Official Rules for the LA 3-D Club Bi-Monthly Competitions
as adopted by the Club Board in 2024
I. GROUPS
There are two competition groups – “B” Group for beginners, and “A” Group for more Advanced” members. Before you enter images in our Bi-Monthly Competitions for the first time, you must confer with the Competition Director to determine in which Group you will be competing. Generally, newcomers start in the B Group, which enables them to become familiar with the quality of images it takes to win high scores, Honorable Mentions, and awards.
The judging scores for each month are totaled at year end (June), and the highest cumulative scores win Year End Awards. Separate Year End Awards are made for A and B Group entrants in each competition Category.
If a B Group entrant wins a first, second, or third place cumulative award for an entire competition season, then they are usually promoted to the A Group. A member may be grouped in the A Group in one category and the B Group in another category.
II. CATEGORIES
There are three competition categories: (1) Standard, (2) Modified, and (3) CGI/Art.
(1) The Standard Category includes stereo photographs made by the entrant using any photographic means, whether by digital or film cameras. There is no limitation on the amount of digital manipulation you may make to your original photographic film or digital image pair, however, the majority of the image components must have been produced photographically by the entrant, rather than computer generated or produced by a third party.
(2) The Modified Category is for 2D to 3D conversions of images not created by the entrant, or at least not substantially created by the entrant. Conversions can be performed by any means. The Modified Category also includes stereo montages or collages composed wholly or mostly of images you did not create, and sophisticated restoration and colorizing of vintage images. Proper permission from the maker(s) or copyright holder(s) of the original image(s) should be provided when requested by the LA 3-D Club if you want your Modified Category image to be published by the club outside of the Club’s “3D News.”
(3) The CGI/Art Category is for stereo images which you have created wholly or substantially using a computer, or which you have created wholly or substantially using artistic means, such as drawing or painting. 2D to 3D conversions of your own original photographic images, or of computer generated and AI generated images you have made belong in this group. The 2D to 3D conversions can be performed by any means.
The Competition Director shall decide the appropriate category of an image in the event of dispute or uncertainty.
III. COMPETITION SCHEDULE
The five competitions that make up the yearly Club cycle are typically held in September, November, January, March, and May.
Members are allowed to enter up to three stereo images in each of the three competition categories for a given monthly competition. You may submit fewer than three image pairs for a given category and may submit make-ups for the missing entries at a later competition. No make-ups are permitted after the May competition, which is the last bi-monthly competition month of the year.
Make-ups are not eligible for the Theme of the Month judging and award and are not eligible for other Award and HM ribbons. They only count towards your cumulative score and are counted as if they had been submitted on time in the Make-up month.
IV. THEME OF THE MONTH
The Theme of the Month is a completely optional component of each competition. You may enter as many (or none) of your images for the Theme Award judging. The Theme Award judging is separate from the rest of the competition, and you do not need to submit any images that correspond to the theme.
The Theme of the Month only applies to Standard Category images. Make Up images are not eligible for the Theme of the Month judging.
V. DIGITAL IMAGE FORMATTING
All images, regardless of Category, must be in digital JPG format. Submitting your digital format entries must done using the competition uploader. This becomes available starting about a week before the competition and remains open until the midnight before the competition.
To indicate that an image should be included in the Theme of the Month judging, enter the name of the current month’s theme in all capital letters as the first word of your image title.
For example: AUTUMN View from Mt. Snarfgap.jpg
All images should be saved in side-by-side, parallel viewing format (left image on the left, right image on the right, with no gaps, septums, dividers, or space between them).
Any reasonable file size, even a very high-resolution file, is acceptable. Just keep in mind that nominal projection resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels for each eye. Higher resolution files will not improve the appearance during current judging but may be valuable for review or advanced display technology at a later date. However, the total combined size for all three image pairs must not exceed 20 MB.
The image filename should simply be the image title, preceded by the monthly theme name, if applicable. Do not include your name in the image filename – the uploader will append that automatically. It’s best not to use dashes (-) or underscores (_) within your filenames.
Follow the directions on the uploader page. Make-up images are uploaded as a separate set of entries. If you are submitting make-up images, be sure to enter the date of the competition you are making up, not the date of the current competition.
VI. JUDGING PROCEDURES AND OTHER INFORMATION
There are three stereo judges for each competition. A member who is judging may not enter images in that competition and may not judge again for the same Club year. Judges will receive an averaged score based on their scores for all other competitions during the fiscal year, including months where a judge submitted no entries. Alternatively, a judge may choose to submit make-ups for his or her judging month at a later competition, which would take the place of the averaging process.
Each Category is judged separately. The two groups, “A” and “B,” within each category are judged as one complete group. All categories are judged on the same evening.
Scoring by each judge is from five to nine points. During each competition the judges are encouraged to comment on selected images as time permits.
The top scoring images of each group of each category may be given Award and Honorable Mention ribbons. Number and distribution of ribbons to be awarded shall be determined by the Competition Director. Make-ups are not eligible for these ribbons.
Cumulative scores will be computed for each member in each category. Members entering more than one category will have a separate cumulative score for each category.
Images may not be entered in Club competition more than once during the same fiscal Club year. Images that have won an Award, Honorable Mention, or Theme Award in any previous Club competition in any year must not be entered again. Similar images to such award images, whether titled the same or different, must not be entered again. End-of-Year awards will be made to the top cumulative scores in each group of each category.
End of year awards are made only to those who enter 3 images for each of all the competitions for the year, whether by on-time entries, make-up entries, or judging average. It is possible for the same member to earn awards for more than one category.
