Research and testing
Bouncing a ball seems like a simple exercise to complete, however there are some fundamental aspects that must be outlined, such the key principles of animation required when animating. When animating a ball we will be focusing on 6 of the 12 principles of animation, these are: Timing and Spacing, Pose to pose/ Straight ahead, Ease in/Ease out, Squash and stretch, Solid form and Archs.
The first task,required me to use these 6 principles and apply them to animating a bouncing ball, with different weights and of different sizes. The first thing i aim to do before animating and testing,i will gather both photo and video references of balls of different weights and sizes. By observing these references, i will be able to understand how the balls interact with different surfaces and applying the principles to them. By gathering both primary and secondary references, i will have enough information to begin understanding how the 6 principles effect balls of different weights. The understanding gained by learning these principles will enable me to begin to further my skills and apply them to other forms of animating.
The first task,required me to use these 6 principles and apply them to animating a bouncing ball, with different weights and of different sizes. The first thing i aim to do before animating and testing,i will gather both photo and video references of balls of different weights and sizes. By observing these references, i will be able to understand how the balls interact with different surfaces and applying the principles to them. By gathering both primary and secondary references, i will have enough information to begin understanding how the 6 principles effect balls of different weights. The understanding gained by learning these principles will enable me to begin to further my skills and apply them to other forms of animating.
The first form of research gathered is a 2D break down of two different type of balls bouncing against a surface, the way they interact with the surface is different. The first reference is of a light weighted ball bouncing, while the second is of a cartoon-styled ball bouncing.
Analyzing these two referencing we notice that the first principle, time and spacing, is already in play. We can see that the further the spacing ad the more frames, the slower ball is moving as it comes to a stop; we can say the the ball is loosing momentum as it slows down. Pose to pose can be seen in the second reference of the cartoon ball, going from a spherical ball shape to a more oval shape,this is influenced by the squash and stretch principle and because it is a cartoon styled balled, we can say this is an exaggerated pose. Each principle effects one another and that is the key aspect I am to focus on, allowing the flow of the animation to create realism. As i have analysed, another principle we can notice is the 'arc' this is influenced by how high and how fast the ball is moving, as the ball slows down, we notice that the arc gets; sometimes half of the previous arc. From both references we can see that the share some of the same principles, meaning that these are the fundamentals needed within and animation, this has now made me to think about how the weight and the size of the ball is influenced by these principles; now its time to gather some Primary referneces |
Secondary reference
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Primary References
- Using what i learned from the secondary reference, on how frames influence the motion, i created a test of a ball bouncing in a straight up and down motion to see how it influenced it. Keying in less frames for the motion of the ball from the bottom to just before it reaches the top, then adding more frames to ease it in as the it looses momentum. As you can see, this worked perfectly, the ball went from a unrealistic up and down motion, to a more rhythmic movement of a ball bouncing on a surface.
Graph Editor
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- As you can see, the ball has a steady motion as it bounces up and down,interacting with the surface of the ground. I realized that the motion of the ball depends on the key frames added, the spacing of the frames is essential in order to create a realistic bounce.
BLOCKING OUT ANIMATION
I filmed a live footage of a 2 balls bouncing in the same scene, bouncing from a surface and hitting and object. I wanted to push and challenge myself by having the two balls interact with another object, as well as each other; this is shown in the video. The first ball was of a small tennis ball and the next was a larger football. Both are different weights, shapes and sizes, this is the main aspect i wanted to display within my animation. How the size and shape of the ball affects the bounce and the distance the ball bounces. The secondary movement is important to the animation as it sows the weight of the ball, we can tell that the ball is light due to the fact that it does not hit to object over but slightly moves its position.
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This setup shows the tennis ball interacting with the object in the scene. Looking closely at the bounce, we can tell that the ball it light; based on the height in which it bounces. I also added subtle elements of the animation, such as the loss of momentum in the bounce after the ball interacts with the secondary object.
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Adding the squash and stretch to the scene allowed the ball to have more of a characterised bounce. The squash and stretch also shows how the ball interacts with the surface, a soft or bouncy ball will have more squash and stretch than a solid hard ball. This allows the audience to differentiate the different types of balls in the scene
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Animating second ball
Animating the second ball in the scene became much easier, due to the fact that knowledge gained room animating the second ball could be applied to the heavy ball. the main focus was the arcs between each bounce; this can be shown through the graph editor. As you can see, the heavier ball moved more fast than the first ball, this is due to the timing and spacing of the bounce; followed by the ease in and ease out.
Textured scene
Evaluation
From the beginning of the project, straight through to the final render, the step I have taken aided and helped the animation portray a realistic visual of a ball bouncing, trying to focus on the 6 key animation principles in my works. This was my first attempt at animating and i think that i did very well in capturing a realistic representations of a ball bouncing, i felt that this task challenged my skill as a first time animator. Using first hand research allowed me to not just animate based on what i think a bouncing ball would look like, but based on how it looks in reality. I studied how timing and spacing affected the bounce of the ball,making it look more fluid and natural. I enjoyed this task because it let independently experiment with ideas, using Maya to animate ball bouncing at different passes. As an overview for this task i enjoyed it as it help me gain the fundamental skills required when animating and also understanding the principles of animations: during my research i read a quote saying: "every animator starts with a bouncing ball".