View Single Post
  #2   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-01-2007, 13:32
Drew's Avatar
Drew Drew is offline
Drew
FRC #0302 (Dragons)
Team Role: Animator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Rookie Year: 2004
Location: Lake Orion
Posts: 68
Drew is a jewel in the roughDrew is a jewel in the roughDrew is a jewel in the roughDrew is a jewel in the rough
Send a message via AIM to Drew
Re: 2007 Autodesk Visualization Design Competition

Quote:
Originally Posted by BuddyB309 View Post
We hope to be done by thursday. The our animation doesnt consist of any complex characters that we have to rig and texture. Its mainly basic geometric shapes but they are animated very well. So the animation itself looks really cool. We dont want to over crowed the frame so we decided to keep it that way. Also we did a [i]lot[i] of planning and we all know exactly what is in each camera shot. So there is no time spent on stuff that the camera hardly sees saving quite a lot of time.
Also We've learned to be fast each person works on the specific part of each model that they are good at, like an assembly line. For example, one guy works on the model, hands it off to the guy who does textures, then it gets handed to the guy who does animation. We also set up a network so all of our files that we are making are using the same path so we are not spending time looking for the textures when the program cant find it. We also have strict rules in what to name your textures and .max files and where to put them on the servers. We also went to the extent of locking ourselves in a small little room (I gues you could call it a broom closet) to block out all external distractions. No one can come in unless we let them and when I assume that they are to distracting, i ask them to leave. We save any animated textures or any test renders that need to be renderd for when we go home for the night. The computers stay on and render out the files and then its done when we come back. We really have only emerged from our "Cage" for bathroom breaks, mountain dew, and food. This model works, I highly recomend all animation teams to use this model. We've gotten so much done in a very short period of time. Cause when it comes down to it, animation is only concentration.

Also the time that we have left is going to be use to finely tweek every little detail. Or we could make the most extravagant credits that the judges have ever seen!
I wish it was that easy for us. For the 4 years I have been on the team Me and another student are still the only people who know the software. With 4 other students who want to learn our mentors need to get their priorities straight. They keep putting our Students onto other jobs and not dedicating to animation. I know you all know but they dont understand how many hours we put into these animations because we work from day to night, night to day. Robotics time, to class time, to home time. They are always proud of our work but never conciderate when we need to teach other students. We are seniors this year and off to college in september. What happens when the animation students dont know the software? well i guess we will find out. Im really excited though HERE WE GO!!!