Beggining animations from reference video

I realized during this project how important dope sheets are. Spending the time to break down reference video saves time tenfold when going through and animating. You dont realize how little you understand about movement until breaking it down frame by frame.




The football was difficult from the start due to its shape. I tried a range of different grouping techniques to give me the proper pivot point control but I just couldnt figure it out. I jumped in and started animating with one central pivot. Since squash and stretch were both done from the central pivot, I needed to go back through and adjust translations to accommodate. The ending needs work. I'm taking another pass at it this time with a three pivot setup.




This video is an exagerated animation of my fall. I pretty much just gave it more extreme followthrough animation on the limbs etc. Maria suggested on my second pass to push it farther and see what I can get away with.

Dopesheets/timing sheets

Falling Object Studies

Spent a few hours watching and re-watching three videos this week.

1) Tennis ball drop



2) Nerf Football drop



3) Me dropping



I have never created my own time/dopesheet before and it took me a while to get comfortable. After a little online research and a review of the Animators Survival Guide by Richard Williams I think I'm on my way to finding a comfortable format. The tennis ball was pretty straight forward. Minimal movement when bouncing and a slight rotation. The football is oddly shaped and takes a few unexpected bounces. It also compresses a bit more than the tennis ball. Me falling is the most difficult. There are obviously more moving parts. Besides bounce, squash and stretch etc., there are many follow through and overlapping motions to track (head, arms legs). Scans/video and updates to come a little later.