Skip to main content

Bouncing Balls Project


To begin the bouncing ball project I initially created hand-drawn frames with pencil and paper with a lightbox. The lightbox had the benefit of being able to see the previous frames through onion-skinning, allowing the movement of the ball to be more convincing and to correct the timings more easily. To actually animate the ball's movement I took photos of each frame using Dragon Frame. 

From the keyframes used to create the pencil test, I created a 3D model of a ball and animated it bouncing across the screen in Maya. This was my first experience with this software yet I felt very comfortable using the Graph editor and keyframes, as I had used vector animation similar to this setup before.  After the initial test with Maya, I created another ball, simply bouncing up and down, in order to focus on the squash and stretch of the object itself, but also to try and perfect the timing and movement of the ball as it went up and down- stretch as it increases speed & squash when it hits a solid ground.



I decided to experiment with other animation techniques, such as using digital 2D software. Initially I created the ball bouncing up and down to remind myself of the way the ball's shape changes while in motion, and then decided to experiment with the ball moving in different directions.

Since this is a simple experimentation, I tried out two different ways in which the ball would fall onto a platform- first it rolled to a stop after falling from the first to the second platform, before rolling off and bouncing when landing onto the final platform. I found that the second method made the animation more dynamic and interesting- by making the ball bounce before it slowed to a stop, it seemed to have life by reacting to the world around it. However, the size of the ball is more inconsistent on the second roll- ie. shrinks a little before going back to its normal size- possibly due to the fact I'm new to animating in this sort of way and still need more practice with squash and stretch and how to keep the two in proportions.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4th Year Reflections : Week One

During the first week I have accomplished the following : After a week of research, I have established a rough concept for the final film, including which visual medium I'd like to use - a mixture of 2D and 3D. I have based the core idea of the film around the ghaf tree, the national tree of the U.A.E that is surrounded with folklore and mystery. These trees look dead, but are actually living, and live for hundreds of years. I would like to explore the connection with the past and present by combining two narratives that surround this central piece. Researched setting and storytelling methods in films, books, and music videos - Began reading 'The Arabian Nights' - Watched Disney's Aladdin and began reading 'the making of' book - Compiled YouTube Playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxEfVpqUt-NBdI_7HcEJwnh3KoBbFSWDm - Looked at 'Freej' and 'Emara', two U.A.E. animated series Brainstormed character designs using a variety of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lightbox Exhibition

In my opinion, our Third Year Exhibition, Lightbox, was a massive success. A lot of work was spent planning and raising funds for the venue, food, drinks and equipment, and took a lot of time an energy. What was probably the most beneficial to the project was the fact that we met up on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to keep updated on what we wanted to do, and how to do so. It was interesting to see how different people had different ideas on how the exhibition could be presented, and so we were able to work together in order to find something that everybody wanted - a space where one could easily display their development or other work alongside a larger screening area. In order to raise funds for the venue, we concentrated on the traditional method of a bake sale. However I pushed for it to be a vegan-specific bake sale in order to be more inclusive and attract people who were interested in seeing how things could be made without dairy products. To promote the bake sales we used conv...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 Dimensional Animated Design

This semester I decided to audit a 3D Animated Design course in order to improve my 3D modelling and animation skills. I was able to learn more about how to create models and textures using Maya, Photoshop, and Substance Painter. Before we began our project, we were assigned to create a 3D model of a plastic water bottle. It allowed me to refresh my skills using Maya as a 3D modelling tool. Final render of the water bottle 'Real Life' photo of water bottle Proportions of the water bottle based on the photo For our first project, we were assigned the aquatic nation of Ingermanmore, a collective of Nordic, Russian and Baltic cities. To begin our research our group looked for information about the culture, history, and climate of the region, and thought how we could apply it to the Maglev train that would connect these areas many years in the future. Using the website Pinterest, we were able to collect a variety of inspiring images and references that allowe...
Post a Comment
Read more