[Zing]

On the flip side, the trophies this year were uber cool.


I'd like to say one thing; there never has been an animation that is TV quality. Not worthy of putting an official Autodesk stamp on, anyway. If there was a consistent submittal of professional-looking animations that expressed the FIRST message, Autodesk would be much more interested in the competition.

Don't misunderstand. We work hard, we put in hellish hours. And Autodesk's support has been increasing. But something more still needs to happen before general people can start appreciating our work. Maybe a longer official design period, give us enough to make a detailed, interesting scenes. If I remember the stats correctly, professional studios produce, on average, 3-5 seconds of animation a week. There's just no way an above average team can crank something like that out, not to mention rookie or under-funded teams.

On the other hand, I hear a lot of teams say something similar to "animation is something we leave til the end and throw something together". That is a junk attitude, and I can guarantee that there is someone in that team's school who would very much enjoy using their creativity to make an award-winning video. It is the team's job to find those people, equip them with good mentors and computers, and allow them to get the job done.

As it is, I predict any progress towards a more exciting AVA award will be slow. I have little doubt that it was only included as a contractual stipulation between FIRST and Autodesk so that students would find an interest and eventually buy the software. That doesn't mean, by any measure, that I love creating the video any less. But I do wish we would get a bit more recognition.