was absolutely fun and I gain a lot of new experiences…

Mathnetism

Comments

Koozdra: Absolutely amazing. Solid manipulations, edge squares, Mathnetism really covers some cutting edge techniques. The transitions are well thought out and are quick. The first transition especially was very impressive.

YoYoBandalore: Interesting figures. Definite technical skill

Zen Magnets: Although only four shapes are made, all are very unique, and the transformations in between configurations are well varied. Lattice shifting at the start was incredible. The loop conversion shifting at 1:30 was a trick not seen before. Never any chaos, all magnets recycled from one shape to another. No blub mushing involved. Framerate slowdown at 2:22 for spinning unnecessary. Stable hands of strong intention and magnetic mastery. Framing and lighting could have been better.

Ilyafilms: There is really nice building technique here in this video that sticks out the most. Your no-waste approach to building, tearing down, and starting again is a nice touch. The exposure of the video however is the one downfall, likely due to evaluative metering the white background made everything darker overall. The pacing of the video is really nice, especially all of the realtime footage.

Pop Plus Photo: Video looks underexposed – a white background should be bright. White balance and brightness are inconsistent. Magnets are well presented and methods are easy to follow. Presentation, editing and flow appear to be consistent.

Creator Comments: In the video I make some of my favourite one set designs. I have been building with Zen Magnets for two years now and I’m still amazed by all the possibilities, even with just one set. I tried to show the versatility of Zen Magnets in my video.

Conclusion

Winner: Boyd Edwards

$2500 in Cash or Bitcoin

Runner Up: Mathnetism

$1000 in Cash or Bitcoin

An amazing turnout of 61 entries. 44 won magnets.  A fun contest that’s a great reminder of the endless possibilities that come with even a single set of magnets. Winners, we’ll contact you soon about your prizes.

Love,

Zen Magnets

$3500 Front Page Video Contest

$2500 First Place
$1000 Second Place

Free magnets for all who attempt.*

The biggest prizes we’ve ever offered. All winnings via Cash or Bitcoin.

Four years and four million views later, the original Zen Magnets video has gotten a bit stale.

Zen Magnets, Dexterity, and Videography experience. If you have at least 2 of the 3, then this contest is for you. Now’s the time to cut your fingernails and start drawing out an action plan. The video above was planned, shot and edited in about a week, but you’ll have till April 30th. Remember, we’re not a megacorp with millions of customers. If you’ve reached this page, your odds are very good. Consider that if 10 people enter, the average prize per video is $350, plus a free set of magnets. You were looking for an excuse to fall back in love with the magnets anyways, weren’t you?

Mission:

   Make one trick demo to rule them all, using a single set of 216 Zen Magnets.

Bounds:

Similar to the video above, start in Zen Hex form, and end by putting the magnets back inside the red embroidered velvet bag in whatever form.** Unlike our original video, yours is not required to appear as one continuous scene. Aside from the start of your first scene, and the end of your last, you have a lot of freedom. Maximum 6 minutes. You are allowed to edit as needed, but don’t spend time adding flashy visual effects that might distract from the magnets themselves. You may add music if you want, but don’t expect it to affect scoring. Make a video that will hold attention and impress all audiences. No other tools besides Zen PVC cards may be used for manipulation.

   The submission deadline is 4/30

Judging:

Zen Magnets staff will be the judges in this contest. We’ll consider based on the following:

• (40%) Presentation – Choreography and aesthetics. Hand placement, framing, scene cleanliness, etc…
• (40%) Technical Merit – How many objects are made, how difficult are the objects, and what are the transitions in between?
• (20%) Video Fidelity – How focused and sharp is the entry video? 1080p preferred, but 720p is minimum.

To Enter:

1. Post your video on Youtube
2. Title: Include (Zen Magnets Flagship Entry) at the end of your title.
3. Tag: Zen Magnets, Neoballs, Buckyballs, Nanodots, Neocube
4. Fill out this form:

[button link=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1L6KAAuhaQOSXH7LwAs-hWZrvSnjhYGj8ZzMAYVcgcM4/viewform” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Submit Here[/button]

If you win 1st or 2nd place, you’ll be paid as a contractor having done commission work. Payment will be made upon delivery of original and working files. We will re-release your video under the Zen Magnets youtube channel, with artist credit such as linking to your profile or channel. Zen Magnets will have the right to use and remix the video as needed, and there is no guarantee that a winning video will be posted to the front page of http://Zenmagnets.com. If payment in Bitcoin is preferred, the USD/BTC price used will be the Bitstamp average on the day winners announced. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out via email, facebook, or twitter.

* We’re literally giving free magnets to everybody who wants to give this contest a shot. We’ll issue a refund of (or give you store credit at your option) one booster set for any genuine attempt. Along with staying inside the tangible bounds and terms described above, your video must be a minimum of 4 minutes long, and show at least 4 formations that are unique from each other. International orders will need to pay shipping.

** If you only own a Mandala and don’t have an embroidered velvet bag, you may end your video with by placing a sheet of 216 Zen back into the box for the end scene.

Remember when we had that “Coming Soon” image on Contest.ZenMagnets.com for two years? Hahah… yea… Well, if you missed it, here’s what it looked like

The original contest was to create an icosohedron from a Zen Hex cylinder, and was announced in January 2013.

Winners:

1st: Cory Williams – 20:27

2nd: Mathnetism – 21:12

3rd: Maqz122333 – 23:06

4th: Morningssounds – 24:15

5th: Zach Gable – 38:17

6th: Sean Morris – 51:05

7th: ZenMagGeekPro – 1:13:03

8th: BlackPrismGuard – 1:21:29

9th: Trevorpiccen – 1:28:23

10th: fayolaOnline – 4:44:20

The 25th Zen Magnets contest is to turn a Zen Hex Cylinder, into a 9-Triangle Icosahedron, which can be made with twenty triangles.  The submission deadline is the last day of January 2013, so this competition will only be live for 2 weeks! Also, anybody who beats 1:30, will win at least $10, so expect many winners.

Make sure to turn on the 720p for that clip.

Prizes:

1st – $150
2nd – $75
3rd – $35
4th – $25
5th – $15
Beat 1:30 – $10

The rules:

• A stop watch must be visible and legible in video for the duration of the build.
• Magnets must never be fully out of view.
• The official time will be counted from when the magnets are first touched, to when the hands are no longer touching.
• No tools may be used, except for one PVC splitting card. The magnets cannot be marked.
• Minimum recording resolution of 640 x 480 at 30 frames per sec.
• No video post processing except for cutting off extra footage at the start or end.
• Any brand of magnet spheres are acceptable.
• All prizes will be in the form of Zen Credits, usable on http://ZenMagnets.com or http://Neoballs.com

[button link=”http://www.youtube.com/video_response_upload?v=MsY3w6TTrHw” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Submit Video Here![/button]

One more rule: You must have fun.

Available in 720p and 1080p.

You’ll have twelve extra magnets, and that’s ok. Just set them aside.

The rules are mostly similar to Contest 4:

• Start from a two layer, three radius hexagon.
• A stop watch must be visible and legible in video for the duration of the build.
• Magnets must never be fully out of view.
• The official time will be counted from when the hexagons are picked up, to when the sphere is set down.
• No tools may be used. The magnets cannot be marked.
• Minimum recording resolution of 640 x 480 at 30 frames per sec.
• No video post processing except for cutting off extra footage at the start or end.
• Any brand of magnet spheres are acceptable.
• Video entry must be submitted as a video response to this video:. Submissions closed.

Make sure to turn on the 720p for that clip. If you have red/cyan 3D glasses, grayscale conversion option recommended.

One more rule: You must have fun.

Make sure to turn on the 720p for that clip. Also put on some red/cyan 3D glasses if you have them. The above was our recreation of the gyroid using the instructions given to us by origamimarie. It was hard! Zinc Neoballs used because we were simultaneously testing the coating stamina.

According to origamimarie, “the idea is actually quite simple, it’s just that the execution is rather fidgety.” Indeed the subunit found to approximate the repeating piece was much simpler than we had expected.

Subunit Approximation

Since the entire gyroid separates all of 3d space into two regions, we treat polarity compatibility the same as anything else that has an inside and outside. Except instead of inside/outside or top/bottom, it’s really region A vs region B.

It’s easiest to start with a 3×3 layer on the bottom, just like this one from thingverse:

Begin by connecting adding two more hex rings at the corners of a subunit, and then attaching at the side. You will then have a choice about which direction the saddle between the two subunits bend.

From here, the difficulty is simply keeping track of which side is which while constructing the first level. After that: ”Each layer is just like the one below it, only offset. So to think about layer 2, mentally pick up layer 1 and slide it up and toward the viewer one slot.” Props to origamimarie for completing such a difficult challenge.

If you make this from the same perspective of the thingverse photo, here is an image of the four orientations used. Should help you visualize. Click for full size.

Good luck patience hunting.

As noted by gallery members, irrespective of the original stated rules, all of the top 3 will receive a prize. First place will get a free set + $50, Third place will get a free set, and second place will get something in between. Exactly what second place will get has yet to be decided. It should be noted that the second place video was actually not shot at the minimum stated resolution of 30 frames per second, but actually 11 frames per second. Probably the result of the dim lighting environment in combination with the video capture equipment. Though not a very big deal, since we could still measure timing using the sound.

Winners, contact us for magnets!

Many of the rules are common sense:

• Start from a flat hexagon sheet.
• A clock or stop watch must be visible and legible in video for the duration of the build.
• Magnets must never be fully off camera.
• The time is counted from when the hexagon sheet is picked up, to when the 6x6x6 cube is set down.
• One PVC card may be used. No other tools. No markings on magnets.
• Minimum recording resolution of 640 x 480 @ 30 frames per second.
• No video post processing except for cutting off extra footage at the start or end.
• Any brand of magnet spheres is acceptable.
• Video must be submitted as a video response to this video.

LET THE RACES BEGIN!