3D Bouncing Balls with Tails

In this task I explored overlapping action and how to animate two objects that interact with each other. As I'm still at the start of learning how to use Maya; I was given a rig of a ball with a tail. The task was to animate the ball bouncing along using squash and stretch with the tail moving as well.

In class I learnt how to make the tail move in correlation to the ball by having the tail drag as momentum was built and lost. Animating this scene was quite simple and easy to understand as I was working with a ball that just moved forwards.

I did a test to get used to how the tail works by animating the ball bouncing on one spot. First I just focused on the ball to the get the bounce right with the timing. I then made the tail bounce with the ball, and tried to make it look like it fell to the ground at the end.

I then started animating my ball bouncing across the screen. In my first attempt I made the tail move too abruptly, which looked very unnatural and confusing. I had moved the tail too far in both directions, and it didn't show any drag or the correct physics.

To create a better version I used my ball bouncing on the spot as a template because it had the correct timing. I then moved my ball to the different points and referred back to my original tails test that I did in class to see how the tail moves in relation to the ball's movement. After doing this I found my second attempt to be much more successful. I still feel it needs a bit more work, like at the end when the tail floats up for another bounce.

My next step will be to add squash and stretch to the ball for a more animated and characteristic look.