What is PhotoInside? 

It's HDgreetings' super cool technology that allows you to create viral content by allowing users to personalize your video with their own photos.  PhotoInside content is what attracts companies that HDgreetings partners with, like Amazon.com and American Greetings, because people love to see their photos appear in an animated scene or perform special effects!  We have PhotoInside cards where the user's photo spins, explodes, floats like cloth in the wind, appears on a character's head, in a character's thought bubbles, on top of a cake, in a Christmas ornament ... to name just a few!  Basically, anything that's possible in animation is possible for the user's photo. 

Is it difficult to create?
No!  We've had many animators easily create successful PhotoInside videos.  It basically just requires you to create 2 passes- a background pass that does not include the 'custom object' (this is the scene object that will contain the user photo) and a 'UV pass' that only includes the custom object. We have a complete toolkit based on the software you use. You can find it here: http://wiki.hdgreetings.com/artists. 

Contest Details

• Deadline: December 10, 2008 at 10pm PST (if you submit before then, we'll do our best to make it live earlier)
• Categories: Most Innovative Use of PhotoInside, Best Animation, Most Likely to Succeed (commercially, that is!)
• Judge: Dan Sarto, Co-Founder of AWN (Animation World Network)
• Content: Winter Holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, General Happy Holidays, Happy New Year)
• Animation /Video accepted: 3d, 2d, stop motion, live action video
• Prizes:
  • Visibility and revenue share: your video will be featured on our Amazon.com co-branded site, on our homepage and will be eligible to be included on American Greetings. In each of these cases, there is revenue share based on performance.
  • Recognition: you will get a permanent Contest Winner icon next to your name on your profile page.
  • Amazon.com Gift cards: winners will receive $250 Amazon.com Gift Cards
• Regular submissions guidelines and rules apply.

Get Started

Get in on the ground floor and submit today. We launched our site just one year ago and already have partnerships with Amazon.com and American Greetings and expect  traffic at hdgreetings,com to explode this holiday season.   Visit our Artists' Studio to learn more and submit your content.  Visit our Artist Wiki to learn more about PhotoInside.