Project 6b: Simple Animation
In this assignment we will be practicing basic animation by animating two different types of balls bouncing. Find two balls of different weights — the bigger the contrast in weight the better. You will be using these as reference. Watch how the balls bounce and try to replicate their behavior in Maya. You will be creating a Maya file for each part of this project. Each Maya file will contain both of your different types of ball.
For most cases, we will be animating in 24 frames per second. To check Maya's settings, click the Animation Preferences button (
) at the bottom right of the screen. Go to the Settings category and check that Time is set as Real-time [24 fps].
- The first part of the project is to animate your two balls (of different weights - light and heavy) bouncing in place (Only up and down). Make sure you pay attention to your timing and spacing and be sure to include squash and stretch to exagerate the motion, but don't overdo it. Squash and stretch are things that should be felt more than seen.
- For the second part of this project, animate one of the balls (your choice of light or heavy) bouncing while moving forward. Pay close attention to the arcs of your ball. Make sure your ball rotates as well as translates and squashes. Apply a checker texture to the ball to see the rotation clearly.
- Extra Credit: Animate whichever ball you didn't animate in step 2 to also bounce while moving forward.
