The overarching goal of this portion of Project 6 is to briefly introduce you to four types of effects: Particles, Fluids, nCloth, and Rigid Body Dynamics. Each part is fairly simple and consists mostly of following instructions. After you have gone through all of the parts, you will not be a master of these systems, but you will have a general idea what each is capable of.
If you ARE in the character animation class this assignment is required, while Project 6: Animation (the bouncing ball animation, not the poses) can be done optionally for extra credit.