Yeah, the software you use to make the program is 3dsmax. It comes in a box which has a cd case which holds the cd. Autodesk is the name of the company which sells 3dsmax and endorses first. Animations must be no longer than 30 seconds, and most people use up their entire time(kinda dumb not to). What do you mean by "short samples"?

Short Samples
 

I think it was on the autodesk cd that i found some examples...one of a planet, one with a dinosaur, an ape. Little samples so you can see what exactly you can do with the program.
Hermione

my email is the_direktor@hotmail.com

our team (me and chris and about 5 other guys) is dedicted this season to helping out other teams.

Those short samples were made to display how max works and what is accomplished...some of those things are final products of tutorials.

The quickest way to learn is to begin the tutorials...from page one. Don't skip anything because you'll regret it later...if you start today in about 2 weeks you'll be well on your way to understanding the program and then you can get down to some hardcore modeling.

Due Date
 

When exactly is the animation due? And is it okay if we use last year's animation cds, because our school doesn't have Windows 98. Thanks : )
hermione

Of course you may use last years software CDs. All the animations must be at the autodesk place(read the rules) by february 21 which is much earlier than last year. You need to burn your uncompressed animation onto a CD and mail it to them (or drive if your close).

Speaking of which
 

Since I haven't had time to actually dig up the rulebook and look yet, are we still using cinepak@100% for the final output?

In the main rulebook it says teams can use any compression they want, which sounds kind of funky.

That's going to have to be clarified. They can't possibly allow that, it would create unimaginable headaches for the judges in trying to install all the necessary codecs on the player machines, not to mention finding the codecs themselves. But, for all of that.. anybody got a Bink lisence they wanna let me borrow? ;)

no not Cinepak!
 

it is really bad.... at least I have had bad luck with it.
maybe if you increase the number of keyframes to 30/sec or whatever your frame rate is

I would recommend using divx or sonsoren, they are pretty good

but first always render out uncompressed and when you put your scenes together...then use the compression

learned that the hard way last year, we had no clue what we where doing then:p

Riley

in the rule books it states that animation teams can use any compression that they want...provided it fits on a cd. SO agreeing with riley...divx would be awesome for something like this.

Just say no to cinepak.

also, any teams that are putting their robot in the animation, could you please enlighten some of us how that will work seeing as you only have 2 days after it's shipped to model and render it.

Dave,

At the risk of sounding pompous:

1. We are now near the end of the first week in a 6 week design and build cycle. Your team should have a fair idea as to what your robot will look like.

2. Ideally, a CAD model is developed B4 you build. Real world, this sometimes happens in parallel. At any rate, you should have a fair CAD model by week 3.

3. Import the CAD model into 3DSmax and animate in weeks 4 and 5.

4. Update the 3DS model with any last minute changes just before final render in week 5 and 6.

If you wait until the robot ships, you are lost...

Good Luck!

well thanks for your suggestions but our team usaully doesn't have a completed robot until week 5-6. This year could be a change however. Also from auotcad, what fle source would you import from?

DXF

Re: no not Cinepak!
 

Re:Riley -
Last year we were required to submit in 100% cinepak. Bink is the best to use if somehow we can get FIRST to swing us a lisence, otherwise it's DivX.

Thanks for the offer! We might be need some help since the only person who knows how to use max is grounded for the next two months. If we have any questions we will post or pm one of you guys.

again thanks for the offer!

a rookie member that is a senior


-liz-