Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Don't underestimate the value of a good post like yours.

You have written that you have received a scholarship to the school of your choice and that you are going into 3d animation. You have also explained a little bit of how you got involved in animation on your team. More stories like this should be told. It's stories like this that can help the animation program grow.

Last I looked, FIRST wasn't an acronym for inspiration and recognition of robots. It was and is an acronym for inspiration and recognition of science and technology. Animation fits in with that very nicely.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

One of my animation kids said the video scarred her for life so I punished her for slacking by putting it on the computer and ruined her day.
No Woodie Flowers for me. (mwhahahahahaha!)

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

A complete reversal for the Toltechs, 499, is that we did not submit an entry this year for he first time in five years. The teacher/sponsor we had did not work with the team this year because the school district changed her program from an animation sequence to a photoshop/digital graphics sequence so no ready supply of talent.

As of 8:00 PM February 21st = 105 entries and none for Lone Star or Bayou Regional. Any entry to either would have been a guaranteed trophy:eek:

So time to start rebuilding the program for next year begins today:ahh:

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Team 1726 entered an animation this year, but it's not up on the site just yet it seems. I'm sure with more time we'll see FIRST put up more animations, hopefully!

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

It's at least true for my team, and seems like it would be true of others, that if your mentor or team members are frustrated by dwindling numbers or repeated failure to make it to Atlanta, that animation is dumped, and they ditch training the freshmen in order to make a better robot.

[whine]
It's difficult in Hawaii in particular, because there are so few engineers here. Anyone who wants to be an engineer has to leave the islands to get a decent degree, and only a handful return, most work for the armed services... As a result we seem to have a distinct lack of engineers, animators, CAD users, or their children.
[/whine]

all that means though is that we all have to work harder to recruit and train new younglings.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

I support FIRST and AutoCAD in the animation portion of the FRC. It gives students a look at an emerging part of technical design that is becoming a standard tool in the architects and engineers knowledge base.

For those that say it is not directly part of the robotics build, then why don't we get rid of all the other supporting aspects of a FIRST robotics team?...such as websites, community outreach, public relations (t shirts, giveaways, etc) what you have left is a tradtional science fair, which FIRST is not.

We celebrate all aspects of science, technology, engineering and math; and have a great time doing it.

As someone said..."It is not people building robots, but robots building people".

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Some schools are bringing Project Lead the Way in as a way to teach students CAD and other various aspects of engineering. http://www.pltw.org/

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

375's animation team was started by myself and a friend when we were in our sophomore year of high school. We self taught ourselves and since then the team has submitted an animation every single year without the help of a mentor that had any knowledge of the program before we came along.

The animation component of FRC has, at least in our school, brought in students to the team that might otherwise not have been interested in making a robot. But from the animation they branched out to making a website and this year assisting in making our Chairman's Award video.

In addition, this year the head of our animation team is also going to be part of the drive crew.

I definitely think doing the animation is worthwhile as it leads students to be creative and also to learn a new skill that will definitely be useful should they move on to a technical career after high school and college.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Our other teammates used to make fun of our animation team - until we won a regional visualization award and the whole team got to go down to the floor to accept.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Well, then I suppose 397 shouldnt be doing an animation, we had more students want to do animation than wanted to build a robot. We still completed a robot.

By the way, who says you have to submit the animation you do? Or even follow FIRST's rules? Heresy I know, but Id rather have the students make something they want and have fun doing it than to have them not enjoy it. This is part of the reason 397 didnt actually submit our animation this year.

Also, if people are making fun of the animation team there needs to be a chat with the team, students should be allowed to follow their passions (within some limits) without fear of being mocked. I remember in my junior year I was doing an animation and one of the mentors told me that no one cared about the animation. I still recall that as one of the most offensive things ever said to me in FIRST. So animators, if you are being mocked by others on your team dont sit back and take it, respond with some snide remark about how all they do is hit stuff with a hammer, you are an artist! *



*Ok seriously, dont be a jerk back, that was a joke. Do let them know that you are doing what you feel is important. Don't ever let anyone else crush your dreams.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

There's 141 entries now.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

For the past few years we've had a strong animation team. When a mechanical student teases an animation student it doesn't bother them at all. Both sides respect each other (but that doesn't stop the kidding) :D

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

WHOOO!!! AMEN BROTHER!!

yes same thing happened to me. I was so mad. I told her I was part of the team, and doing something for the team, and therefore should be allowed to work at the bot shop, and not be kicked off the team.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Not everyone sees the big picture or the whole picture - including some mentors. It takes patience, determination, and mentoring the mentors in some areas, sometimes. Students can be very wise mentors, sometimes. Animation is a part of the FRC competition along with submission opportunities like the website, the Chairman's, the Woodie Flowers. There are veteran teams who choose not to submit for the Woodie Flowers Award. That one boggles my mind. Anyway - animation may not be understood by a team until someone or a few someones decide(s) that this is the year and make(s) it happen. Then it can become an aha moment and a celebration. An exhausted one, for sure, but a celebration, win, lose, or draw. And the finished animation can be showcased on the website and used for promotion/marketing purposes at demos.

Re: Fewer Animations?
 

Up to 186 entries now, maybe we will get to last years benchmark after all.