HHS Robotics

This award is sponsored by FIRST Team 116 Epsilon Delta with support from many other teams in the FIRST community. We strive to encourage students to enjoy animation and cultivate skills in design and creation of animation, including but not limited to storytelling, creativity, use of computer software, and an understanding of different techniques and forms of animation. This event is open to all FRC and FTC teams.

About the Name

Think back to your childhood, the tales of knights and dragons, wolves and forests, and

many more that filled your movies, television shows, and bedtime stories. Now you have

the opportunity to retell these stories through animation. Choose a fairy tale or fable and

add in a twist, be it in the characters, setting, or plot line, then create an animation of 60

seconds or less to tell this new tale. Elements of robotics in the story are an added plus

but are not required.

This award will be judged at the national level. We recognize that technical skill and

creative design are two separate characteristics of an animation, and therefore we honor

both aspects through two separate awards. The technical award will be judged by a panel

of professionals while the design award will be judged by those in the FIRST community.

The panel of judges will also be mindful of the creative aspect of each animation but will

focus more on technical execution. The FIRST community is expected to act similarly,

focusing primarily on design while being mindful of technique.Both parties should use these criteria as guidelines for judging:

1. Mastery of Animation
   • Quality of Animation
   • Complexity and Presentation of Images
   • Expertise in Medium
2. Ingenuity
   • Originality of ideas
   • Effectiveness and efficiency in execution
3. Clarity
   • Comprehensibility and organization of ideas within the animation
   • Pacing
4. Artistry
   • Aesthetic Appeal
   • Implementation of Artistic Elements
   • Use of Medium

The following are requirements that must be met for an animation to be submitted to

judges and displayed for other teams to watch and vote for.

1. Animation of no more than 60 seconds.
   • Must be pertinent to the challenge presented
   • 60 seconds is only an upper limit. Teams may submit an animation of any length and its duration will have no impact on how it is scored.
2. Capable of being played in QuickTime
   • MPEG-4 or H.264 codec
   • 1280 x 720 minimum resolution
3. Thumbnail
   • .JPEG file of one scene that represents the animation
4. Title Screen
   • 5 second duration followed by a one-second black slate
   • Will not be included in the total duration
   • Must include team number and name, school/organization, title of the animation and duration
5. File name in teamxxxx format
   • e.g., team0116
6. No use of copyrighted material that the team or team members do not own
   • This includes music, voices, and images, among others
   • If discovered, the offending team will be immediately disqualified
   • Many fairy tales and fables are old enough to be within the public domain
   • If the team possesses a license or document giving explicit permission from a copyright owner, then they may use the material
   • In the case of the previous bullet, the team must be able to produce the necessary documents when asked
   • Free, pre-made models can be used, but they should be credited to the site they are taken from within the animation
   • Our aim is to provide as much protection to teams as possible, so please bear with us
7. Summary of Animation
   • One paragraph approximately
   • Lists the original story, the changes made to it, and a summary of the animation plot

1. Storyboard
   • Optional
   • Done on paper and scanned in or on the computer through software
2. Credits
   • Optional
   • Follows a one-second black slate at the end of the animation
   • Will not be included in the total duration
3. All forms of animation are accepted, ranging from software such as Autodesk 3ds Max to two dimensional frame animation. Even claymation is available. However, no live footage or images featuring living objects can be included.

For this year, we ran into technical difficulties when trying to enable the upload of such large files to accomodate the video files.  So, please first upload your video to YouTube, then head over to our submission page to send us all the particulars, to include the URL of your YouTube submission.  Then, if you would like to send us the full version, please use something like YouSendIt to email it to us at team116animationaward@gmail.com.

Resources

Thanks to Autodesk for providing the following material:

1. Resources for M&E Students: http://area.autodesk.com/students
2. Resources for M&E Educators: http://area.autodesk.com/educators
3. Character creation in Sketchbook and Maya: http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/edu
4. Autodesk Smoke for Macs: http://usa.autodesk.com/smoke-for-mac/
5. Animation Helpline, hosted by Team 250 1-4PM EST (If prompted for a password, type “team250″): Click Here
6. Useful Links for Animation, CAD, and Graphics, compiled by Clayton from Team 2367: http://www.sfhsrobotics.com/acg/resources/

We experienced a delay in finalizing the submission process and there are some teams that have to attend competitions this weekend. As a result, we decided to extend the deadline to Monday, March 4, 2013 at 5:00pm EST.

If there are any questions, please feel free to contact us at

team116animationaward@gmail.com. Check back frequently for updates or check our

twitter account @ED_aniaward.