Ball Color Problem

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Here's a picture from The Blue Alliance of all the different balls for reference

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/...e48bc1.jpg?v=0

I have some color issues as well, looking at the manual I was having issues. But when I looked at the TBA picture, I could see the difference a little bit more. This is one of the worst decisions i have seen FIRST make for such an important point of the game design.

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Here's a picture from The Blue Alliance of all the different balls for reference

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/...e48bc1.jpg?v=0

I used Picasa's "I'm Feeling Lucky" color correction feature on this photo. In the unmodified photo, it is slightly more difficult to distinguish between the Moon Rocks and Empty Fuel Cells.

[prman]

I had to double take at the picture, because upon first glance blue and purple seem the same.

[bduddy]

^ Love that avatar (to smartkid if someone else posts first)... and I sympathize with the topic creator's problem. I'm not even colorblind, and I had a hard time telling the balls apart. Let's hope FIRST can be convinced to use better contrasting colors, or else this will be another officiating nightmare... I'm starting to be relieved they didn't let me be a ref! Aiden certainly won't be able to bring his newspaper to the real games...

[DtD]

I'm Red/Green Colorblind, and I can only barely distinguish the Moon Rock and the Empty Cell when looking straight at them when they aren't moving (EG: If I pause the video or look at a picture) otherwise they are identical. This is rather annoying because I was hoping to drive for my team this year. (I designed the way it was driven, but never actually drove it till after the comp last year )

~DtD

[smartkid]

Originally Posted by bduddy

^ Love that avatar (to smartkid if someone else posts first)...

Thanks! I put that together in Photoshop using a backdrop from a project of mine and a picture of Jeremy from Code Lyoko. I love that show!

[usbcd36]

I'm not colorblind at all, but judging from the picture, I would not be able to tell the difference between the two without close examination.

[ryanking09]

when I saw the three different balls originally i noticed how closely the empty and the moon balls appeared to be. If u were in the heat of the game, these two would be difficult to distinguish between especially if they are 50ft away.

Im sure the manufacturer only produces these three variants but maybe enough criticism about the colors and they may produce a new, very distinguishable ball.

If they however do not change we can only hope that good eyesight and lots of practice will help "comfort" this problem. It has already been mentioned that the manufacture of these "orbits" are made by blip toys, which never mention their orbit ball on the website.

[martin417]

Perhaps they could swap the super cell and the empty cell colors. there is no penalty for carrying two super cells.

[Valley Raider]

I'm just going to point out that the fact that people are color blind isn't the only problem. Yes that will make it impossible for them to see the difference but its hard to see in the first place.

I've been on our drive team for three years and keeping track of what going on on the field is hard enough without distinguishing between slight color variations among 120 game pieces.

[bduddy]

I think it would make a lot of sense if the empty cells were solid white, gray, black or brown. I mean, they don't have any energy, right? And this could easily be accomplished with some cans of spraypaint, or even better a big tub of real paint

[JamesByrne]

I am not by any means a programing expert on this new system, and I have not really even played with the new system at all. But what about using the camera to figure out the difference.

I agree with a previous member, this might be a planed thing also. Because there is a lot of things in real life that you can not distinguish between very easily. This adds to the competition in my mind.

Let me know your thoughts.

[lokkpet]

I too have a problem with the ball color. Being the tallest member of my team I would be the obvious choice for our human player because I can more easily negotiate the height of the wall. However, I'm blue-purple color blind and can not tell the difference between the moon rocks and the empty cells. I have not had a chance to read all of the comments to see if anyone has any ideas but I do hope that FIRST will find a solution to this problem before competion.

[Athleticgirl389]

Like several of you, I am also colorblind and my first thought about the balls was, thank goodness i'm only a mentor lol. For those who are red/green and blue/purple (i happen to be both which sucks lol), I don't think changing the colors will help everyone. I mean, maybe if one ball was black and white, another blue and yellow, and another like red and white... then maybe. Like some have said, make petitions or something. Maybe even talk to your local regional director and see if any change can be made at that regional to help for those colorblind people out there. It's going to definately be more of a challenge to us colorblind folk, but we'll just have that much more fun and get a "better" color education out of this year's game As I said to my fiance one day, "I don't color, I shade" ... just think postively and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE lol

[Branden Ghena]

Originally Posted by Athleticgirl389

I don't think changing the colors will help everyone.

Instead of changing the colors, FIRST could make one ball striped and one ball solid. It would be easy enough to wrap tape on the orbit balls to stripe them without changing the feel of the balls.