Sorry Beth but for the most part I couldn't dissagree more. I just typed a nice point by point replay but the server dropped me and I lost the whole thing. So I only have time to mush it all together.
Raising 10k-12k to attend another regional JUST to win animation is not in the interst of any teams I know of. Animation is a very low prioity for FIRST so they really dont give any benifits to teams that win. AUTODESK does give some nice awards at the Championships, but that benefits the ROBOTICS area of the team very little. There is no weight placed on the AVA as far as FIRST is concerned. So that kind of money is not cost beneficial. If you have the money and your going for your robot anyway- Well thats another story. (Not that I think it should be a low prioity or anything)
Trying to attend a competition just because you think the competition is weaker so you can win, (which is what you are really saying) is a terrible solution. It benefits noone (except raising the bar at the other competiton if your animation is that good) but it teaches the kids, If its too tough for ya, just look for some easier competition. How about, learn from those other teams and get better next year. There is always the case of subjective judging and 2-3 animations being real close and only one wins- PROFESSIONAL (or simply DIFFERENT) Judges may score the 3 animation differently. The issue brought up is that those 3 animations may be the best in the country but they are in the same regional, so only one moves on. This is an issue that I have brought upto autodesk. Innitially they had runnerups move on too, I'm not sure why they did away with that, but it helped this situation. So the Championships may be loaded with 15 weaker animations than yours because you had tougher competition.
The reason everyone isnt judged at the nationals is then numbers are too big and its hard to get volunteers to do. Animations would het glanced over and not really get the attention they require. I have personally made sure we dumbed down the content in our animation to make sure it wasnt too complex. we did one 3 years ago that had layers and layers of content and symbolism, as wll as complex style and technique that really drove home the message. The more you watch it the more you see. The more you knew about our team and the more your were educated on design and invention process the more you see. But it was too much for the length of time the judges had to view 300 animations. The next year they changed the rules and regionalized the first-round process.
I could go on- but I will end with this. The studnet judges are a fine Idea. So Long as the students take the time to educate themsofves on the meaning and weight of the three catagories for judging. I make it a point ot brief the student on our team and make sure he reads through the rules.
I am in the process of trying to educate/train many local teams to help INCREASE the competition in out area. I can only feel proud of winning if I felt it was against worthy opponents. I hope I dont offend anyone- especially those at our regional, but I was told there was only 2-3 other animations that offered any competition. I'd like that to be 20-30 not 2-3. It make the win mean more and might make FIRST take it more seriously. I am not a 3DS Max expert, but I have done 3D animation Professionally since '94. I do other stuff too, not just 3D- so I know the techniques and processes that will assist other teams as it has ours. This year there was very little help I needed to provide, I mostly had to keep the team focused so we could finish it on time (and they'd tell you thats a tall order!- hense the AKA in my Profile
).
Sorry for dissagreeing so much Beth, but there need to be some changes and your solutions are bandaids not solutions to the bigger picture.