There are some very great entries here, so it's really hard deciding upon just one. I apologize for not being able to give everyone crits. There's simply too many of them. But below are my favourites listed. (In no particular order)
Noxious: I really like this one, though there are a few points that I think lets this piece down a bit. To start off, I think you could have put a bit more detail into the metal bands. Though the deadline was afterall pretty tight for this model, so I'm guessing you didn't really have time for it.
Then there's the base-texture for the wood. In that photo from CG-Textures, actually being the same one I used for my entry, the ones near the upper and lower part of the photo are a bit blurred and odd-looking. It'd have been a good thing to cut those out.
Also, as a thing I would have wanted to see on this would've been a bit more detail to break up the uniform feel in the planks.
Nevertheless, you did a great job!
Harefort: I like this entry as it got a very special feel to it, and a good amount of detail. However, I think you might've been better off with less bump in the wood, as mentioned earlier in the comp thread.
Also, it seems you've tried to put a bit too much detail into the metal bands for such a texture-resolution, which makes it look pretty lowres.
Rufke: I like this one because it has a pretty realistic feel to it. And it's nicely executed, though there's some things that could've been improved.
To start off, you also put a bit too much detail into the metal bands for such a resolution, which caused it to look lowres.
One thing that's great about this entry is the depth that parts the metal bands from the wood. This depth was however not seen at the very edges of the barrel, which ruins the depth of it a bit.
Then, there's the sides of the planks on the barrel. The seams does not match up with the planks. Nor did it on mine.. And well.. I know.. Mine is far from perfect.. Though I think you could atleast have made the seams face the center rather than being vertical.
You also forgot to put some wear and tear on the text.
Tatsur0: Nice job on this texture, it's very realistic and nice. Though there are unfortunately some major let-downs in it.
To begin with as you mentioned yourself, you didn't have the time to add the bands to it. This is in my mind a pretty important factor and should prolly have been done in a early stage of the texturing.
The seams of the planks look rather fine and un-natural. You could prolly have added a bit more variation to it, by simply painting over it a bit with a grunge brush.
The wear and tear looks nice and are well distrubuted, except from the logo doesn't seem to have any wear at all.
And for the crane part, it looks a bit like you've just slapped on an image of wood right on it.
This was a great entry, but you should prolly have spent a bit more time on the whole piece rather than going into the details.
Latinmessiah: I like this entry because it also has a pretty realistic feel to it.. almost on the verge of being semi-realistic.. It simply has its own style.
Though whats lets it down a bit is that you could prolly have added a bit more variation to it. Right now it looks rather uniform in terms of detail.
There's also a pretty visable seam on the metal bands.
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So, in the end, I've come down to two entries which I think should get my vote. It's between
Latinmessiah and
Harefort.
And I think I'll have to go with
Latinmessiah.
The reason being: It has a realistic style while still being.. stylish. It also looks like it'd fit well into a game.
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Now.. Don't feel bad if you're not on the list, everyone did a great effort in this competition
Cheers!