thanks for the tips. by the way can u pls keep the post on topic instead of web hosting and stuff?

sagely wisdom...
 

As I'm on a rookie team, I don't know that I can offer a logistical analysis of starting next year's animation, but I can share our team's anticlimactic experience. Our animator's submission was going to be this huge, towering cinematic work. It had thousands upon thousands of polygons and looked perfectly stunning in the stills. But the actual modeling wasn't done until four days before it was due, and it took six days to render. That's probably partly because it was rendered at 1600x1200 pixels, 30fps, and was completely ray traced, but the moral is this: If you, like all other illustrators/animators, are a perfectionist, it's never too early to start.

In my opionion this was stickin to the topic. Part of the animation competition (evern though it isn't in the rules) is to show it off to people. A good webhost helps with this as most teams will not see your animation if they aren't at your regional. Also, a good website allows for better sharing of information and collaboration between team members. Part of our site is a file depository where we can upload what we have been working on so everyone can see and learn from it. Also, for us animation kids, designing and maintaining a website is something to do in the off season instead of bulding mini bots and such.

I guess im done defending him now :)
And with that said, i'll interject my own preference for free php hosting

http://lycos.co.uk <-- free php+mysql, only one ad that isn't static and dissapears 5-10 seconds after showing up. Good interface and again FREE! They are about to move their datacenter though so i suggest signing up soon as i think they are suspending signups during that time.

Actually it wasnt- this thread is about starting your animation early- not showing it off. Just because its in the animation section of the forum- doesn't mean anything goes- thats why there is a menu of threads in the beginning

Now for the real post-

Its obviously a great Idea to get as much software time when learning 3D. Most of you can get a jump on some of the more advanced tutorials, try some special effects, work on lighting techniques, etc. Check out 3Dcafe.com and the3dstudio.com for help if you get through all your other tutorials.

As far as the actual animation, I think its only fair to wait to next year when all the software ships. This way you dont have an unfair advantage over a bran new team. Ofcourse, theres nothing to stop you from using models and textures from a previous animation (which could be your off season animation).

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Animation Post-Season
 

I think animating in the off season is a good idea, train newbies and improve your own skills is nice. Also making useful objects, tables, chairs, computers, etc can come in handy in future animations.

I wouldn't start next year's animation though. My team tried that for the 2002 competition, and they completely changed the topic. My team will probably make an animation, but not on a particular topic, just on anything we feel like.

Well, right now I'm trying to model the Imperial Star Destroyer as practice since I will most likely be doing animation next year. It's doing pretty good so far. I mostly just used lines, and very few solid blocks. Only the base of it is done however.

Right now it is wise to gather ideas and practice, but some modeling of complex thigs may also be wise.

Since most things do not change you can really do your entire animation except for the robot and the field (which may be a team’s entire animation). However out of gracious professionalism, I would not do too much ahead of time, since it is not breaking, but circumventing the rules.

My 2/1/2 cents