2007 Autodesk Visualization Design Competition

[RoboJedi75]

It has been posted! The link below goes to the full information page:
http://firstbase.autodesk.com/?nd=fi..._visualization

Theme for Visualization Design Competition

This year's theme is: Thinking Green.

Thinking Green.
Sustainable Design.
Environmentally Responsible.

It's called by many names, but it means one thing: caring about the planet we live on, and making sure that the things we create have as little negative impact on the Earth as possible.

It's about meeting our current needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs.

It's about approaching the creative process with a respect for using resources efficiently.

And it's about each of us playing our part to do something that impacts all of us.

[k3`]

Hey Nate! Wow, four minutes ago. Have you been refreshing every few minutes?

[RoboJedi75]

Just about...

[Testament-Doom]

Stumbled upon luck I suppose. Well, that scraps my original idea, oh well. now I have to think up of something cool. Meeting tomarrow then, yay.

[114Klutz]

Excellent....

We don't have to use the 3 sample prompts right?

[Testament-Doom]

No, they are just examples, guidelines to help you out, and good ones at that.

[BuddyB309]

YESS!!!!! MY ANIMATION TEAM WAS RIGHT ON TARGET!!!!! ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS CHANGE THE VOICE OVER!!! IM SO HAPPY

If all goes well we should be completely finished by thursday! Whoo hoo!

[Testament-Doom]

Thursday? Oh boy, not using spare-time much? .

But I do agree, helping with the robot is a big thing.. but I don't know mechanics so I'm just a computer wiz/3d animator. That said, I'm using all the time I have to make the animation. Green trees here we come!

[Psychoflood]

Oh wonderful, now on earth day the only thing i'll be thinking about is robots.

But of course, i already spend every day thinking about robots

[BuddyB309]

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!

[Drew]

Originally Posted by BuddyB309

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!!!

[Testament-Doom]

Seems you have a team dedicated to 3D studio max, I like that.

As for me on team 555... I'm really the only animator, heh. There are a couple of people interested this year, but they need lots of training, since they're fairly new to it. Most of the ideas and what to do is coming from me, so... what will it be, a mass of people working on specific parts of the project, or a main creator that does practically everything that has helpers to help him along if needed, with the main creator teaching his apprentances when neeeded? Seems to be a nice little twist here . All in all, good luck. We're going to desgin the animation today. Always nice to have a bit of competition, no?

[spinmunky]

Originally Posted by BuddyB309

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 we could do that.. sadly we can't because I'm the only animator! well there is another but he doesn't know that much of Max and he is always goofing off.

[BuddyB309]

Originally Posted by spinmunky

I wish we could do that.. sadly we can't because I'm the only animator! well there is another but he doesn't know that much of Max and he is always goofing off.

It seems everyone seems to think we are top notch animation locked in a broom closet. Well, we dont have a team of top notch animators, I am the only one who know the program really well. The other animators know only the basics, I know im fast, and when someone is stuck on a problem i take the time to help them. Also that is why you have them do the same thing over again cause eventually, they will stop asking you for help cause they know what they are doing.

[RoboJedi75]

Originally Posted by BuddyB309

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.

Yeah, it's an awesome setup. We tried that last year, and then one part fell... and the assembly line just dissolved.

I just wish my team had been able to get more experience in before now (most of my team is new/not-as-skilled members).