We are thrilled to announce the grand prize winners of our MATLAB Shorts Mini Hack contest! This year, we invited the MATLAB Graphics and Charting team, the authors of the MATLAB functions used in every entry, to be our judges. After careful consideration, they have selected the top three winners:
Judge comments: Realism & detailed comments; wowed us with Manta Ray
2nd place – Jenny Bosten
Judge comments: Topical hacks : Auroras & Wind turbine; beautiful landscapes & nightscapes
3rd place - Vasilis Bellos
Judge comments: Nice algorithms & extra comments; can’t go wrong with Pumpkins
Judge comments: Impressive spring & cubes!
In addition, after validating the votes, we are pleased to announce the top 10 participants on the leaderboard:
Congratulations to all! Your creativity and skills have inspired many of us to explore and learn new skills, and make this contest a big success!
Over the past 4 weeks, 250+ creative short movies have been crafted. We had a lot of fun and, more importantly, learned new skills from each other! Now it’s time to announce week 4 winners.
Nature:
3D:
Seamless loop:
Holiday:
Fractal:
Congratulations! Each of you won your choice of a T-shirt, a hat, or a coffee mug. We will contact you after the contest ends.
Weekly Special Prizes
Thank you for sharing your tips & tricks with the community. These great technical articles will benefit community users for many years. You won a limited-edition pair of MATLAB Shorts!
In week 5, let’s take a moment to sit back, explore all of the interesting entries, and cast your votes. Reflect what you have learned or which entries you like most. Share anything in our Discussions area! There is still time to win our limited-edition MATLAB Shorts.
Dear MATLAB contest enthusiasts,
Welcome to the third installment of our interview series with top contest participants! This time we had the pleasure of talking to our all-time rock star – @Jenny Bosten. Every one of her entries is a masterpiece, demonstrating a deep understanding of the relationship between mathematics and aesthetics. Even Cleve Moler, the original author of MATLAB, is impressed and wrote in his blog: "Her code for Time Lapse of Lake View to the West shows she is also a wizard of coordinate systems and color maps."
you to read it to learn more about Jenny’s journey, her creative process, and her favorite entries.
Question: Who would you like to see featured in our next interview? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
There are so many incredible entries created in week 1. Now, it’s time to announce the weekly winners in various categories!
Nature & Space:
Seamless Loop:
Abstract:
Remix of previous Mini Hack entries:
Early Discovery
Holiday:
Congratulations to all winners! Each of you won your choice of a T-shirt, a hat, or a coffee mug. We will contact you after the contest ends.
In week 2, we’d love to see and award more entries in the ‘Seamless Loop’ category. We can't wait to see your creativity shine!
Tips for Week 2:
1.Use AI for assistance
The code from the Mini Hack entries can be challenging, even for experienced MATLAB users. Utilize AI tools for MATLAB to help you understand the code and modify the code. Here is an example of a remix assisted by AI. @Hans Scharler used MATLAB GPT to get an explanation of the code and then prompted it to ‘change the background to a starry night with the moon.’
2. Share your thoughts
Share your tips & tricks, experience of using AI, or learnings with the community. Post your knowledge in the Discussions' general channel (be sure to add the tag 'contest2024') to earn opportunities to win the coveted MATLAB Shorts.
3. Ensure Thumbnails Are Displayed:
You might have noticed that some entries on the leaderboard lack a thumbnail image. To fix this, ensure you include ‘drawframe(1)’ in your code.
We are thrilled to see the incredible short movies created during Week 3. The bar has been set exceptionally high! This week, we invited our Community Advisory Board (CAB) members to select winners. Here are their picks:
Mini Hack Winners - Week 3
Game:
Holidays:
Fractals:
Realism:
Great Remixes:
Seamless loop:
Fun:
Weekly Special Prizes
Thank you for sharing your tips & tricks with the community. You won a limited-edition MATLAB Shorts.
We still have plenty of MATLAB Shorts available, so be sure to create your posts before the contest ends. Don't miss out on the opportunity to showcase your creativity!
Just in two weeks, we already have 150+ entries! We are so impressed by your creative styles, artistic talents, and ingenious programming techniques.
Now, it’s time to announce the weekly winners!
Mini Hack Winners - Week 2
Seamless loop:
Nature & Animals:
Game:
Synchrony:
Remix of previous Mini Hack entries
Movie:
Congratulations to all winners! Each of you won your choice of a T-shirt, a hat, or a coffee mug. We will contact you after the contest ends.
In week 3, we’d love to see and award entries in the ‘holiday’ category.
Weekly Special Prizes
Thank you for sharing your tips & tricks with the community. You won limited-edition MATLAB Shorts.
We highly encourage everyone to share various types of content, such as tips and tricks for creating animations, background stories of your entry, or learnings you've gained from the contest.
We're excited to announce that the 2024 Community Contest—MATLAB Shorts Mini Hack starts today! The contest will run for 5 weeks, from Oct. 7th to Nov. 10th.
What creative short movies will you create? Let the party begin, and we look forward to seeing you all in the contest!
Over the past week, we have seen many creative and compelling short movies! Now, let the voting begin! Cast your votes for the short movies you love. Authors, share your creations with friends, classmates, and colleagues. Let's showcase the beauty of mathematics to the world!
We know that one of the key goals for joining the Mini Hack contest is to LEARN! To celebrate knowledge sharing, we have special prizes—limited-edition MATLAB Shorts—up for grabs!
These exclusive prizes can only be earned through the MATLAB Shorts Mini Hack contest. Interested? Share your knowledge in the Discussions' general channel (be sure to add the tag 'contest2024') to earn opportunities to win the coveted MATLAB Shorts. You can share various types of content, such as tips and tricks for creating animations, background stories of your entry, or learnings you've gained from the contest. We will select different types of winners each week.
We also have an exciting feature announcement: you can now experiment with code in MATLAB Online. Simply click the 'Open in MATLAB Online' button above the movie preview section. Even better! ‘Open in MATLAB Online’ is also available in previous Mini Hack contests!
We look forward to seeing more amazing short movies in Week 2!
Dear contest participants,
The 2024 Community Contest—MATLAB Shorts Mini Hack—is just one week away! Last year, we challenged you to create a 48-frame, 2-second animation. This year, we're doubling the fun by increasing the frame count to 96 and adding audio support. Your mission? Create a short movie!
As always, whether you are a seasoned MATLAB user or just a beginner, you can participate in the contest and have opportunities to win amazing prizes.
Timeframe:
- The contest will run for 5 weeks, from Oct. 7th to Nov. 10th, Eastern Time.
General Rules:
- The first week is dedicated to entry creation, and the fifth week is reserved for voting only.
- Create a 96-frame, 4-second animation and add audio. We will loop it 3 times to create a 12-second short movie for you.
- The character limit remains at 2,000 characters.
Prizes
- You will have opportunities to win compelling prizes, including Amazon gift cards, MathWorks T-shirts, and virtual badges. We will give out both weekly prizes and grand prizes.
Warm-up!
With one week left before the contest begins, we recommend you warm up by reading a fantastic article: Walkthrough: making Little Nemo's airship in MATLAB by @Tim. The article shares both technical insights and the challenges encountered along the way.
The MATLAB Central Community Team
We are thrilled to announce the grand prize winners of our MATLAB Flipbook contest! This year, we invited the MATLAB Graphics Infrastructure team, renowned for their expertise in exporting and animation workflows, to be our judges. After careful consideration, they have selected the top three winners:
Judge comments: Creative and realistic rendering with well-written code
2nd place - Christmas Tree / Zhaoxu Liu
Judge comments: Festive and advanced animation that is appropriate to the current holiday season.
Judge comments: Nice translation of existing shader logic to MATLAB that produces an advanced and appealing visual effect.
In addition, after validating the votes, we are pleased to announce the top 10 participants on the leaderboard:
- Tim
- Zhaoxu Liu / slandarer
- KARUPPASAMYPANDIYAN M
- Dhimas Mahardika S.Si., M.Mat
- Augusto Mazzei
- Jenny Bosten
- Lucas
- Jr
- Victoria
- ME
Congratulations to all! Your creativity and skills have inspired many of us to explore and learn new skills, and make this contest a big success!
Dear MATLAB contest enthusiasts,
In the 2023 MATLAB Mini Hack Contest, Tim Marston captivated everyone with his incredible animations, showcasing both creativity and skill, ultimately earning him the 1st prize.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Tim to delve into his inspiring story. You can read the full interview on MathWorks Blogs: Community Q&A – Tim Marston.
Last question: Are you ready for this year’s Mini Hack contest?
Dear MATLAB contest enthusiasts,
I believe many of you have been captivated by the innovative entries from Zhaoxu Liu / slanderer, in the 2023 MATLAB Flipbook Mini Hack contest.
Ever wondered about the person behind these creative entries? What drives a MATLAB user to such levels of skill? And what inspired his participation in the contest? We were just as curious as you are!
We were delighted to catch up with him and learn more about his use of MATLAB. The interview has recently been published in MathWorks Blogs. For an in-depth look into his insights and experiences, be sure to read our latest blog post: Community Q&A – Zhaoxu Liu.
But the conversation doesn't end here! Who would you like to see featured in our next interview? Drop their name in the comments section below and let us know who we should reach out to next!
Greetings to all MATLAB users,
Although the MATLAB Flipbook contest has concluded, the pursuit of ‘learning while having fun’ continues. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some recent insightful technical articles from a standout contest participant – Zhaoxu Liu / slandarer.
Zhaoxu has contributed eight informative articles to both the Tips & Tricks and Fun channels in our new Discussions area. His articles offer practical advice on topics such as customizing legends, constructing chord charts, and adding color to axes. Additionally, he has shared engaging content, like using MATLAB to create an interactive dragon that follows your mouse cursor, a nod to the upcoming Year of the Dragon in 2024!
I invite you to explore these articles for both enjoyment and education, and I hope you'll find new techniques to incorporate into your work.
Our community is full of individuals skilled in MATLAB, and we're always eager to learn from one another. Who would you like to see featured next? Or perhaps you have some tips & tricks of your own to contribute. Remember, sharing knowledge is a collaborative effort, as Confucius wisely stated, 'When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.'
Let's maintain our commitment to a continuous learning journey. This could be the perfect warm-up for the upcoming 2024 contest.
Looking for an opportunity to practice your AI skills on a real-world problem? Interested in AI for climage change? Sign up for the Kelp Wanted challenge, which tasks participants with developing an algorithm that can detect the presence of kelp forests from satellite images.
Participants of all skill levels from anywhere in the world are welcome to compete!
MathWorks provides the following resources for all participants:
Just in two weeks, we already have 300 entries and 2,000 votes! We are so impressed by your creative styles, artistic talents, and ingenious programming techniques.
Now, it’s time to announce the weekly winners!
Mini Hack Winners - Week 2
Time & Space:
Trees:
Cartoon:
Symbolism:
Realism:
Fractal:
Multi-Entry Stories:
Explanatory:
Light:
MATtropolis:
Congratulations! Each of you won your choice of a T-shirt, a hat, or a coffee mug. We will contact you after the contest ends.
New categories for Week 3!
- 40: MathWorks will celebrate its 40th Anniversary in 2024. You will have opportunities to win special prizes!
- Most creative remix
Categories we’d love to see more entries in
- Multi-Entry Stories (e.g. Jr’s Matzilla series)
- MATropolis
- Math/Physics Explanation
Finally, just a reminder that you have a direct impact on the next generation of animation tools in MATLAB! Don’t forget to share your thoughts and ideas with us.
The MATLAB Flipbook Mini Hack contest has concluded! During the 4 weeks, over 600 creative animations have been created. We had a lot of fun and a great learning experience! Thank you, everyone!
Now it’s the time to announce week 4 winners. Note that grand prize winners will be announced shortly after we validate votes on winning entries.
Realism:
Holiday & Season:
Abstract:
Cartoon:
Congratulations, weekly winners!We will reach out to you shortly for your prizes.
Unlike last year's contest, there are some new technologies this year that might offer some advantages. Namely generative AI's like ChatGPT, Bard, etc. Not to be excluded, MathWorks just launched the AI Chat Playground :)
Have you marveled at the breathtaking, natural-looking animations crafted by the creative minds in the Flipbook Mini Hack contest? Think of @Tim, @Jenny Bosten, and @Zhaoxu Liu / slandarer- their work is nothing short of extraordinary.
So, what's their secret? Adam Danz, a developer in the MATLAB Graphics and Charting team and a top community contributor, has graciously unveiled the mysteries in his latest blog post - "Creating natural textures with power-law noise: clouds, terrains, and more." The post offers simple, step-by-step instructions and code snippets, empowering you to grasp these enchanting techniques effortlessly.
Check it out and we hope it sparks your creativity and serves as a wellspring of inspiration. With only 3 days remaining before the contest draws to a close, it's time to dive into the code and let your imagination soar!
i've finished writing the code for my ~masterpiece~ and it doesn't run on the contest new entry page. it runs on matlab on my desktop and in the matlab live editor in my browser, but not where i really need it to. usually it'll draw the first frame the first time i run the code in a new window, but not any subsequent times. whether i hit "run" or "create animation", the screen grays out as it's supposed to, but then returns to normal without generating the first frame or animation.
i'm not getting a timeout warning or any error messages. i timed the code on my laptop and it takes about 100ish seconds to run and generate the animation the first time i run it before clearing everything from my workspace (and then it takes about twice as long each subsequent time, which makes me a bit nervous. can't figure out why this is the case at all!), which is well within the 255 second limit for the contest. as far as i know, the most computationally expensive function i'm using is patch(). i'm pretty close to the character limit, but i don't know if that's part of the problem.
i tried vectorizing some of the code instead of using for loops, which made the code run slightly slower. i tried using a nested function instead of using drawframe() and an auxiliary function, but that didn't help. i tried clearing all variables except f at the end of drawframe() to no avail. i tried using the close command at the start of drawframe(), with similar success. i updated chrome, closed a bunch of windows, tried safari, used my sister's laptop, all with no luck.
has anyone else had this or a similar problem? any advice?
thanks!
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