Week 11

E-LEARNING: KEY FRAMING

I was provided a maya file downloaded from Olive, which shows a set up of a platform and a ball. It resembles a tennis court, with the net and a tennis ball.

 This is the time slider for the animation, which I set to 72, which will make the animation last 3 seconds when played at 24frames per second.

 I set a keyframe at frame 1, which shows the ball at its initial position, the start.

 I then set another keyframe at frame 72 to show the ball's final position.

 When I play the animation however, the ball passes right through the net as shown above, which was not what I want. I want the ball to go OVER the net.

Therefore, at around frame 34, I set a keyframe after shifting the ball upwards to position it above the net. Now, when I play the animation, the ball goes over the net.

After that, by shifting the ball at different frames and setting keyframes, I was able to make the ball bounce once near the end to make the bounce more realistic. The tutorial also taught me how to use the graph editor to adjust the curves, to make the bounce more smooth.

This is my final animation of the ball.

My thoughts:

This is my first time creating an animation on Maya. I feel that 3D animation is much more complicated than that of 2D animation done on Pencil. However, the idea of it is similar, by setting keyframes at different points. Also, I find the graph editor somehow difficult to understand. Overall, I feel accomplished to have finish a basic ball animation.

This is my animation of a bowling ball dropping. Compared to the previous animation, the bowling ball is harder and heavier, which means it is not as bouncy.

My thoughts:

My bowling ball animation is not very convincing as I do not know how to make it look like it is rotating as it goes along.

LAB 2: SQUASH AND STRETCH

I started by creating a sphere and grouped it to itself twice. I then modify the groups by centre pivoting.

 I created a squash deformer for the ball. (Green line)

 Creation of a platform for the ball to bounce on.

I locked various attributes of the ball and the groups accordingly to the tutorial provided.

Afterwards, I started setting keyframes for the ball animation.

 Keyframe at frame 1 which shows the ball at the starting position, over the platform. (I changed the ball color to make it clearer.)

 Keyframe at frame 100, which shows the ball at its final position.

I repeated the steps of moving the ball to different positions and setting keyframes at different frames to obtain the movement of a bouncing ball. However, the motion seemed unatural.

Hence, I used the graph editor to make my animation smoother by moving the points and tangents.

I then started to work on the squashing and stretching of the ball by changing the values of squash1Handle's Factor, a positive value creates a stretched ball, while a negative value creates a squashed ball. I experimented with different values as the one in the tutorial, 1, seemed too exaggerated, and I settled for less exaggerated values.

 Stretched ball.

Squashed ball.

I then made the ball rotate as it goes along by changing the Rotate Z values and setting keyframes. The tutorial told us to put -1200 for the rotate Z value at the end, but I tried that and found that it rotated too fast, which made my animation seem unatural, hence I settled for a smaller value so that the rotation will be slower and more realistic.

This is the final outcome of my animation. (I changed the texture of the ball to 2d checkered to make the rotation more obvious and visible.)

My thoughts:

Initially, I had difficulty when it came to the squashing and stretching part because when I stretched or squashed the ball, it isn't sitting nicely on the platform anymore. When I stretch it, part of it protrudes out of the bottom of the platform and when I squash it, it floats above the platform. Hence I had to change the values of the attributes again. 

Before I started on this exercise, I watched the demo clip and thought that the rotation of the ball seemed difficult to do, but after doing the exercise, it turned out to be really simple.

Why is squash and stretch so useful in animation?

Squashing and stretching gives the illusion of weight of volume to an animated object or character. It makes the object or character more realistic by showing the effects of gravity acting on it. For example, the bouncing ball I've done above, the mass of the ball remains the same, but the shape changes as it moves. It squashes as it hits the ground due to impact and stretches when it bounces back up. Without squash and stretch, the ball would look rigid and unrealistic.

Think of a situation in which extreme squash and stretch could be applied to a character - try to be original.

Extreme squash and stretch can be applied to cartoon characters, those that are trying to achieve a cute and cuddly appearance. Squash and stretch will make the character appear squishy and flexible. An example for this would be a Slime which bounces up and down.

Think of an animation example where squash and stretch would NOT be appropriate. 
 

Squash and stretch would not be appropriate when it comes to solid objects such as metal and other hard materials. For example a marble or a bowling ball, these would not change in shape upon impact.

If squash and stretch doesn't really happen so obviously in real life, why do you think it is so effective in animation?

Squash and stretch is so effective in animation as it provides exaggeration, which makes animation, especially cartoons more interesting. It brings the object/character to life and provides a sense of appeal by giving them volume. Many cartoons use exaggeration. Hence, squash and stretch comes into the picture at many points, especially when impact is involved. For example, a ball hitting the ground will be squashed upon impact.