Week 11

Exercise 1

Process

Upon opening the file provided, I obtained this.

Starting off, I located the key positions and began positioning them and setting key frames.

After doing that, I had to make it look more natural and by opening the graph editor and setting the editor to show only my translate X and translate Y, I obtained this.

Using the scale tool, I made the duration shorter, from the animation ending at frame 72, to ending at frame 48. After which, I broke the tangent of point at the valley at Translate Y and using the move tool, moved both tangents such that it had a sharper V.

Finally, I broke the tangent at the first point of translate Y and using the move tool, moved its "right-tangent" and the "left-tangent" of the point at the valley to give it a nice curve. I did the same to the other curve at the end. Also, I deleted the three points in between the first and last point of translate X as they were not needed.

With that, I obtained the animation shown above.

Exercise 2

Through the animation chart from week 10's lab, I set key frames at areas where my key positions had to be set, namely at frames when the ball was either at its peak or when it bounces. I used the grid as a base to check and ensure that the ball bounces in a correct direction.

Next, using the graph editor, I broke the tangents of the points at the valleys and using the move tool, moved them so that a sharp V is made.

After doing it for all of the valley's points, as well as shift it slightly so as to obtain a I achieved this.

With that, I obtained the animation shown above.

Lab 2

Exaggerated Ball

Not Exaggerated Ball

After creating a sphere and grouping it together twice, as well as modify > Center pivot the 3 selections, I parented a Nonlinear > Squash attribute, called squash1Handle to translate_ball_gp.

I then created a base using a plane polygon, giving it color by assigning it a new material.

I then begin setting key frames at key positions, namely the peaks and bounces.

And just like the other exercises, I used the graph editor to break the tangents of the points at the valleys and using the move tool, moved the tangents to give it a sharp V as well as a nice curve at the top.

Finally, by changing the rotated Z attribute of rotate_ball_gp at frame 1 to 1 and frame 100 to -1200 , the ball rotates while it moves and with that the ball bounce sequence is completed. For the squash and stretch effect, I simply changed the squash1handle's attribute called factor to suit the condition, -1 being that of when it is squashed, 0 when it is normal or at its peak and 1 when it is stretched.

For the exaggerated ball, I made the numbers have a larger difference from one another so that the effect is much more stronger and the difference between positions is very vast.

For the not exaggerated ball, I made the numbers have a smaller difference from one another so that the effect is not as strong and the difference between positions in more subtle.

With that, I completed this lab too.

Reflection

I love the graph editor. It simply makes animating so much more easier and natural looking. Simply by breaking a tangent and shifting it, I can make a ball seem more realistic in terms of its bouncing motion which is very pleasing to see. Also, what I have learnt in week 10 is brought forward. Setting of key positions allows me to know where I have to aim for.

Finally, I feel that applying the squash and stretch effect is rather difficult in terms of capturing the proper effect that skilled animators are able to do. I feel that I will need more experience and time to actually animate a decent squash and stretch effect bounce.

After getting feedback from my teacher, I realize that there are ways to improve my work for this week. One being that of the camera angle, where he told me that when looking at a squash and stretch effect, it would be better to look from the side view as it enables the viewer to actually see how the ball maneuvers through each frames; the amount of squash and stretch effect applied.

Another method of improvement would be that of the effect itself where my teacher told me that the effect was applied throughout in an up and down motion and not that of in the direction of the ball. Meaning, for my animation, the squash and stretch effect is seen as stretching up and downwards rather than that of slanted slightly in the direction of the ball. This was something which I did not know and would embed into future assignments.

Why is squash and stretch so useful in animation?

I feel that it is useful as it allows for our animations to look natural and life-like as well as allows us to leave our audiences with a stronger impact if we choose to exaggerate the action.

Think of a situation in which extreme squash and stretch could be applied to a character

Seeing that I am someone who is interested in very exaggerated animation, my choice of situation would be that when an energy bolt is being controlled by a caster into attacking his enemy whom is continuously pummeled by this one bolt. The effect is applied mainly when the bolt collides with the enemy. Other than the obvious squash being applied when colliding and stretch when moving, another area where this effect can take place is upon collision when the human's skin has a slight squash effect due to the blow, and a stretch effect upon the ball leaving.

Think of an animation example where squash and stretch would NOT be appropriate.

I feel that a squash and stretch effect would not be appropriate for animations that have no form of contact or impact in it such as flying with no wind resistance.

If squash and stretch doesn't really happen so obviously in real life, why do you think is it so effective in animation.

This allows our animation to look more lively as what we are animating are merely a combination of polygons. Also, it allows us animators to carry out certain animations which leaves a stronger impact on our audiences, making our animations much more nicer and possibly, natural or realistic.