Aayushi Barai's Blog

Pendulum Swing Animation in Maya

The objective of week 2 was to learn how to animate a pendulum swing. But before that, we went over the 12 principles of animation, which are basic rules that help make animations look more realistic and smooth. They are:

• Squash and Stretch: This is one of the most fundamental principles of animation. It involves creating contrasting changes in shape—transitioning from a squash to a stretch pose, or vice versa—to give a sense of flexibility, weight, and vitality. For instance, in a bouncing ball animation, as the ball hits the ground, it squashes and widens, and as it moves upward, it stretches. Even when exaggerating these actions, it still feels real because it mimics how objects behave in reality. However, it’s important to maintain the object’s volume.

• Timing and Motion: Timing and spacing are crucial to creating the illusion of realistic movement. They ensure that objects and characters seem to move naturally and follow the laws of physics. For example, heavier objects should move slower, while lighter ones move faster. We also learned how adding more frames at the beginning and end of an action (slow in and slow out) helps objects accelerate and decelerate more naturally.

• Anticipation: This principle refers to the preparatory action that happens before the main action, making it more believable. For instance, before a character jumps, they might bend their knees or swing their foot back before kicking a ball. This helps build momentum, and the audience expects the action that follows. It applies not only to actions like jumping but also to subtler moments, such as a character preparing to pick up an object.

• Staging: Staging is about arranging the scene, much like directing in film or theatre. It involves placing characters and elements strategically within the frame, setting the camera angle, and ensuring that the important action or mood is highlighted. By using staging effectively, we can guide the audience’s attention to what’s important, removing unnecessary distractions to advance the story.

• Follow-Through and Overlapping Action: These principles make movement more natural. Follow-through means that parts of a body or object (like hair or clothing) keep moving even after the main body has stopped, while overlapping action refers to different parts moving at varying speeds. For example, a character’s arms might stop moving, but their hair may keep flowing for a few frames afterward, making the animation more fluid and realistic.
• Straight Ahead and Pose-to-Pose Action: These two approaches are different ways to animate a scene. Straight ahead means animating each frame in order, which is great for action scenes because it creates fluid, natural motion. Pose-to-pose starts with key poses, and the in-between movements are filled in later, which works well for more dramatic or emotional scenes. Using both techniques ensures the best of both worlds: fluidity and precision.

• Slow In and Slow Out: In real life, objects don’t start or stop moving abruptly. They gradually gain speed and then slow down before stopping. By applying more frames at the beginning and end of an action, we can make the motion feel more realistic and relatable to the audience. For example, a pendulum or a car accelerating and decelerating.

• Arcs: Most movements in real life follow curved paths, or arcs. By making characters and objects follow natural arcs instead of moving in straight lines, the animation looks smoother and more lifelike. Whether it’s a limb moving or an object being thrown, arcs help maintain fluidity in motion.

• Exaggeration: Exaggeration enhances actions, poses, and expressions to make them more engaging. While grounded in realism, it pushes the limits to make the characters stand out. For instance, exaggerating a character’s shocked reaction with an overly large jaw drop or stretching their body during a jump makes the action more expressive and fun.

• Secondary Action: Secondary actions add depth to the main action, making scenes feel more alive. For example, a character walking down the street might swing their arms or nod their head while talking. These subtle movements enhance the primary action without drawing attention away from it.

• Solid Drawing: This principle focuses on giving objects and characters a sense of weight and volume. By incorporating height, depth, and proper balance into our designs, we make them feel more three-dimensional, even in a two-dimensional space. This ensures that characters feel lifelike rather than flat or static.

• Appeal: Appeal is what makes a character interesting or engaging, similar to how actors need charisma on screen. Whether it’s a hero or a villain, every character should have a unique design that captures the audience’s attention. We learnt how to make characters more appealing by giving them distinctive features, expressions, and traits that stand out.

We also learnt a few key terminologies that would help us with the animation, being:

• Follow Through: We learned that when the pendulum swings, the main part moves first, and any loose parts (like ropes or strings) follow behind. This makes the movement look more natural and is called follow through.
• Successive Breaking of Joints: As the pendulum moves, the top part moves first, and then the rest follows in order. Each section below takes a little longer to catch up. This gives a smooth, flowing motion instead of all parts moving at the same time.
• Drag (Wave Principle): We saw that the bottom of the pendulum drags behind when the top moves. It takes time to catch up, which makes the swing look more realistic.
• Lead and Follow: The top of the pendulum leads the movement, pulling the parts below it. Each section moves one after the other, creating a smooth chain reaction down to the tip.

This week, we focused on animating a pendulum swing to understand Overlapping and Follow-Through Action. The pendulum starts moving when you give it a push, swinging back and forth. As it swings, the top moves first, and then the rest of the pendulum follows, creating a smooth motion. Its movement follows an arcing path, which looks like a ‘C’ curve. This curve can be shallow or round, depending on the angle of the action. When the pendulum reaches the highest point, it slows down before swinging back. It gradually comes to a stop because of gravity.

We were then given a demonstration of the swing so we could re-create it using our distinctive style. By observing how the pendulum can be animated, we can now see how these principles create more realistic and fluid animations.

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:

1. From the menu bar go to File > Set Project
2. Navigate to the mentioned folder.
3. 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.