Ball Bounce Animation in Maya
In Week 1, we were introduced to the basics of animation in Maya, focusing primarily on the bouncing ball exercise. Here’s what we covered:
We began to watch videos of bouncing balls to study their movements, and even scrub through the footage frame by frame to understand the physics. Using reference material allowed us to better grasp how timing, spacing, and motion work in reality.
We then moved to planning before starting any animation and we mapped out the ball’s movement across the screen, starting from a high point and losing energy with each bounce. Proper planning helped us understand the momentum and energy of the ball.
Before starting the actual animation, we learned how to set up a project in Maya. To set a project we must first create a project folder from File > Project Window and save it at the desired location. Then:
- From the menu bar go to File > Set Project
- Navigate to the mentioned folder.
- Click Set.
We then referenced the Ball Rig we had downloaded to the file via File > Reference Editor > Add Reference to import the rig in the workspace.
Once everything was in place, we moved on to animating the bouncing ball, focusing on several key principles:
- Keyframes: We set keyframes at key moments—like when the ball hits the ground or reaches its highest point—to control the motion and timing of the bounce.
- Squash and Stretch: We were taught us the importance of squash and stretch in making animations feel realistic and dynamic. The ball squashes when it hits the ground and stretches as it rebounds, adding a sense of weight and energy to the animation.
- Arc: We also applied the principle of arcs, ensuring the ball follows a natural curved trajectory rather than a straight path, which makes the motion appear more fluid and lifelike.
We were introduced to the Graph Editor, where we fine-tuned the ball’s motion by adjusting the animation curves. This allowed us to smooth out the movement, making it more natural and fluid by refining the speed and easing transitions.