Task #2 - Bouncing Ball Across Screen

My second holiday task was to animate a ball bouncing from one end of the screen to another, I'm not as pleased with the outcome of this task compared to my previous one, but hopefully with a bit more work and practice, I'll be able to get this one on par with the other one :3 I've also recieved some really good feedback on the other one, which I'll talk about in a future blog post (when I have applied these changes to my work)

Below is my first attempt at this, It was suggested that I try animating almost entirely with the graph editor, which I did for this one. The graph editor has turned out to be a really, really useful tool, but something I think I need to work a lot more on, so I completely get the hang of it.  :3



 From observation, a few things I can see, need work on this are that the stretch and squash seems a little bit too visible for me. When I re-work this animation, I will make the stretch of the fall a lot more subtle, as I feel that especially when the ball changes direction, the stretch becomes distracting.
Another change I will probably be making is I feel the bounces are too close together, so spreading them out a little would be of benefit c: I'll be working on both these things along with whatever I get from the guy who agreed to help mentor me over the summer.

In addition to this, there are some feedback tutorials with my lecturers on the 13th, so I should have some information on what I was doing right, or wrong in regards to all of the work I submitted on either the 24th or the 31st of last month :D Which should be really awesome c:

We also get our grades on the 27th of this month, so just under two weeks time! So I'll be updating with any feedback I get from that and tell you if I have to re-take any of the modules in the summer (fingers crossed that I don't, but I'm not to confident in how my Damaged Detail and 2D to 3D Projects are going to hold up in the marking process)

But other than these things, I'm pretty much free to work on whatever I want now c: I'll be doing some observational drawing in my free time (another thing suggested), particularly over the coming week, when I'll be going home for a few days, to catch up with an old friend of mine (and won't have my computer or maya)

Other than this, I'll be updating when I have new work to show :D or new information on things :3
Expect another blog post in a week or so once I've had these tutorials and improved on the beginners tasks I've been working on :D

Until Next Time! c:

No rest for the wicked...Aka: Task #1 - Bouncing Ball (No Decay)

Hey Everyone :3 I'm back again o-o It's so soon but meh, I've had a nice rest over the weekend, Geocaching with my flatmates, so back to business! :D

Basically, on Saturday, I posted my showreel, seen in my last blog post, to an animation 'newbie' type forum space, asking for some critique. I got some really helpful feedback, especially on the movement of the dragons tail, it should be moving more from the base outwards and I was given this video of Haku from Spirited Away to pay attention to, the next time I animate them.

The general consensus was that I should be going back over all of the 12 basic principles to get them down first, instead of rushing into complicated things like I have been.

As I've mentioned previously on this blog, my main aspiration on this course is to eventually end up in the field of 3D character animation...Having a showreel composed of almost entirely 2D work, this is clearly something I need to work on a lot xD

On this forum, I was approached by a 3D Character animator, currently freelancing in the industry who gave me some amazing tips, advice and feedback and offered to act as a kind-of mentor to me, during the holidays. Which is a really great offer and one that I am extremely thankful for :3 He suggested a few animation exercises to do over the holidays, including the basic principles, which will hopefully help me to improve my timing, spacing and how I approach animation in general c:

Here is my first task c: A simple bouncing ball (using the squishy rig I used way back, in my 3rd ever blog post. This ball was animated on the spot, with no decay (bounced the same height each time)



I'll work on this one more, possibly, based on any feedback I get on it :D
I'll hopefully be posting these at intervals throughout the holidays until I've completed the majority of the basic principles tasks I've been given :3 I've added a 'Summer Tasks' tag to the side bar of my blog, so I don't clutter everything else on my blog, up with all of these posts xD I've also linked my showreel in the 'useful links' section, because It's going to get buried very quickly else xD

But yes :D Task 2 is a Ball Bouncing across the screen, which I'll be attempting tomorrow :D

See you very soon :3
~Char