Bouncing Ball Project

Rubber Ball Bounce from Tien Nguyen on Vimeo.


Bowling Ball Bounce from Tien Nguyen on Vimeo.

For this project I was assigned to create 2 animated bouncing balls.  One was a rubber ball bouncing at least 3 times across the screen decreasing in energy, and the other was a bowling ball being dropped and bouncing to a stop. The purpose of this was to see how two different objects made of different materials react to the force of gravity.

The required Principles of Animation for this project were:

1. Arcs
2. Timing
3. Slow in, Slow out
4. Squash and Stretch

Definitions
-Arcs: Most natural action tends to follow an arched trajectory, and animation should adhere to this principle by following implied "arcs" for greater realism.  (In my own words: Most natural actions follows a series of curves and arcs, animation should be the same.)

(http://media.tumblr.com/fd3fafcaf5903e1605fa722347bdc81c/tumblr_inline_mnut16qz4G1qz4rgp.gif)

-Timing: More drawings between poses, slow and smooth the action.  Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper.  A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement.   (In my own words: The number of frames for an action translates to the speed of the action.)

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Sv3Ycg4QIEVPugLdF6yqw2aK6QYV9AymnKRFpNrIhNCAAwGm5rxrekQV1Kn_000fzJoOo3MnhrFFt_jNDGLwDkOkKKn650fN5jPCF9MzdTdPosphqUHJ8Sx9g97fE9qG0dEBtnk1NpE/s320/timingTip4.jpg)

-Slow in, Slow out: The spacing of the inbetween frames at maximum positions. Rather than having a uniform velocity for an object, it is more appealing, and sometimes more realistic, to have the velocity vary at the extremes.  (In my own words: Having more inbetween frames closer to the extreme poses and less in the middle makes the action more realistic because the object accelerates and then decelerates.)

(http://www.freepik.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SlowIn_SlowOut.gif)

-Squash and Stretch: Defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action.  (In my own words: Squashing and stretching an object or character to exaggerate it''s movement.)

(http://archives.frederatorblogs.com/channel_frederator/files/2009/01/ball.gif)

Before I started animating I had to find videos of balls bouncing that I could use as a reference.  My reference for the rubber ball was this and for the bowling ball was this.  After that I used Adobe Photoshop to animate.  I began with drawing out the arcs that would give the proper heights and distances that the balls should bounce at.  The arcs for the bowling ball were shorter and narrower then the rubber ball's.  Then I drew a ball and had to give it the proper timing and spacing on those arcs.  The bowling ball bounces faster than the rubber ball so it doesn't have as many frames near where ball contacts the ground.  The bowling ball also doesn't squash and stretch when it hits the ground.

There were many challenges and successes with this project. The arcs were the hardest thing for me to get right, I know I must have drawn the arcs for the rubber ball at least five times before getting an arc that looked believable.  I also had to make sure the squash and stretch for the rubber ball had to decrease as it kept bouncing.  The timing was also challenging, there's hang time at the top of the arcs so I had to make sure there had to be a proper amount of frames there.  Although by going through these challenges, I think I was successful in making believable bouncing balls in the end.