2011 Animation Contest

[scaryone]

I'm a little concerned that there is no award listed for 2011 animation. We have already put in a ton of time getting ready for this. Does anyone know if this has been dropped from the 2011 season? and if there is, has the judging beed upgraded? TIA

[ebarker]

The answer to this and many other questions is in the manual here

Look in section 6.5

[rastermon]

Originally Posted by scaryone

I'm a little concerned that there is no award listed for 2011 animation. We have already put in a ton of time getting ready for this. Does anyone know if this has been dropped from the 2011 season? and if there is, has the judging beed upgraded? TIA

This is the latest I could find.
http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Rob...-%20Awards.pdf

They are usually behind on the animation topic. We might see it today or even tomorrow.

[rastermon]

They say it will be posted tomorrow.....
Complete information about the Award, including submittal format, deadlines, criteria, and judging process will be posted by January 10, 2011 on the FIRST website and on the FIRST section of the Autodesk Education Community at: www.autodesk.com/first.

[TShsg]

We would be interested in online FRC team mentor assistance for Maya. Is there anyone here who would be willing to answer questions that we can't figure out on our own this season?

[rastermon]

Confusion every year, and this is no different. Autodesk.com/first seems to be busy and sporatic, but no mention of the animation topic. If anyone finds the topic, please paste it to a thread here!
Thanks

[TKM.368]

The press release here says

The animation must fit the "Change Their World" theme, while demonstrating understanding of the design process, storytelling, technical execution, creativity and aesthetics, as well as clear, concise, and compelling communication.

Sounds a bit familiar... and perhaps incorrect?

[3DElizabeth]

Originally Posted by TKM.368

The press release here says



Sounds a bit familiar... and perhaps incorrect?

Thats exactly what I thought! Maybe they dont remember....

[3DElizabeth]

Does anyone else have a terrible time trying to navigate te educational community? Just logging on always seems to be a problem. Then they told me they changed me username?!?! Just always seems too complicated.

[TShsg]

No. So far I haven't had a problem, Elizabeth. Our challenge today is that Charlotte NC is covered in snow and ice. We look like beautiful South Portland Maine in the wintertime, or Kintnersville PA did much of last winter. While we are waiting, perhaps any of you could give a rookie animation team some advice. What are the top two mistakes that we should avoid and how? Also, can you list which animation software package(s) you plan to use this year?

[Evilyn]

As by time crunch experience, DO NOT wait till the last couple days to render. Based on how complicated your animation is, it has even taken me a day or two of nonstop rendering. Plan to have everything rendered at least two days before the deadline.

[Jreed129]

Originally Posted by TShsg

No. So far I haven't had a problem, Elizabeth. Our challenge today is that Charlotte NC is covered in snow and ice. We look like beautiful South Portland Maine in the wintertime, or Kintnersville PA did much of last winter. While we are waiting, perhaps any of you could give a rookie animation team some advice. What are the top two mistakes that we should avoid and how? Also, can you list which animation software package(s) you plan to use this year?

top mistakes that our team has run into and now we plan for are, expect problems wether those problems are weather, computers malfunctioning, render time or things taking longer to model and texture.

Also, watch when you are modeling if you have scenes that have 100k+ faces it can take a while to render.

along with what evilyn said, Give yourself time to render and get everything together, at least 4 days is what my team goes by and then a day to put everything together.

I'm not sure how your work situation is but don't be afraid to leave computers rendering over night, if you can, that way you don't have to waste time just sitting around to wait for renders to finish when you could be working on something else.

On a side note the comment under award at(firstbase.autodesk.com) changed to "COMING SOON - Information on the 2011 Award!" Maybe we will have a prompt by noon

[Kevin Thorp]

"Team Spork" - What a great name!

I know you asked for 2, but here are the top 3 rookie mistakes, in my opinion:

1. Not using the available free help & training resources (this site, other 3ds Max forums, YouTube tutorials and http://students.autodesk.com).

2. Not reading the rules thoroughly. There are very specific requirements for file type, video length, titling, copyrighted music, etc. It's heartbreaking to hear about a rookie team that put hundreds of hours into their animation only to have it disqualified because they misunderstood a rule.

3. Trying to model & animate humans. This is very difficult and without a lot of experience they end up looking & walking like zombies.

[TShsg]

Thanks so far. We've been working on the rendering capability, knowing that is an issue. I'd like to start that process a week ahead of the deadline because we have never done this before. By all means, don't limit yourself to only two suggestions if you have more! Is anyone else using Maya besides us? Most animation teams seem to have two to seven students on them. How many hours, approximately, does it take your teams to do these animations (an estimated range)?

[TomT_1517]

Originally Posted by Kevin342

"Team Spork" - What a great name!

I know you asked for 2, but here are the top 3 rookie mistakes, in my opinion:

1. Not using the available free help & training resources (this site, other 3ds Max forums, YouTube tutorials and http://students.autodesk.com).

2. Not reading the rules thoroughly. There are very specific requirements for file type, video length, titling, copyrighted music, etc. It's heartbreaking to hear about a rookie team that put hundreds of hours into their animation only to have it disqualified because they misunderstood a rule.

3. Trying to model & animate humans. This is very difficult and without a lot of experience they end up looking & walking like zombies.

Works for us, our human was supposed to be a zombie http://bbrobotics.org/mul_video.aspx