Character Design

Here are some sketches I've done for character design. The tail of the character will be long and quite thick. Similar to squirrel's tail. I think the longer tail will more challenging as there will be much more movement. I've decided to add some facial features to my ball. This will give more character to the ball and make it more convincing.

I've drawn the ball in many different positions. This has helped me to discover the character and see what it is capable of doing. I want the ball to make certain poses and I found some of them quite difficult to make without loosing the roundness of the ball. There will be a lot of squash and stretch, which can affect the ball's facial features. So I had to manipulate it so the face stays the same.

Animation test

I've done a simple test of a ball with tail bouncing in one spot. The ball and the tail are very simple, I just wanted to start feeling the tail. How it moves according to the movement of the ball. It wasn't as easy as I expected. I had to redraw the tail many times to get smooth animation. I also had a problem with keeping the length of the tail the same.

I've done this simple test with my storyboard in mind, thinking about my final character. I gave the ball some personality with anticipation. I'm happy with the result, even though the position of the tail isn't perfect in some frames, the ball feels alive.

Animation Path

Here is a path that the ball is going to follow. It might be bit confusing as the ball will go forward and backward couple of times.

Second Test - Storyboard

I have created a storyboard for my second test animation. I want to work beyond the brief and add more character to the ball. I want the ball to move like a squirell or a mouse. So there will be a lot of fast moves.

I've also changed the height and lenght of the steps. So it's going to take two bounces for each step. The top step will be much higher than the rest of them, so the ball will need to take an extra effort to jump that high.

I've shortened the steps on the way down. I want the ball to fall down these.

The animtion will start and end the same way - the ball bouncing happilly. The steps will be a little adventure that will happen to the ball.

2D_FINAL_BOUNCING BALL

For the final test I've decided to add some rotation by draw a little cross on the ball. I was quite afraid that it will be very difficult to make and I will mess up whole animation. But after I've turned the onion skin on I could easily see me previous frames and I was able to do the spining without any problems.

First Test Research

Ball type: Golf ball

Height: 29cm

Surface: Wooden table

I've dropped a golf ball on a wooden table from the height of 29 cm. I have filmed eight different tests of the ball. Each with different force added to the ball, so it moves at different speeds across the screen. I’m going to choose three different videos and study them.

Video 1

Fast ball

The ball moves across the screen pretty fast. It does only two bounces. However, the height of the ball is decreasing with each bounce. Also timing is different with each bounce:

Fall – form the top to the bottom 4 frames.

First bounce – from the bottom to the top 4 frames and from the top to the bottom also 4 frames. But there is one more frame, where the ball holds its position at the top.

Second bounce – from the bottom to the top 2 frames. One frame of hold at the peak and one frame more to get out of the screen.

Total number of frames: 17

The ball is rigid so there is no squash and stretch.

Here is a diagram I’ve drawn to show the curves of how the ball is moving:

Based on this diagram I've created a simple animation of the golf ball following the curve. I'm amazed how this diagram has speeded up my animation. And the timing is right.

Video 2

Medium ball

The ball moves across the screen with a medium speed. Now it does four bounces and the height is also decreasing in similar way as it did in the previous test. Here are the numbers of frames for each bounce:

            Fall – from the top to the bottom 4 frames.

First bounce – from the bottom to the top 3 frames. On the top 1 frame of hold up. From the top to the bottom 4 frames.

Second bounce – from the bottom to the top 2 frames. On the top 1 frame of hold up. From the top to the bottom 3 frames.

Third bounce – from the bottom to the top 1 frame. On the top 1 frame of hold up. From the top to the bottom 2 frames.

Fourth bounce – 1 frame together with the hold up. 2 frames to get out of the screen.

           

            Total number of frames: 25

Here is another diagram to show the curves of this ball:

Here is an animation I’ve done based on the diagram:

Video 3

Slow ball

The ball is moving across the screen slowly. The ball does 8 bounces and continues to roll until it’s out of screen. However, I’ve noticed that the ball is moving so slowly that before it appears on the screen it already has managed to drop from the top to the bottom. So the animation will start from the bottom. Here is number of frames for each bounce:

First bounce: from the bottom to the top 3 frames, 1 frame of the hold up, 4 frames to go down.

Second bounce: 1 frame to go up, 1 frame of the hold up, 2 frames to go down.

Third bounce: 1 frame to go up, 1 frame of the hold up, 2 frames to go down.

Fourth bounce: immediately goes to the 1 frame hold up, 2 frames to go down.

Fifth bounce: 1 frame of the hold up and 1 frame to go down.

Sixth bounce: 1 frame to go up and 1 frame to go down.

Seventh bounce: 1 frame to go up and 1 frame to go down.

Eighth bounce: 1 frame to go up and 1 frame to go down.

Roll: 4 frames.

Total number of frames: 31

Although some bounces take exactly the same number of frames their height changes.

Here is a diagram to show the curves of the ball’s movement:

Based on this diagram, I've created an animtion:

First Toon Boom test

This is my first animation using Toon Boom. The ball simply bounces until it stops. Before I've finished this animation I've experimented with different timing and spacing. You can see a chart on the right hand side. It roughly shows the position of each frame. I've also noticed that the squash and stretch should get smaller with each bounce.