New Rules for the 2006 AVA

[Kevin Thorp]

Have you all seen the rules? Your team contact should have received an email from FIRST.

Notable changes this year:

• New deadline: Paperwork by Feb. 6, animation and storyboard by Feb. 13
• Must be in QuickTime format. No DiVX, Cinepak or any other codecs.
• You have 2 chances of going to final judging: winning a regional AVA or being selected by the Autodesk judges
• 3 National Awards: Championship, Honorable Mention (new) and Rising Star (Rookie)
• New theme: "Ideas Realized – the process of visualizing what you want to achieve from being part of FIRST."

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by Kevin342

Have you all seen the rules? Your team contact should have received an email from FIRST.

Notable changes this year:

• New deadline: Paperwork by Feb. 6, animation and storyboard by Feb. 13
• Must be in QuickTime format. No DV, DiVX, Cinepak or any other codecs.
• You have 2 chances of going to final judging: winning a regional AVA or being selected by the Autodesk judges
• 3 National Awards: Championship, Honorable Mention (new) and Rising Star (Rookie)
• New theme: "Ideas Realized – the process of visualizing what you want to achieve from being part of FIRST."

Just a clarification on the video compression: the file format must be QuickTime (.mov), and the codec used must be DV-NTSC.

There is also a plethora of strict new regulations about frame rate, resolution, placement of text, audio levels, etc. so make sure you read the rules posted on Streamline before you start animating.

[mehul]

"the codec used must be DV-NTSC"

so i guess this would mean there is no size limit on the animation unlike last year where it was set to about under 300mbs if i remember correctly. If we use that compression i think it would give out a larger size than other compressions like divx or the cinepac mention before. I havent read all the rules yet it would be nice if someone posts it here

[Kevin Thorp]

Size limit is 250 Mb.

I'd post the rules but they include login information to Autodesk's Streamline site, and I dont know if they want that in a public forum.

[Pat Fairbank]

The rules can be found in the attached doc.

[Ian Curtis]

I <3 the animation guys who changed what animators must animate. Now the only problem is tracking them down and awarding them with a cookie as I promised earlier in another thread, which I can't seem to find. Ah well, now we need to complete the animation this year.

That deadline really scares me.

[mehul]

hmm i read the file and as i though before there is no size limit to next years competition unless first posts it la8er. The codec we are used last year allowed us to compress our animation from about 1 gig to about 150 mbs -cinepac so dv would be larger file . anyway thanks for the info

-team1635 animator

[mehul]

Originally Posted by Kevin342

Size limit is 250 Mb.

I'd post the rules but they include login information to Autodesk's Streamline site, and I dont know if they want that in a public forum.

well that info is already in the usfirst website so its already public.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by mehul

well that info is already in the usfirst website so its already public.

not exactly...only those who have streamline can access it.

[Capt.ArD]

Whew, for a minute i thought they changed the content requirements. Theme changed, but that's easy to work with. This is my first year leading the animation team, so none of the format changes affect me. Before this my superiors did all that.

BTW, since windows movie maker doesn't support quicktime i don't think, is there a free video program so i can add the slate and black parts, as well as the voiceover?

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Capt.ArD

BTW, since windows movie maker doesn't support quicktime i don't think, is there a free video program so i can add the slate and black parts, as well as the voiceover?

AVID Free DV should be able to do that

[Kevin Thorp]

Our video editing software doesn't do Quicktime either. I started a new thread about video editing:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...613#post426613

[BruceJ]

Just a quick tip for those who haven't used "safe frames" before.

In 3ds max, the settings you use in the Render Scene dialog will determine the aspect ratio of the frame when it is rendered.
The viewport can show this as a box known as the "live area" by right clicking on the viewport name and selecting "show safe frame".

By default, the live area is the largest box, then action safe frame/box at 10%, then the smallest is title safe at 20% from the edge of the live area.

This year's award guidelines say everything should be within a 15% boundary from the edge of the live area (which you should set to NTSC DV or 720x480 in the Render Scene dialog).
So you could go to the Customize menu, Viewport configuration, and select only Title Safe for example and set it to be 15.

If so, then in your viewport you will see the live area and another box inside of it at 15% from the edge.

-Bruce
Animation mentor, team 111

[Koko Ed]

Back when I started out in 2002 we had amost nine weeks to do the animation. Now it's down to five.
Autodesk is killing me!

[Li Jianliang]

• New deadline: Paperwork by Feb. 6, animation and storyboard by Feb. 13
• You have 2 chances of going to final judging: winning a regional AVA or being selected by the Autodesk judges
• New theme: "Ideas Realized – the process of visualizing what you want to achieve from being part of FIRST."

Paperwork will be a cinch but only five weeks to animate... Last year, my team spent at least a week or two just brainstorming ideas for the animation. Looks like we really have to step it up this year. (Ahh, the sleepless nights await!)

I wonder why AutoDesk implemented the new method of getting to the National round...

What I want to achieve from being a part of FIRST: Dine on fine American food with teammates and playing around hotel lobbies at the Regionals.
Seriously.