Team 116 Animation Competition

[116anim_award]

In light of recent events, Team 116 will be hosting an alternative Animation award competition this year. The prompt will be announced on our homepage on January 5th, the same day as kick-off. The prompt, like previous Autodesk animation prompts, will require each team to identify and solve a problem. We intend to organize a board of impartial judges, who will rate all submissions according to creativity, ingenuity, clarity of production, and mastery of the animating process.

A change from the previous award: all forms of animation will be accepted, including, but not limited to, the use of 3dsmax, Maya, claymation, stop-motion animation, and flip-book (two-dimensional frame) animation.

We will have a homepage for our award up by next week, with additional information therein. We look forward to hosting this new award, and we hope you will participate.

[Kevin Thorp]

That sounds great. There are so many creative students passionate about animation, it would be a shame to let this aspect of FIRST fade away.

There are a number of other teams and individuals also organizing various types of animation contests. Would it make sense to get together (online), discuss different ideas and come up with the best plan?

Another advantage of a group effort is you have multiple people to help implement the plan; develop rules, create PDFs, website, trophies, help with training, etc.

[Andy Baker]

This is OUTSTANDING! Teams can still create and compete with their animation skills, and even use new forms of media and software!

Great job, Epsilon Delta!!

Andy B.

[RoboMom]

Kudos to 116 for stepping up to do this! I hope you can get FIRST HQ to distribute the info.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Awesome! Just forwarded to our Animation Team Leader. We had a conversation on Wednesday about creating our own competition.

[116anim_award]

That sounds great. There are so many creative students passionate about animation, it would be a shame to let this aspect of FIRST fade away.

There are a number of other teams and individuals also organizing various types of animation contests. Would it make sense to get together (online), discuss different ideas and come up with the best plan?

Another advantage of a group effort is you have multiple people to help implement the plan; develop rules, create PDFs, website, trophies, help with training, etc.

We are certainly open to joining forces provided we come to a consensus within a certain amount of time. There are obvious constraints on the time available before kickoff. We encourage teams that are interested to comment in this thread.

[Aamid Ahbab]

It depends on the scope of the competition. If it looks big and good, I might have my team try for it or I'll try to help in some way shape or form.

[tvictor3dart]

I am a little taken back by the lack of an animation competition this year. I went to college based on my experience competing for the animation award. I chose to major in Game Design and Animation because of FIRST.

But what's done is done I guess. As a mentor now for Team 230, I would like to say that Team 230 supports Team 116's animation competition and will definitely be submitting.

In the mean time, can we stir up enough attention to get the award back? FRC and the animation award have literally changed my life and to not have animation award is unfortunate knowing how much it effected me and the potential it has to do the same for others.

[JohnHelfen]

Hi Everyone,

My name is John Helfen and I work for the Secondary Education team at Autodesk. I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that we support the efforts Team 116 is going through to run an animation competition this year.

I also wanted to provide everyone with some great resources for learning 3DS Max and Maya.

Two new resources have been launched on the Autodesk Area website.

Resources for M&E Students: http://area.autodesk.com/students

Resources for M&E Educators: http://area.autodesk.com/educators

We also have feature a series about character creation in Sketchbook and Maya on the M&E EDU Blog: http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/edu

Finally, I wanted to let all the MAC users out there know that we have recently added Autodesk Smoke (http://usa.autodesk.com/smoke-for-mac/) to the Autodesk Education Community (http://students.autodesk.com).

I hope this information will help students while building for the competition.

Thanks,

John

[116anim_award]

Hi Everyone,

My name is John Helfen and I work for the Secondary Education team at Autodesk. I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that we support the efforts Team 116 is going through to run an animation competition this year.

I also wanted to provide everyone with some great resources for learning 3DS Max and Maya.

Two new resources have been launched on the Autodesk Area website.

Resources for M&E Students: http://area.autodesk.com/students

Resources for M&E Educators: http://area.autodesk.com/educators

We also have feature a series about character creation in Sketchbook and Maya on the M&E EDU Blog: http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/edu

Finally, I wanted to let all the MAC users out there know that we have recently added Autodesk Smoke (http://usa.autodesk.com/smoke-for-mac/) to the Autodesk Education Community (http://students.autodesk.com).

I hope this information will help students while building for the competition.

Thanks,

John

Thank you so much for your support. We are truly grateful for everything Autodesk does for FIRST and its animators.

Also, we would like to thank you for your efforts in creating new and improved resources for Autodesk software users. We will be using them during the build season to help our team members better understand the nuances of Autodesk software, and Smoke will be of great use to our Mac users.

Again, thank you.

[116anim_award]

To all who are interested in helping us create this award: we would like your input on matters regarding judging and the prompt. If you're interested in helping, please drop us a PM and we'll send you the information.

[Euriiko]

Thank you Team 116! I'm passionate about animation and I'm so happy you guys are willing to organize this! I agree that it would be a shame to let this aspect of FIRST fade away.

[ajc4nn0n]

Any word on the competition? Will the prompt still be released on Saturday?

[noahtm]

I was really upset to hear about there being no Autodesk Awards, and our Animation team is looking for a challenge this season. Team 2481 is on board with any competition you or FIRST creates!

[smity]

We look forward to hearing the challenge Team 116 develops. Thanks for stepping forward!

[ncwitte]

Team 1504 is interested in participating.

[agomez470]

Team 8 is also interested in participating in this challenge. Is there a link for the challenge?

[MerrimackMatt]

Team 166 is also applauds your initiative and is eagerly awaiting the challenge for this season.

[116anim_award]

Sorry for the delay. The rules are up on our website here (http://team116.org/excellence-in-animation/). We'd like to thank everyone for their support and we look forward to seeing your animations! Please check back often for updates.

[tvictor3dart]

I just want to say that Team 230 is using this opportunity to continue to support the animation portion of FRC. We have a really passionate group of kids interested in animation and digital media and we want to be able to spread the word that FIRST shouldn't be just about the robots and the game. Our society today is obsessed with the latest apps and digital products along with amazingly detailed visual effect in movies. The next generation of visual effects artists and animators are the kids who are exposed to it before they get to college. Having real world tools at your finger tips gives the students such an advantage and it would be foolish to waste the opportunity.

I have contacted the university that I graduated from to try and get them involved as well and potentially offer scholarships. I have yet to hear back from them and I plan on bugging them a little more about the issue. Again I was able to take advantage of this opportunity when I was a student and it completely changed my life (literally, no joke). I want to be able to continue that opportunity for students who might not be interested in building robots, but building stories through video and animation.

Thank you again FRC Team 116 for putting on this competition and if you need any assistance regarding the animation competition please feel free to contact me and my team and I will try to help as best we can.

[takeegan]

I just want to say that Team 230 is using this opportunity to continue to support the animation portion of FRC. We have a really passionate group of kids interested in animation and digital media and we want to be able to spread the word that FIRST shouldn't be just about the robots and the game. Our society today is obsessed with the latest apps and digital products along with amazingly detailed visual effect in movies. The next generation of visual effects artists and animators are the kids who are exposed to it before they get to college. Having real world tools at your finger tips gives the students such an advantage and it would be foolish to waste the opportunity.

I have contacted the university that I graduated from to try and get them involved as well and potentially offer scholarships. I have yet to hear back from them and I plan on bugging them a little more about the issue. Again I was able to take advantage of this opportunity when I was a student and it completely changed my life (literally, no joke). I want to be able to continue that opportunity for students who might not be interested in building robots, but building stories through video and animation.

Thank you again FRC Team 116 for putting on this competition and if you need any assistance regarding the animation competition please feel free to contact me and my team and I will try to help as best we can.

Ditto

[Dancin103]

Team 103 is interested.

[116anim_award]

The Rules have been updated!

The most important change was to the name. In order to release our Rules page to the public in time for kick off, we put Team 116's name on it and left it at that. However, this award isn't created from only our efforts, so we wanted a more universal name.

Besides that:

Storyboards are now optional. Storyboarding is the first step of the design project in an animation, but often times we don't write our storyboards down on paper, nor do we need to. It's a nice thing to have, but there's no need to submit one.

We added some specifications for the movie file and clarified the copyrighted material section.

Also important is the resources section at the end. These links were provided by Autodesk earlier in this thread, so we consolidated these links for easy access. We'd love to add more to it, so if anyone would like to offer more animation resources, let us know and we'll put it in!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Team 116

[wendymom]

1902 Exploding Bacon is jumping in this contest. The kids were storyboarding tonight. Can anyone guess which fairy tale they chose?

[dlavery]

1902 Exploding Bacon is jumping in this contest. The kids were storyboarding tonight. Can anyone guess which fairy tale they chose?

I am willing to bet that it involves three of something...

:)


-dave



.

[beags917]

Hi guys,
I know it's great that there is a new animation competition, but has anyone heard about a new CAD Competition?
If anyone knows anything about this, that would be great.
Thanks

[ncwitte]

Hi, I had a couple of questions. The first is a general question about copyright. I know that the rules state that we're not to use copyrighted materials that the team or team members "do not own". If we have a license to use the copyrighted materials, is that sufficient?

On a related topic, and this might be better addressed to John Helfen, will Autodesk permit us to use the iikos? Obviously, the iiko is their intellectual property and since they are providing the challenge this year, if they don't grant us a license, we can't use them. I was hoping for some clarification on that score.

Thanks, and thanks again Team 116. You're winners in my book.

[116anim_award]

Hi, I had a couple of questions. The first is a general question about copyright. I know that the rules state that we're not to use copyrighted materials that the team or team members "do not own". If we have a license to use the copyrighted materials, is that sufficient?

On a related topic, and this might be better addressed to John Helfen, will Autodesk permit us to use the iikos? Obviously, the iiko is their intellectual property and since they are providing the challenge this year, if they don't grant us a license, we can't use them. I was hoping for some clarification on that score.

Thanks, and thanks again Team 116. You're winners in my book.

If you have the license, it should be okay. We might be asking for those in the future, so make sure you can provide the necessary material.

If Autodesk allows the use of the iikos, feel free to use them. However, this subject is probably better brought up with Mr. Helfen and the rest of Autodesk.

Thanks for your support, and we look forward to seeing your animation! I'm interested to see a comeback of our friends the iikos, provided you receive permission to use them.

[tvictor3dart]

No offense to Autodesk but I personally despise the iiko rig. We found that it had a knee controller in its ear along with a few other glitches. It could have been that we are using Maya instead of Max but one would assume that it would work the same for either application. Again I am NOT saying that Autodesk sucks (because they clearly do not!!!), I am just saying that I was disappointed with the Maya version of the iiko rig (hence why our iiko is floating on a platform).

Did anyone else run into issues with the iiko?

[116anim_award]

We've updated the rules again!

We've clarified a number of copyright issues that have come up in the past two weeks.

We added a requirement for a summary paragraph of the animation. This likely wouldn't be done until after the animation is completed anyway, and it's short, so we hope this doesn't inconvenience any teams.

We added a link to a number of resources provided by Clayton from Team 2367 and an Animation hotline hosted by Team 250 that runs on Saturdays from 1-4PM EST.

We would also like to mention that this award is open to FTC teams as well as FRC. FTC has never really been a part of the animation award, so we would like to change that. We hope that teams will be able to join in!

[116anim_award]

We added a small update to the Rules about the use of pre-made models.

[neshera]

FIRST Team 1625 is working hard on the challenge. We have a doctor (my wife Carrie, actually!) who the Animation team captain hooked in to help mentor.

[JohnHelfen]

Hi, I had a couple of questions. The first is a general question about copyright. I know that the rules state that we're not to use copyrighted materials that the team or team members "do not own". If we have a license to use the copyrighted materials, is that sufficient?

On a related topic, and this might be better addressed to John Helfen, will Autodesk permit us to use the iikos? Obviously, the iiko is their intellectual property and since they are providing the challenge this year, if they don't grant us a license, we can't use them. I was hoping for some clarification on that score.

Thanks, and thanks again Team 116. You're winners in my book.

Sorry for the delay. It took longer than expected to receive confirmation. Anyone interested is approved to use the model and rig in the competition. Enjoy.

Thanks,

John

[dimpleravuri]

Is there still not a way to sign-up for the competition?

[116anim_award]

Is there still not a way to sign-up for the competition?

We are working on a submissions process and a sign-up as of right now. Instructions should be up soon.

[MerrimackMatt]

Team 166 has a question on the submission requirement for "1280 x 720 minimum resolution"

Is this correct? 800x600 is not acceptable?

Thanks

[116anim_award]

Team 166 has a question on the submission requirement for "1280 x 720 minimum resolution"

Is this correct? 800x600 is not acceptable?

Thanks

Yes, that is correct. :)

[MadeAtMidnight]

You know, if you are still working on the submission process, you could have the animations due next week instead.

Just an idea.... not that we need more time or anything.....:D

[ncwitte]

You know, if you are still working on the submission process, you could have the animations due next week instead.

Just an idea.... not that we need more time or anything.....:D

More time? What on earth would we do with more time??! Once this is done I can go home. Fortunately, I have pictures so I still remember what my wife looks like. Ok, I gotta get back to my slave-driving now.

HEY, YOU KIDS! WORK HARDER!!!

[116anim_award]

The wait is over! We thank you all for being patient with us while we straightened things out with our submission process.

All teams that wish to submit an animation to our competition should follow this link (http://www.mr-roboto.org/Animation/Submit/form.html) and fill in the form as thoroughly as possible.

Before filling out the form, you will need:

A Gmail account associated with your team (for voting purposes later on)
A summary of your animation
A Youtube link to your animation
Storyboard file, if you have them (.jpeg)
Any resources you used to make your animation, such as software and pre-made model sites


We might still be tweaking some parts of the form, so if there are problems, wait a few minutes then try again. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Again, thank you all for your patience. We look forward to seeing your animations!

[116anim_award]

Also, considering the delay in our submission process and the fact there are some teams that have to be at competitions this weekend, we have extended the deadline for entries.

The final due date is now Monday, March 4, 2013 at 5:00pm EST.

[MadeAtMidnight]

The final due date is now Monday, March 4, 2013 at 5:00pm EST.

Yay!!!
Thank you!

[MikeWherley]

Just over 2 hours left to submit for animation Award!

We have a number of very good submissions thus far! The following teams have submitted: 20, 75, 103, 111, 128, 166, 178, 201, 230, 281, 456, 503, 525, 811, 1504, 1625, 1671, 4213, 4296

Keep the submissions coming!

http://www.mr-roboto.org/Animation/Submit/form.html

[ncwitte]

Just curious whether there will be a site for us to view all of the submissions. With the more open challenge this year, I'm betting there's going to be some really cool stuff.

[acleetus]

This is a wonderful idea, I wish there were more opportunities like this for other competitions.

[MadeAtMidnight]

Thanks for the competition. Our team really had fun coming up with an idea and modeling the scenes. Creativity at it's best!

[JaneYoung]

Just curious whether there will be a site for us to view all of the submissions. With the more open challenge this year, I'm betting there's going to be some really cool stuff.

I'm hoping to view all of the submissions at some point, too. This development has been really fun to follow. Good luck to all of the teams who submitted to the competition!

Jane

[ncwitte]

Well, I am happy to share the link to ours. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLI_Cshwzhg

[neshera]

1504: Tremendous!
Really well done!

[ncwitte]

1504: Tremendous!
Really well done!

Thank you! I thought the kids did a wonderful job this year. Some time they're going to have to explain to me how they do it. :D

[Greg Harter]

New to posting here, but have read for several years.

First of all - a HUGE thank you to Team 116 for setting up the animation competition this year.
This years entry is posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PNNB1Fbhnw

We had a lot of fun coming up with a concept and then creating it.

Team 525 has done animations for only 3 years and are finally getting to where we feel like we have some idea of what we are doing. At the start, none of the mentors or students had ever worked with this software. But, we had students who were interested, and so we went forth.

I would also agree that it would be nice if there was a list of where all of the animations could be viewed.

[smity]

Here is Team 111's animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_snuI71GrlM

Also, Thanks to Team 116 for hosting and good luck to everyone who made an entry this year!!!!

[4296 Animation]

Thank you to team 116 for hosting this competition. This is only our second year doing animation, as well as being our second year as a team.

This is team 4296's animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wBXNGDdmhM&list=PLWrf7sn8-PjckLLuApGAHrzGMvfPGOtKa

[4296 Animation]

Thank you to team 116 of hosting this animation contest. We really appreciate it.

We has only been doing animations for only two years, as well as only being a team for two years.

Here is team 4296's animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wBXNGDdmhM

We how you enjoy!!

[MerrimackMatt]

Thank team 116 for being a leader. I am eager to have our team see all the submitted videos.
Here is the link for team 166 Chop Shop from Merrimack HS in Merrimack NH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl9cc6LVdKo

[Angeliukm]

The Team 20 animators truly appreciated the contest that 116 set up this year. With three years of strong animation prior to this and several students joining the team specifically for animation this year, it would have been a real shame if there were no contest.

This is our 2013 submission (we had some fun with this one): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k9NcBtip00

[116anim_award]

Hello everyone! We are pleased to inform you that the popular voting page is up and running!

It can be found here: http://animationsrus.org/vote.php

We encourage all teams to vote on their favorite animations and also encourage other teams to do so as well. It takes about 35 minutes or so to go through all 22 submissions, so we ask that everyone look through them all before making a decision. Remember that each team only has one vote, so choose wisely.

The deadline for voting is April 15th. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the voting process, you can put them here, PM us, or email us at team116animationaward@gmail.com

Team 116

[4296 Animation]

Our team's animation (4296) was not added to this this. Can you please add it to the list?

[dlavery]

Just a quick reminder that voting for the Underground Society of Animators (USA) Excellence in Animation Award (EAA) is open through next Monday, April 15. Each team in the FIRST community gets to cast one vote for the Creativity Award. Note that the voting is open to ALL teams – even if you did not submit an animation for the contest. You can vote here - http://animationsrus.org/vote.php

And thanks to Frank Merrick for including a mention of the USA award project in this week’s FRC Blog (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=115941).

Also, our plan is to present the awards at the FRC Championship in St Louis in a few weeks. Because this is not an official FIRST award (this year – keep your fingers crossed for next year), it won’t be presented from the big stage. We are working on the venue and timing for the presentation of the award, and have a few cool options. We will keep everyone posted, and hope to announce that part in the next day or two.

-dave


.

[dlavery]

Also, our plan is to present the awards at the FRC Championship in St Louis in a few weeks. Because this is not an official FIRST award (this year – keep your fingers crossed for next year), it won’t be presented from the big stage. We are working on the venue and timing for the presentation of the award, and have a few cool options. We will keep everyone posted, and hope to announce that part in the next day or two.

Just an update on this item. The Underground Society of Animators (USA) Excellence in Animation Awards will be presented at the beginning of the FIRST Has Talent (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115772) show on Saturday evening of the FIRST Championship weekend. We hope that many of the animation competitors will be present in St Louis, and that everyone will have a chance to show their appreciation for their efforts in person.

-dave


.

[MadeAtMidnight]

Thanks again for doing this! Our team really had fun this year. They liked having the option of doing something different. From the looks of the submissions, other teams had fun doing this as well.

[ncwitte]

For those of us who were unable to attend, have the winners been posted anywhere?

Thanks.

[dlavery]

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/375134_10151356063356816_501906357_n.jpg

Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Awards for Excellence in Animation, from the Underground Society of Animators (USA)! Three judges awards went to:

• Team 103 / Cybersonics for "Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4kEmIYoEYAA)"

• Team 811 / Cardinals for "Hansel and Gretel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yiuQDyDGXdM)"

• Team 1038 / Lakota Thunderbirds for "The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bot Wolf (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AY_QUGCgAJY)"

• The Creativity Award went to Team 20 / Rocketeers for "The Flight Of Icarus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7k9NcBtip00)"

• The Technical Excellence Award went to Team 4213 / Metal Cow Robotics for "Jack and The Silver Beanstalk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8rqt1pe9euY)"

Team 20 was in attendance at the "FIRST Has Talent" show, and has received their award. Team 4213 will have their award shipped to them. Smaller versions will also be sent to the judges award winners.

And a HUGE thank you to all the teams that submitted entries, the teams that voted, and the panel of professional judges that gave their time and attention to support the effort.

If you liked being able to participate in the animation competition, submitting for the competition, seeing and voting on the entries, knowing that your entries were seen by professional animators and film makers, or any other aspect of the USA AEA events, PLEASE let FIRST know about it! Hopefully, this year has been a great indicator of the level of interest, and an example of a cost-effective way to implement the competition process, and FIRST will reinstate the award as an official activity.

-dave


.

[MadeAtMidnight]

Congratulations to the winners!

I made a special trip over to the Autodesk area to add my support for animation next year. I don't think they were overly enthusiastic about it, but they did say they were considering it.