Howdy,

As the exercises aren't currently working out, I thought I'd take on the BootCamp. I've been watching other people's work for a while now, and thought it was time to give it a shot. So... Here's my first work: The Bouncing Ball.

I already fixed a few issues with my first version. I like the end on this one better.

Ball Bounce V2.0:

Hey Daniel, welcome to the student section!
I can tell that you've been watching other peoples work for awhile, cause you've got a really great start on this! I too have found other peoples bootcamp threads to be invaluable resources. Anyways, on to the critiquing...

I can't tell from the angle if you have the ball contacting the ground for two frames or not? but if you don't I would suggest adding that in there.
In my thread Rodney did this really neat thing where he showed me all the frames sorta side by side and they illustrate the two frame contact that I'm talking about...
http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23165

Anyways, keep up the great work, you've got a really excellent start!
Cheers,
Teresa

Interesting. No, I followed the "Better Bootcamp Ball Bounce II" timeline, basically. It looked like it only hit for 1 frame, but I'll try two.

Thanks! I was waiting for SOMEONE to point something out.

I'll point out that it looks pretty good.

If you want critique... The final bounce is off (compared to how well the other bounces look). All of a sudden the ball gets real heavy.

Maybe you should think of volume again. If something bends or stretches, the volume doesnt change, that means: If your ball stretches on one axis, it should although be a bit smaller on the others.
It is only visible if you take time to analyse the animation so...

Another thing: It seems to go back to it's original shape in just a frame on the top of its movement. Didnt you use Spline-Interpolation but Zero?

Nice start!
*Fuchur*

Martin commented on my work!

Well, here's V3.0. The end still looks heavy, but... Also, I'm attaching my timeline for review. One of my worst skills is timing, so I'd love to hear what can be fixed up.

One last thing. I'm trying to think in volume, as suggested. I hadn't been stretching in the X and Z directions... Now I think I'm going overboard. Should the X and Z stretch be half the total value of the Y?

Ok, for future bootcamp students... Use the supplied model. It's all rigged up...

:: Smacks head ::

Yeah, I'm going to try this again (maybe skipping on to the second project).

:: Shakes head and maximizes A:M ::

Hi Daniel,

If you have Richard Williams' book "The Animator's Survival Kit" that has many great points about bouncing ball.

My comments here are aimed at getting you closer to that

[attachmentid=23152]

Thanks Rob, I'll take a look at those. (And no, I don't have the book, nor does my library system... Google helps, though. )

Meanwhile, here's Side Bounce V1.0.

Here's V2.0 of the side bounce. I made sure to watch the bounces and adjust the squash on each frame. As to the gradual morph to stretch on the drop and immediate return to stretch on rise, I actually had that going in my side bounce. (It just looked right when I did that, before Rob mentioned it.) So, that's there. The real trouble I had with this one is rotating the ball. On squash and float, it's rotated perfectly 90 degrees (so it's pointed up). On the way up, it's leaned forward about 30 degrees, and on the way down, it's leaning back 30 degrees. I really should go in and adjust it so that each rotation is a little less, huh?

Here's two balls of different weight V1.0.

Once you get into it, this gets goin' pretty fast!

Ok, two balls bouncing across the screen V1.0. Sorry if I'm posting these way too fast, but I'm having a LOT of fun on this, and keep being quite satisfied with the products. Bring on the critique! I want to know how to make this look better!

Ok, I wanted to try a walk cycle, so here it is: Mr. Ball Walk V1.0.

I KNOW there's issues with it, so please, let the comments fly!

Ok, I wanted to try a squetching, and it needed color/a face. (Sorry, I just had to!) V2.0!

I noticed that the heels we're rotating a full 90 degrees on the passing frame, and the toes weren't pointed, so I have V3.0 already.

Daniel,
I'd say you've graduated this and are ready to plunge into On The Job training on TWO.
I really like your walk cycle (the first one especially for some reason).

Enough with the ABC's... time to move on to the big time.

Wow... That was... Fast!

*In trembling voice*
"I'd just like to thank my parents, and especially my older brother, for if he had not bought A:M, I wouldn't be graduating today!"

There are just a couple of hitches to being able to movie on to TWO, though. I'm still waiting for a reply from Tech Support. Still, I'd love to know what I need to do next.

By the way, as you like V1.0 so much, I decided to toss the squetch and coloring and leave the passing frame fix. So, here's V1.5.