Excellence in Design Awards, sponsored by Autodesk 2012

[jgoldfin]

Hi -

We have started to post some content to help prepare teams for the 2012 Season on the http://www.autodesk.com/first pages.

The FIRST Robotics Competition Award for Excellence in Design Award Sponsored by Autodesk will be part of the competition season again in 2012. Once again, we will offer students the opportunity to enter in the 3D Design and 3D Animation categories.

•3D Animation students can get started with the Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Autodesk® Maya® Learning Paths and to help you prepare for the 2012 competition season. We are making a few changes this year, and we are really looking forward to seeing what teams will do with the challenge this time around!

•3D Design Challenge this year will be new and innovative! HINT: Just do as much "Design First" as you can so you are ready for what we have in store.
More information will be available on Monday, January 9th at 12pm PST, don’t forget to check back then!

We have also created a new Facebook group that is focused on Autodesk Resources for FRC 2012, you can request to join here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/autodesk.first/
(The Group will be opened to the public on January 9th, but for now you can request to join)

Looking forward to Kick-off!

Best Regards,

[MadeAtMidnight]

Thanks for the link!

[msimon785]

Thanks! And I look forward to the challenge.

[akoscielski3]

Hi -


Once again, we will offer students the opportunity to enter in the 3D Design and 3D Animation categories.

•3D Animation students can get started with the Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Autodesk® Maya® Learning Paths and to help you prepare for the 2012 competition season. We are making a few changes this year, and we are really looking forward to seeing what teams will do with the challenge this time around!

•3D Design Challenge this year will be new and innovative! HINT: Just do as much "Design First" as you can so you are ready for what we have in store.
More information will be available on Monday, January 9th at 12pm PST, don’t forget to check back then!



Does this mean there are two awards at every competition? one for the animation and one for the design? And is the design for the 3D design of the Robot? If so, Will we have the same chance at winning this award if we use Solidworks instead of Autodesk Inventor?

[msimon785]

Does this mean there are two awards at every competition? one for the animation and one for the design? And is the design for the 3D design of the Robot? If so, Will we have the same chance at winning this award if we use Solidworks instead of Autodesk Inventor?

While your first two proposals could prove true, I am almost certain that Autodesk won't allow Solidworks submissions. The whole idea is to figure out how we utilize the tools provided in Inventor, Design Review, etc. One of the changes hinted at was the use of the Autodesk Cloud, which sounds pretty exciting.

[jgoldfin]

All will be revealed on Monday, January 9th at 12pm PST...

Happy Holidays everyone!

[Eagleeyedan]

All will be revealed on Monday, January 9th at 12pm PST...

Happy Holidays everyone!

I'll be waiting anxiously until then ;)

[Kevin Thorp]

I heard a rumor that instead of 3ds Max Max or Maya, this year we're required to use claymation and stop-motion cameras.
http://www.memecat.com/images/memes/solar_seed_claymation.jpg

[Eagleeyedan]

I heard a rumor that instead of 3ds Max Max or Maya, this year we're required to use claymation and stop-motion cameras.
http://www.memecat.com/images/memes/solar_seed_claymation.jpg

I doubt it but if so, I've done a lot of that too :D

[Bax2996]

I heard a rumor that instead of 3ds Max Max or Maya, this year we're required to use claymation and stop-motion cameras.
http://www.memecat.com/images/memes/solar_seed_claymation.jpg

Hah well that would certainly be new and innovative, (for the animation teams that is)

[jgoldfin]

To teams and mentors participating in the 2012 Excellence in Design Award - 3D Design and Animation categories..

We are experiencing minor delays in being able to post the 2012 Official Rules, and will be posting them shortly. Please don't worry about deadlines, the timeframe for the competition will be adjusted accordingly. We will be posting new training resources for 3D Animation shortly as well.

Thank you for your understanding and support, we will be communicating with you on a regular basis about this.

Best Regards,

[Team 3705]

Good news for my team :)

[NoQuestions]

Ahhh the suspense is killing me!

And my phone has been going off every few hours recently with my animation friends asking me if the prompt has been released. My animation crew is dedicated I guess, heh. At least this leaves us with some extra time to practice :D

[jgoldfin]

Hi -

Thank you for your patience - The Official Rules will be posted very soon, we are in the final stretch, i promise.

I am excited to share the following with teams...

For those of you who are planning to participate in the 2012 Excellence in Design Award Sponsored by Autodesk, in the 3D Animation category, we have created a series of NEW learning content just for you!

Visit our Digital STEAM curriculum site that teaches you how to create a 30-sec animation from start to finish. Download the Project Videos (over 60 videos in total!) and Project Files where you’ll find storyboard templates, character rigs and much, much more!

http://curriculum.autodesk.com/student/public/Level3/overview/project_id/34

Enjoy!

[jgoldfin]

Hi Everyone -

We have finally closed on the contest rules, and they will be posted to www.autodesk.com/first as soon as possible.

As soon as they are available, i will post both here and on our Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/autodesk.first/

Thank you for your patience, we are very excited for the 2012 season and hope you enjoy the challenge.

Animators - start your systems!

[lisasaurusrex]

The animation prompt has been posted at students.autodesk.com. Good luck everyone!

[jgoldfin]

The Official Rules and Contest Descriptions for the Excellence in Design Contest are now available! Please visit the “2012 Awards” tab for more information. There you will also find links to product training, tips and tricks for submitting your entry and more!

www.autodesk.com/first

[Eagleeyedan]

From how I read it we are actually supposed to show it in schools? Is that correct or am I reading too far into it.

[jgoldfin]

Daniel, I am not sure what you mean with your last question?

[DaveC]

The rules state that an animation may get a score of 100 points. Looking at the scoring section of the rules I see 50 points accounted for: Concept-to-completion, 20 pts; Creativity, 20 pts; Technical execution, 10 pts. What am I missing.

-Dave

[tvictor3dart]

Anyone know where I can find an Iiko Rig for Maya?

Checked autodesk quickly but couldn't find anything.

Thanks
-Crash

[Bob Steele]

Please note that you will have to learn to use Inventor Publisher this year and teams will not be submitting a robot design as we have done in the past.
I am not sure why this change has occurred...
(This is for the Design Challenge)

[JDBohanon234]

Please note that you will have to learn to use Inventor Publisher this year and teams will not be submitting a robot design as we have done in the past.
I am not sure why this change has occurred...
(This is for the Design Challenge)

I noticed this also. Our team utilized Publisher and the mobile app that links with it last year, but only as a promotional device at competitions and demos. It seems as though this total shift from robot design to marketability is to perhaps level the playing field a little, with the finer CAD not as heavily influenced, while it also attracts more teams that are adept with the Autodesk animation software to participate in the 3D Design competition. This is all merely speculation.

[jgoldfin]

Hi -

A few things..

The score is is out of 50 - we will be fixing that shortly.

As for the rigs - all the 3d files, including rigs, storyboard templates, etc can be found in our within the Project Packet included in the Digital STEAM learning content we created for the competition: http://curriculum.autodesk.com/student/public/Level3/packet/project_id/34

Thanks!
Jennifer

[Mongai]

Entries for either category of the Contest
must be received by Sponsor between 12:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on February
17, 2012 and 4:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on March 30, 2012 (the “Entry Period”).

Wait, are you saying that BOTH awards compete nationally?

[Koko Ed]

Why is the animation no longer a regional based award?

[Mongai]

Why is the animation no longer a regional based award?
I just checked this link right here

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2012_Assets/2012_frc_regional_awards.pdf

And turns out that the Excellence in Design award is still listed as a regional award. But the Autodesk prompt causes some confusion. I'm not sure which one to reference...

[Eagleeyedan]

Daniel, I am not sure what you mean with your last question?

From what I read it seemed like you wanted us to actually show our animation in the schools. Or is that just part of the story?

[Koko Ed]

I just checked this link right here

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2012_Assets/2012_frc_regional_awards.pdf

And turns out that the Excellence in Design award is still listed as a regional award. But the Autodesk prompt causes some confusion. I'm not sure which one to reference...

Autodesk is running the contest so I think I am more apt to take what they say as gospel truth but I would like clarification on the matter.

[jgoldfin]

Mongai & Koko Ed - The Excellence in Design Award - 3D Animation is only at Championships this year, but we could also be doing something similar to the Wilburs again too.

Eagleeyedan - That's part of the story.

[Mongai]

Mongai & Koko Ed - The Excellence in Design Award - 3D Animation is only at Championships this year, but we could also be doing something similar to the Wilburs again too.

Eagleeyedan - That's part of the story.
I'm curious as to why you decided to do that this year. Is it because there were few animations submitted at competition?

[George C]

Not very GP to exclude the team from Puerto Rico and the 32 teams from Quebec.

[Kevin Thorp]

I'm curious as to why you decided to do that this year. Is it because there were few animations submitted at competition?

Some Regionals had more participation than others. If a Regional only had 1 entry they'd win just by showing up!

I'm disappointed there are no Regional awards, but they have increased the National awards - 20 finalists, 1st, 2nd & 3rd place, plus a rookie award.

[jgoldfin]

@GeorgeC - We didn't want to exclude anyone, but some a provinces like Quebec have very, very specific and detailed requirements for contests, and we were not able to include them at this time, we did explore the options. Unfortunately, this happens very often to Quebec residents in many contests, not just ours. (I happen to be from and based in Montreal, QC)

@Mongai -That's pretty much the case, there were quite a few regionals last year that only had one entry, and we also had a lot of comments that there wasn't enough time to put together an animation in 5 weeks, especially for rookie teams. Since the voting for Championships had no input from the regional awards anyway, we chose to focus on Championships, build comprehensive training material, create an online platform for voting and sharing content, and opening up a few more categories that all this would make the competition and the entries even stronger.

We are always looking for feedback to make things better, so please continue to ask questions and post your comments on the forums, we read them all!

Best Regards -

[George Nishimura]

@GeorgeC - We didn't want to exclude anyone, but some a provinces like Quebec have very, very specific and detailed requirements for contests, and we were not able to include them at this time, we did explore the options. Unfortunately, this happens very often to Quebec residents in many contests, not just ours. (I happen to be from and based in Montreal, QC)

@Mongai -That's pretty much the case, there were quite a few regionals last year that only had one entry, and we also had a lot of comments that there wasn't enough time to put together an animation in 5 weeks, especially for rookie teams. Since the voting for Championships had no input from the regional awards anyway, we chose to focus on Championships, build comprehensive training material, create an online platform for voting and sharing content, and opening up a few more categories that all this would make the competition and the entries even stronger.

We are always looking for feedback to make things better, so please continue to ask questions and post your comments on the forums, we read them all!

Best Regards -

Just to be clear - we can submit to the Championship award without necessarily being at Championship right? [Also being in London doesn't disqualify us right?]

Thanks.

[jgoldfin]

@Gnishi2011 - Correct on both counts.

[DylanE34]

I've been looking all over the place for the Iiko rig, I've downloaded every file off of the STEAM site and still kind find the Iiko.

I have last year's Iiko rig, would it be okay if I used that one if I can't find this year's?

[elysiadrake]

I've been looking all over the place for the Iiko rig, I've downloaded every file off of the STEAM site and still kind find the Iiko.

I have last year's Iiko rig, would it be okay if I used that one if I can't find this year's?

Did you set the folder as your central directory? I haven't downloaded it yet, but I assume it's "IkoRig_MaxProject" as it was last year. Anyway, if you set it as the root of your project and open the scene in the folder, the iiko should be there, I think.

[1640animation]

I seem to have an error to the extent of "Cannot find DLL "CAT.DLC"." It is telling me that i don't have the most updated version of CAT, but i have installed and reinstalled, and used the repair function of autodesk 3ds max 2012, the newest version on their website, multiple times. I'm just curious if anybody else is having this problem, or maybe i simply downloaded the wrong file. The file that i'm trying to open was from http://curriculum.autodesk.com/student/public/Level3/packet/project_id/34, and the file name is "03 Rigging - Iiko rigged CAT"

If anyone has any information about this, or if they're experiencing the same problem, i'd love to know. Thanks.

Oh, and i also ran a quick search and found that i do, in fact, have the cat.dlc file, yet the error persists.

[Eagleeyedan]

I seem to have an error to the extent of "Cannot find DLL "CAT.DLC"." It is telling me that i don't have the most updated version of CAT, but i have installed and reinstalled, and used the repair function of autodesk 3ds max 2012, the newest version on their website, multiple times. I'm just curious if anybody else is having this problem, or maybe i simply downloaded the wrong file. The file that i'm trying to open was from http://curriculum.autodesk.com/student/public/Level3/packet/project_id/34, and the file name is "03 Rigging - Iiko rigged CAT"

If anyone has any information about this, or if they're experiencing the same problem, i'd love to know. Thanks.

Oh, and i also ran a quick search and found that i do, in fact, have the cat.dlc file, yet the error persists.

I am having the same problem. I asked on Facebook about it but no replies yet. I was just coming here to ask it.

[Eagleeyedan]

I've been looking all over the place for the Iiko rig, I've downloaded every file off of the STEAM site and still kind find the Iiko.

I have last year's Iiko rig, would it be okay if I used that one if I can't find this year's?

I found a mesh of the iiko but no rig for it this year so yeah, I'm just using last year's rig.

[Eagleeyedan]

@GeorgeC - We didn't want to exclude anyone, but some a provinces like Quebec have very, very specific and detailed requirements for contests, and we were not able to include them at this time, we did explore the options. Unfortunately, this happens very often to Quebec residents in many contests, not just ours. (I happen to be from and based in Montreal, QC)

@Mongai -That's pretty much the case, there were quite a few regionals last year that only had one entry, and we also had a lot of comments that there wasn't enough time to put together an animation in 5 weeks, especially for rookie teams. Since the voting for Championships had no input from the regional awards anyway, we chose to focus on Championships, build comprehensive training material, create an online platform for voting and sharing content, and opening up a few more categories that all this would make the competition and the entries even stronger.

We are always looking for feedback to make things better, so please continue to ask questions and post your comments on the forums, we read them all!

Best Regards -

The ONE thing that always has irked me and I would literally jump for joy and so would the rest of my team if you changed it, is the time limit. We have and AWESOME story plot this year and last year as well (it's hard not to with the Iiko ;) ) but we have less than half the time to do it in. We feel limited and held back by the short time limit. Last year, our animation quality was good. Modeling was great and so was the animation but overall was choppy because we didn't have enough time to concisely state our point in the time given. This year, we are going to have to cut a lot out in order to keep it short. Even if you extend it to 1:00 that would really make life easier. It's hard to do some of the shots we want to do in only a few seconds when they really need around 10 seconds to make it look good otherwise we are going to run into the same problem as before and it's going to be choppy.

Now this might be because, at least this year, we are going with more of a movie style animation instead of the usual narrated story and not as much comedy but more dramatic feelings. If you'd extend the time limit to 1:00-5:00 that would be a lot easier to work with.

If you could PLEASE change it for this year I would be sooooo happy! I realize you might be trying to make us have to do cuts but if we were to do what we want with the story it could EASILY end up being a 10 minute short movie. If you don't extend it, we probably will make it anyway just for fun though :D

Just a thought. :]

[smity]

Not that this is what Eagleeyedan was saying but has anyone noticed the extended time to work on the animation. I'm reffering to the entry period from February 17th to March 30th. This means we have about ten weeks instead of the usual 4-5 weeks.

My team is excited to get the extra time to develop a stronger story, maybe this year we'll actually create some materials from scratch or do some sound editing!

[rastermon]

Not that this is what Eagleeyedan was saying but has anyone noticed the extended time to work on the animation. I'm referring to the entry period from February 17th to March 30th. This means we have about ten weeks instead of the usual 4-5 weeks.

My team is excited to get the extra time to develop a stronger story, maybe this year we'll actually create some materials from scratch or do some sound editing!

I did not realize this - so we have from now until March 30 to complete the animation, and can upload it starting Feb 17. I thought Feb 17 was the deadline!
Good news.

[smity]

I read the award cover to cover several times before believing that it wasn't a typo. We should see some more intense and developed animation this year. I hope ours is on par with everyone else's animations.

[rastermon]

The ONE thing that always has irked me and I would literally jump for joy and so would the rest of my team if you changed it, is the time limit. ....... EASILY end up being a 10 minute short movie. If you don't extend it, we probably will make it anyway just for fun though :D

Just a thought. :]
I encourage you to make that 10 minute movie, but can you imagine hundreds of teams submitting 5 -10 minute HD videos? Judging would take forever and data uploads would be through the roof. 30 seconds is enough for commercials to tell us a short story, sell us something or get a message across. Some better than others. Creativity is as much about constraints as anything else. My 2.5 cents.

[Eagleeyedan]

I encourage you to make that 10 minute movie, but can you imagine hundreds of teams submitting 5 -10 minute HD videos? Judging would take forever and data uploads would be through the roof. 30 seconds is enough for commercials to tell us a short story, sell us something or get a message across. Some better than others. Creativity is as much about constraints as anything else. My 2.5 cents.

It's easier to promote a product then tell a story in 30 seconds though :P If it were just a minute long it would be a lot nicer. But, it is as it is so that's how it will be ;)

[KrakatoaCoo]

Is there any information on the submission? I know it's a bit early though. :)

[TomT_1517]

It's easier to promote a product then tell a story in 30 seconds though :P If it were just a minute long it would be a lot nicer. But, it is as it is so that's how it will be ;)

How about make that 10 minute movie, cut a :30 trailer for the competition, and share the full-length version with the rest of us through this forum? I know we'd love to see it!

[Eagleeyedan]

How about make that 10 minute movie, cut a :30 trailer for the competition, and share the full-length version with the rest of us through this forum? I know we'd love to see it!

Interesting idea. Today we totally changed our format though so we got a new story type to fit it in the time limit. We are still planning on the short movie though :D That'll be a summer project though.

[DaveC]

Is there a volume max/min for the animation's soundtrack? I didn't spot one in the Award specification and I didn't see one in the YouTube guidelines.

-Dave

[Eagleeyedan]

I don't see anywhere mention of length of the credits in the rules. Am I blind or are there no restrictions? I just see mention that they won't be judged but no limit on how long they have to be.

Also, it says it must be rendered at 24FPS. Why is that if the standard is 32 FPS in film and 3DS MAX's default is 30 FPS. Is that to try to keep it at the 50MB limit?

[KrakatoaCoo]

Is there a volume max/min for the animation's soundtrack? I didn't spot one in the Award specification and I didn't see one in the YouTube guidelines.

-Dave

Well, I believe that every soundtrack should at least be "normalized". Before you apply the soundtrack in your video editor, you can either find a normalize plugin for your video editor,

or install Audacity (it's free btw) and use the normalize plugin that comes with the install. :)

I don't see anywhere mention of length of the credits in the rules. Am I blind or are there no restrictions? I just see mention that they won't be judged but no limit on how long they have to be.

Also, it says it must be rendered at 24FPS. Why is that if the standard is 32 FPS in film and 3DS MAX's default is 30 FPS. Is that to try to keep it at the 50MB limit?

What I have done in the past is render the animation with 30fps, and in the video editor, save the video as 24fps and the included specifications. :)

[Eagleeyedan]

Well, I believe that every soundtrack should at least be "normalized". Before you apply the soundtrack in your video editor, you can either find a normalize plugin for your video editor,

or install Audacity (it's free btw) and use the normalize plugin that comes with the install. :)



What I have done in the past is render the animation with 30fps, and in the video editor, save the video as 24fps and the included specifications. :)

I've done that too but then it looks a bit slow. Probably easier then trying to figure out how many FPS to animate by when you are trying to multiply by 24 ;) but still, I'm curious as to why it's set like that.

[Bax2996]

I don't see anywhere mention of length of the credits in the rules. Am I blind or are there no restrictions? I just see mention that they won't be judged but no limit on how long they have to be.



I'm pretty sure that the length of the credit sequence is unlimited as long as the file size requirements are met. :D

[playbass06]

Also, it says it must be rendered at 24FPS. Why is that if the standard is 32 FPS in film and 3DS MAX's default is 30 FPS. Is that to try to keep it at the 50MB limit?

I think 24 fps is the standard for film, not 32 fps. NTSC and PAL use 24 (well, 23.98) fps as well.

[Eagleeyedan]

I think 24 fps is the standard for film, not 32 fps. NTSC and PAL use 24 (well, 23.98) fps as well.

I guess my dad has his camera set too high :P He got an HD one though so that might explain it.

[JDBohanon234]

Pardon me for awakening a dead post, but I have a question about the 3D Design submission. I understand that it is to be a :30 to 2:00 video output from Autodesk Inventor Publisher, but are we allowed to use any effects programs for some of the finer editing points?

[kcd-adskmfg]

JD,

That is actually a great question and thanks for asking it.

As we are looking for the submission to be in a .mov format, there is opportunity for utilizing other programs to produce that output from the original Inventor Publisher .avi file. We are looking for how your design or subsystem works so you can certainly provide as much information as you feel is needed in the video as long as it shows your design intent. This is not meant to be too much like the animation award but we understand you may want to refine things a bit so please do what you feel is needed to make the design clear and concise as well as give credit where it is due. :)

Look for more from Phil Dollan in his upcoming webinars about the 3D Design Awards and let us know if you have more questions.

Hopefully that answered your question.

Kim Campbell-Djuric
Autodesk, Inc.

[jgoldfin]

Hi -

The submission PROCESS for the Excellence in Design Awards has been posted today, Friday, February 17th:

http://students.autodesk.com/ama/orig/AutodeskFRC_2012SubmissionProcess.pdf

Teams can sign up now and register on the appropriate sites to submit, in order not to have to do this part at the last minute.

Jennifer

[Duke461]

Didn't feel like starting a new thread, i just have one question.

Are we allowed to use another program to do a voice-over?

Thanks,
-Duke

[tvictor3dart]

Quick question; where do we submit the animations this year? Another mentor submitted ours last year so I am not exactly sure where to upload our submission. Thanks

[DaveC]

Yes (I use Audacity). In the scoring section the contest rules state "Technical Execution ... will be measured in terms of how skillfully your team ... has incorporated other elements into the animation that are not usually a function of the Autodesk software used, such as voice-over, music, photography, or live video."

-Dave

[Kevin Thorp]

Quick question; where do we submit the animations this year? Another mentor submitted ours last year so I am not exactly sure where to upload our submission. Thanks

Here ya go: http://students.autodesk.com/ama/orig/AutodeskFRC_ContestRules_021712.pdf