Today in Maya I was animating a bouncing ball. To do this I was using squash and stretch, pose to pose and slow in slow out to give the ball some character and making it more like a bouncy ball rather that a bowling ball.
To start out, i mapped out the ball’s jumps by inserting key frames at key points, such as when the ball reaches the floor and when it reaches the peak of a jump. The ball bounces 3 times in total before rolling and coming to a stop against a wall. I didn’t originally include the wall part of the animation, however i decided to add it to provide some context.
I used squash and stretch when the ball landed on the floor, squashing it out to exaggerate how rubbery the ball is, and i stretched the ball out after it leaves the floor for the same reason.
Morgan Adams Next Gen Blog 