Absolutely nothing! hehehehehe
Today, as part of my attempt to push my fundamental animation skills, I thought it will be challenging to try and animate three different bouncin balls (this time with out having a look at the Animator Survival Kit that pretty much tells you where to set your keys).
For reference I bounced these three balls on a concrete surface.
The tennis and billiard balls were quite easy to block in terms of key poses and timing, the golf ball however was a bouncy basterd!
I still can’t get the timing right!
This leads me to my question, does anyone out there in the animation community have some useful piece of advice for a tool like me about timing an object? I tried to tap the beat I wanted it to have on the desk while I was working but I lost my head around it quite quickly.
I guess there is no other choice but looking at the Survial Kit (now I understand the meaning of this book a lot better).
:0)
Any tips or tricks are most welcome.
Hey man,
I don’t know if this will help or not, but it might be something worth trying.
For timing something like this, I generally try to visualize the final product in my head. I close my eyes and see it happening. I will make sure Maya (or whatever program) is playing back at full speed, and use the playback to help me figure out what frame something needs to happen.
I will hover over the play button with the mouse, close my eyes, and
1.) hit play and visualize the start of the scene
2.) see the whole animation playing out right in front of me
3.) click the mouse again to stop the playback right when i feel the event is supposed to happen.
4.) open my eyes
Now I’m right around the frame that I need the event to happen. Probably a frame or two late, depending on my reaction time. But at least its a pretty good start.
Anyway, this works for me, but it’s not by any means an exact science, and theres plenty of room for error. I bet just ‘knowing’ timing your going for and being able to space it out comes with plenty of experience. One day I’ll be there…
If you find a good way, let me know so i can try it out too.
Best of luck