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Advanced Animation - Exercises

24.09.2024 - .2024 (Week 1 - Week 14)

Low Li Vern/ 0362678

Advance Animation / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Exercises
INSTRUCTIONS



LECTURES

Week 2
Forward Kinematics (FK):
  • FK allows you to rotate each bone individually in a chain, from the root to the tip.
  • You control each bone’s rotation directly, and the movement of child bones is influenced by the parent bones.
Use case: FK is great for actions where you need smooth, precise, and flowing motions, like rotating an arm from the shoulder. It is often used when animating arcs, like swinging an arm or leg.

Inverse Kinematics (IK):
  • IK allows you to move the end of a bone chain (like a hand or foot), and Blender calculates how the other bones (like the arm or leg) should rotate to reach that position.
  • Instead of rotating each bone individually, you can simply move the target (usually the foot or hand), and the bones will follow accordingly.


EXERCISE 1 : Bouncing Ball Animation
Our first exercise is to create a bouncing ball animation, this time incorporating specific properties for each ball type: soccer ball, ping pong ball, bowling ball, beach ball, and a squash-and-stretch ball.

1. Download ball rig for the exercise:

2. Explore and understand the rigs.

3. Find image/video reference for these bouncing ball:
4. Plan the ball movement by drawing it on a paper.

5. Observe the difference of each ball's physical property (soccer, ping pong and bowling) and its weight. 
Analyse how does it affect:
  1. The timing and travel distance of each bounce (Contact pose to Contact pose)
  2. The overall timing that determines the number of bounces.
  3. The height of each Up pose when it bounces.
6. Set the animation setting:
  • Image size: 1280 x 720 (HD) or 720p
  • Frame rate: 24fps
Animate each ball base with the correct:
  1. Timing
  2. Spacing (Slow in and Slow out)
  3. Arcs
Soccer Bouncing Ball Progress : 

For the football animation, we completed it in class with Mr. Kamal during week 2. We learned how to insert keyframes, position the ball, and adjust the arcs using the graph editor.

Fig 1.1 Keyframes of soccer ball

To create this bouncing ball animation in Blender, I added keyframes to animate the ball’s position along the Z and X axes. Using the Graph Editor, I adjusted the arcs to create a smooth, realistic bounce, with each bounce decreasing in height to simulate energy loss. Finally, I ensured the ball aligned with the floor for accurate contact points, resulting in a natural and believable motion.

Fig 1.2 Render Soccer Ball

To make the scene more visually appealing, I added a background image of a football stadium to create a realistic environment. Then, I included lighting to enhance the overall look, ensuring the ball and platform were well-lit and stood out. This combination of lighting and background gives the animation a more dynamic and professional appearance.

Fig 1.3 Soccer Ball Animation

Ping Pong Bouncing Ball Progress : 

Fig 2.1 Keyframes of Ping Pong

For the ping pong ball animation, I made the ball bounce quickly with smaller and faster bounces each time it hits the ground. The height reduces with each bounce to show it losing energy, making it look realistic and light.

Fig 2.2 Render Ping Pong

I adjusted the timing to make the first part quick, giving the ball an energetic start. In the middle section, I slowed down the keyframes to emphasize the ball’s gradual loss of momentum. For the final part, I placed the keyframes closer together to show the ball slowing down and settling naturally. This timing variation adds realism and makes the animation flow smoothly.

Fig 2.3 Ping Pong Animation

 Bowling Bouncing Ball Progress : 
Fig 3.1 Keyframes of Bowling Ball

 I animated the bowling ball bounce by carefully placing keyframes to reflect its heavy weight and minimal bounce. I started with a fast drop to emphasize gravity, followed by small, quick bounces that gradually lose height and momentum. The keyframes are positioned close together, with low arcs to show the ball's heaviness. I also added subtle Z rotation for a rolling effect as the ball settles on the surface. The Graph Editor helped me adjust the timing and spacing for a realistic and grounded motion.

3.2 Graph Editor

For the first arc, I used 10 frames for the ball to move from contact to "up" and another 10 frames for it to return to contact. In the second arc, I reduced the frames to 5 up and 5 down, showing a significant decrease in both height and duration to emphasize the ball losing energy. Starting from the third arc, I further decreased the height and kept the timing short to simulate the ball settling quickly. The ball bounces 4 times in total, with each bounce becoming smaller and closer together, effectively capturing the realistic behavior of a heavy bowling ball.

Fig 3.3 Bowling Ball Animation

Beach Ball Bouncing Ball Progress : 
Fig 4.1 Keyframe of Beach Ball

In Blender, I animated the beach ball bounce by creating smooth arcs and setting keyframes for the motion. For the first bounce, I used 27 frames to go down and 39 frames to reach the top of the arc, showing a slow, light motion since the beach ball is bouncy and soft. The second arc is smaller, with the ball landing at frame 51 and going up to frame 61. Each bounce gradually gets smaller, with fewer frames and lower heights to show the ball losing energy. By the fourth and fifth bounces, the arcs are very close to the ground, ending around frame 126. This creates a realistic, soft beach ball bounce with smooth motion.

Fig 4.2 Beach Ball Animation

Squash and Stretch ball Progress :

Fig 5.1 Squash and Stretch ball Progress

First, I started by finding some references online to observe how the ball stretches and squashes in different keyframes. I applied the technique taught by Mr. Kamal, focusing on maintaining the volume of the ball while stretching it during its fall and squashing it at the contact points. Next, I created the bouncing ball animation, carefully adding keyframes to show the ball stretching as it moves quickly in the air and squashing when it hits the ground. This technique helped make the animation look more dynamic and realistic.

Fig 5.2 Squash and Stretch ball Feedback

After receiving feedback from Mr. Kamal, he pointed out that the ball on keyframe 26 looked a bit weird due to excessive stretching and its direction. I adjusted the ball to have less stretch at that frame, ensuring it looks more natural, and I also corrected the direction slightly to the right. These changes made the animation flow smoother and improved the overall realism of the ball's movement.
Fig 5.3 Squash and Stretch ball Redo

I reworked the squash and stretch on the part that looked weird, as mentioned in the feedback, and adjusted it to look more natural. After making the changes, I rendered it out again to ensure the animation flows smoothly and looks better overall.

Fig 5.4 Squash and Stretch ball Animation

EXERCISE 2: PENDULUM ANIMATION
1. Download pendulum rig for the exercise:
2.Explore and understand the rigs.

3.Animate the pendulum main object moving from left to right on the screen and swing to show drags, overlapping and follow through.

4.The believability is based on speed of the main action and how the tail is reacted through its flexibility attributes.

5.Set the animation setting:
  • Image size: 1280 x 720 (HD) or 720p
  • Frame rate: 24fps
6.Animate the pendulum swing with the correct:
  • Drag
  • Overlapping
  • Follow Through
In the next exercise, we are tasked with animating a pendulum. The main object will move from left to right across the screen while the pendulum swings. This exercise focuses on demonstrating the principles of drag, overlapping action, and follow through to create a realistic and smooth motion. These techniques will help show how the pendulum lags behind the main object's movement and gradually settles into place, adding weight and fluidity to the animation.

Fig 6.1 Pendulum Progress

First, I animated the main object to move smoothly from one side of the screen to the other. I ensured that the three circles representing the joints were set to their individual origins so that each joint could rotate independently

Fig 6.2 Pendulum First Attempt

Fig 6.3 Pendulum After Feedback

After receiving feedback from Sir on my pendulum movement, I realized that the keyframes for the pendulum's motion were incorrect. I adjusted and redid the keyframes to ensure the pendulum swung more naturally, showing proper drag, overlap, and follow-through. This correction made the animation smoother and more realistic.

Fig 6.4 Pendulum Animation

EXERCISE 3: EMOTION POSE
For this exercise, we are to find image references for action poses that expresses these emotions : 
  1. Happy
  2. Sad 
  3. Angry 
  4. Scared
First, I looked up image references on Google and studied them by tracing over their silhouettes to find the line of action for each pose. I then worked on creating the poses in Blender, ensuring they had clear and dynamic shapes.


After choosing the reference pose, I started posing in Blender. I began with the happy pose, closely following the reference while adjusting some details to give the pose a stronger sense of movement and flow. This helped make the character look more dynamic and expressive.

1. Happy Progression

Fig 7.1 Happy Progression

Fig 7.2 Happy Side Progression

Fig 7.3 Happy Facial Progression

2. Sad Progression

Fig 7.4 Sad Progression

Fig 7.5 Sad Hand Progress
3. Angry Progression

Fig 7.6 Angry Progression

4. Scared Progression

Fig 7.7 Scared Progression

Fig 7.8 Scared Hand Progression
Final Outcome : 
Scared

Angry

Happy

Sad

REFLECTIONS
For Exercise 3, I had the task of creating poses that express various emotions which is Happy, Sad, Angry, and Scared. I really enjoyed this exercise because it allowed me to experiment with different emotional expressions. Using Blender to pose the character was fun, and I especially liked playing with lighting to emphasize each emotion with different colors. This exercise has given me a deeper understanding of how body language conveys emotion, and I look forward to applying these skills in future projects.
THE END
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