2011 Animation Contest
 

I'm a little concerned that there is no award listed for 2011 animation. We have already put in a ton of time getting ready for this. Does anyone know if this has been dropped from the 2011 season? and if there is, has the judging beed upgraded? TIA

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

The answer to this and many other questions is in the manual here

Look in section 6.5

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

This is the latest I could find.
http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Rob...-%20Awards.pdf

They are usually behind on the animation topic. We might see it today or even tomorrow.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

They say it will be posted tomorrow.....
Complete information about the Award, including submittal format, deadlines, criteria, and judging process will be posted by January 10, 2011 on the FIRST website and on the FIRST section of the Autodesk Education Community at: www.autodesk.com/first.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

We would be interested in online FRC team mentor assistance for Maya. Is there anyone here who would be willing to answer questions that we can't figure out on our own this season?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Confusion every year, and this is no different. Autodesk.com/first seems to be busy and sporatic, but no mention of the animation topic. If anyone finds the topic, please paste it to a thread here!
Thanks

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

The press release here says

Sounds a bit familiar... and perhaps incorrect?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I think you'll find this is a great place to post questions about 3ds Max & Maya. You'll probably get answers within an hour or two. Just try to be as specific as possible in your thread title.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

hmm... the site (http://students.autodesk.com) has been down for a couple hours. I suppose that's a good sign. Maybe it means Autodesk is in the process of updating the site with the 2011 rules.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

That would seem to be what is mentioned in this thread.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Greetings from Australia!
I would love to help your team. You may post your questions on CD and I'll try to check often. Also you can email me at tonywu15@gmail.com

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

The great thing about posting questions here is everybody can see the answers.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Now I'm incredibly worried. It's been all day and not a word from Autodesk on the award.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Hi everyone. Just came out of my animation cave to say hi, I'm here to help with the new year.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Unfortunately Autodesk is always late posting the contest info. :( I know it's frustrating but we just have to be patient.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Is there no animation prompt this year :confused: My animation team and I have been looking for hours and there's been no indication of any prompt being released.

The prompt was supposed to be unveiled on sunday but then it was supposedly postoned to today and yet still no prompt

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I have had the same feeling from time to time but Autodesk normally takes their time in posting the animation prompt.

If you look in section 6.5 of the manual there is an award listed for the animation. Hopefully we get the prompt on tuesday(today).

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Chomping at the bit...

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Thats exactly what I thought! Maybe they dont remember....

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Does anyone else have a terrible time trying to navigate te educational community? Just logging on always seems to be a problem. Then they told me they changed me username?!?! Just always seems too complicated.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

No. So far I haven't had a problem, Elizabeth. Our challenge today is that Charlotte NC is covered in snow and ice. We look like beautiful South Portland Maine in the wintertime, or Kintnersville PA did much of last winter. While we are waiting, perhaps any of you could give a rookie animation team some advice. What are the top two mistakes that we should avoid and how? Also, can you list which animation software package(s) you plan to use this year?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

As by time crunch experience, DO NOT wait till the last couple days to render. Based on how complicated your animation is, it has even taken me a day or two of nonstop rendering. Plan to have everything rendered at least two days before the deadline.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

top mistakes that our team has run into and now we plan for are, expect problems wether those problems are weather, computers malfunctioning, render time or things taking longer to model and texture.

Also, watch when you are modeling if you have scenes that have 100k+ faces it can take a while to render.

along with what evilyn said, Give yourself time to render and get everything together, at least 4 days is what my team goes by and then a day to put everything together.

I'm not sure how your work situation is but don't be afraid to leave computers rendering over night, if you can, that way you don't have to waste time just sitting around to wait for renders to finish when you could be working on something else.

On a side note the comment under award at(firstbase.autodesk.com) changed to "COMING SOON - Information on the 2011 Award!" Maybe we will have a prompt by noon

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

"Team Spork" - What a great name!

I know you asked for 2, but here are the top 3 rookie mistakes, in my opinion:

1. Not using the available free help & training resources (this site, other 3ds Max forums, YouTube tutorials and http://students.autodesk.com).

2. Not reading the rules thoroughly. There are very specific requirements for file type, video length, titling, copyrighted music, etc. It's heartbreaking to hear about a rookie team that put hundreds of hours into their animation only to have it disqualified because they misunderstood a rule.

3. Trying to model & animate humans. This is very difficult and without a lot of experience they end up looking & walking like zombies.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Thanks so far. We've been working on the rendering capability, knowing that is an issue. I'd like to start that process a week ahead of the deadline because we have never done this before. By all means, don't limit yourself to only two suggestions if you have more! Is anyone else using Maya besides us? Most animation teams seem to have two to seven students on them. How many hours, approximately, does it take your teams to do these animations (an estimated range)?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I honestly don't mean to brag at all, but I've been working with 3ds max for 2 years and won the Florida regional last year. I worked alone because there wasn't anyone else who wanted to do it. I just want to affirm that it's do-able but it takes a lot of "Oooo what does this do!?!" kinda thinking. Don't be afraid to explore, even during build season. You'll probably find yourself making things once, and starting over several times. Don't get discouraged.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

1. Read read read all the requirements
2. Understand the deadline for submission. This is a 2 part award (either/or/and) and the submission deadlines are not the same day
3. Give yourself a day for uploading the file for submission. Took us hours to do last year.
4. Build a render farm and get very familiar with it

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

We are using Maya on Macs for artwork and are building a Maya/Mental Ray Server Farm on Windows.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

hmmmmm...

I keep going to FIRSTbase for the award announcement. Now the web page can not even be accessed. Maybe this is good sign and they are updating the site as we speak.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Well, at least they changed the message when you go to the Awards tab of http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=first_home

Now (1:00pm eastern time) I see "COMING SOON - Information on the 2011 Award!"

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I have been confused every year - FRC-Autodesk login and a general Autodesk login. They are working on a single-sign-on hopefully fix it, but I have had problems with that as well. I am a mentor but do not have a .edu email. They have you pick if you are a student or a teacher. Then they ask you to confirm you are a teacher. Well, I'm teaching, but not a teacher. What do I do with that?
I filled out a survey as Autodesk asked me when I recently visited the site. I hope they fix their UI.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I've had a lot of trouble also. Wouldn't recognize me, so I thought I had forgotten password, had them send to my email address. Reset password, still didn't work, tried to reset again and it told me it was resetting the password for someone else's account. Cancelled that and thought I would have them send my user name instead. They said that the email address wasn't in the system, even though they had just sent me the link to reset password with that email address...

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I've had problems logging on there and navigating the web pages too. Seems overly complicated. I guess it's because they're trying to encompass ALL student activities (high school & college); not just FIRST.

Maybe they're delaying the contest rules to build excitement?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Or they're pretty much just like us and procrastinated.. "oh wait! We forgot about the animatos!!" like always.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

They already set a deadline for when they were to post the prompt; obviously, they are having some technical difficulties or they are running behind. In fact, most likely it is a combination of both.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

THE ANIMATION HAS BEEN POSTED!!!!

http://students.autodesk.com/ama/ori...odeskAward.pdf


The prompt is: "CHANGE THEIR WORLD"

seems oddly familiar to change your world from last year....

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Where do we find the iiko character rig?
The website is giving me problems...

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

YESSSS FINALLY! :DDD

This seems really similiar to last year's prompt haha but then again the game is also reminiscent to the '07 game haha

Anyone know where to find the iiko rig/model?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

FIRSTbase is now open for award info and for getting the Kit of Part Files

http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=first_home



Q: When is the entry deadline for the 3D Animation Award?
A: Submit your animation Entry meeting all requirements by the deadline on Tuesday February 15, 2011,
5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time

Q: When is the entry deadline for the 3D Design Award?
A: All entries must be submitted with all associated files through the Autodesk Education Community
site www.autodesk.com/first not later than Thursday, March 3, 2011, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

As Tony has noted we'd be more than willing to help with any problems you have, please don't hesitate to ask. The only stupid question is one that hasn't been asked.

OT: This is going to be a very interesting animation...

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Well, that's because the past like 3 years have been the same prompt pretty much.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Works for us, our human was supposed to be a zombie :eek: http://bbrobotics.org/mul_video.aspx

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Ah finally it's out. Due Feb 15th?? Only 1 month eep! Better get started.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Yeahhh. Im def not finding the rigg.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Yup, the rig is not up yet.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I need the H246 codec. Where can I get it? :confused:

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Which video editing software are you using?

If you want to export straight to a video file then using 3DS Max you can export straight to a .MOV which is H264

AVC stands for Advanced Video Coding. Actually its identical to H.264 so you can find it as H.264, H.264/AVC, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 Part 10.

Using Quicktime 7 Pro you can encode videos using H.264 in both Windows and Mac OS X platforms.

Hope that helps a bit.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Jeremy posted the pdf on page three of this thread; some of the pages contain your animation information. I am not aware that anyone has posted a link to the rig yet, however. Let us know if anyone notices that it is available.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Video Post has an H.246 codec output option. Video Post comes with 3DS Max; it's on the "Rendering" menu. It's not as easy to use as Quicktime Pro, but you already have it.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Render as image sequence or video ----> import to your favorite video editing software ----> Export as video or image sequence ----> import to MAX Video Post -----> export as H264

:) i think it should be better to export as a lossless image (I think PNG is good) sequence for the intermediate stages rather than video.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

This was just posted in another thread:

http://area.autodesk.com/3december/migs

If you go to that link there is a nav. panel on the right side that has ikorig for download

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I found that AVS Video Converter has H.246. Thank you everyone. :)

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Hey I'm new to this whole... thing, kinda.

How do you open the character rig?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I've been having trouble getting the iiko textured as well....

Think we can modify the texture they gave us a little bit? i like the little blue guy that was on the page with the download more then the textures they gave us

The rig its self is in the scenes folder that should have been downloaded with everything.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Yeah just open up "rascal_DIFF_u1_v1.jpg" and "rascal_DIFF_u2_v1.jpg" in Photoshop and use the Color Replacement Tool to change the skin to whatever color you want. My Iiko is now green and purple :) haha my team's colors :D

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I'm new to that 3D animation thing, do you think I still manage to create a 30sec animation...?
I have experience on animating, but no 3D...

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

It depends what you have had experience with. FIRST requires that animators use 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, or something else I can't remember to create your submission. You should at least be a bit familiar with the basics of the interfaces of one of these programs.
My first year, I learned most of 3ds Max by looking up tutorials, and for learning Maya I went to a 3-week summer camp.
I guess it depends how good you are with a) any of the required programs b) learning a program and/or c) following directions

If you want to give it a try and you need help, there are plenty of people here you can turn to. I can help a bit, but I'm kinda still getting the hang of it myself.
Good luck

:)

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Can someone help me?
I can't seem to figure out how to animate the Iiko Rig..

I pressed 'Auto Key' and tried to rotate the rig's head but no key frames were created.

Am I missing something?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

This is basically what goes into a 3D animation

Concept/Script/Storyboard

Modelling

Texturing

Rigging

Animating\Scene Setup

Rendering

Post Production

Submit!

Modelling is creating the objects that you want in your scene. Like props, Characters, Scenery...

To get you started here is a good site to go for tutorials;
http://area.autodesk.com/tutorials-tips

Texturing is "coloring in the models" :)

Rigging might be a bit painful and time consuming. It's basically setting up the models to be animated. Creating joints and skeletons, degrees of freedom if you like. Pretty much creating the tools you need to animate.

'Animating' is kind of Flash but in 3D.. Key Frames, stuff like that

Then Rendering is taking those scenes you've made and making them into presentable videos. Makes everything in your viewport shinny pretty much.

Feel free to ask any more questions.

Good Luck!

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I do use tutorials and good with learning programs, I hope I just make it in time... Thanks anyway :D

Wow thanks, now I can see all the "plan" XD
I'll come ask agian if I need to U.U

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

My favorite tutorial on "How to make an animated movie":

http://vimeo.com/3347851

I suppose it's not very useful, but it's funny!

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

If you're having trouble animating the rig, try this:

1. Select one of the bones.
2. Click the 'Motion' Tab.
3. Expand the 'Layer Manager' rollout.
4. Click and hold the 'Add Layer' button (next to the 'X' button).
5. Point to the first option and release, a new 'Animation Layer' is added.
6. Click the 'Setup/Animation Mode Toggle' button.
7. Start creating keyframes for the spline helpers (like 'CTRL_Head').

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Question for I guess anyone who knows the answer.
Can I open/use the iiko rig in Maya without downloading anything?
Or do I have to convert it from 3ds Max to Maya?

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

It looks like you may have to convert the .max file that autodesk gave us into a .fbx file which is shared between maya and max for it to open. It doesn't even seem that there is a plugin or add-on you can download for .max files to go directly into maya.

Just my 0.02 I could be wrong I don't know maya that well.

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

I'm able to import the character, but the movable body parts (or the little circles around them that I don't know the name of) become a mesh instead...

Re: 2011 Animation Contest
 

Oh I do not know then.

If you have not noticed yet the FRC Animation tool kit has been posted:

http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=frc2011_animation

I recommend looking at it. I know our team had to come up with a new idea after the new information was presented