Bouncing Ball Tutorial with Marc Stevenson

Start with a bouncing ball

All animation courses begin with a bouncing ball. The Bouncing Ball Tutorial introduces animators to the basic concepts of timing and spacing, weight, paths of action and also squash and stretch.

A ball can be bounced well or badly, and the exercise - although superficially simple - can be done with skill and sophistication.

In this tutorial video, hosted at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel and aimed at junior animators, Escape Studios tutor Marc Stevenson shows how to make a ball bounce convincingly.

Bouncin' Ball 1.0.0

Bouncing Ball

The Bouncing Ball Tutorial is an introduction to the most important principles of animation. Here, students first encounter the concepts of timing and spacing, and also how to use the Graph Editor in Maya.

The exercise can be done in stages. First, learn how to make a ball bounce, then try different kinds of balls, with different properties.  But it's also where students begin to learn the importance of giving a performance. Even a bouncing ball can be made to look fun and interesting - or dull and boring.

Tutorial by Marc Stevenson

Marc Stevenson

The Bouncing Ball Tutorial was created by Marc Stevenson. You can find the tutorial here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom1OAADDSKNk_ZookHxR6dLm

Maya Rigs
Which rig should you use to animate the bouncing ball? We suggest two free Maya rigs:

1. Bouncin' Ball Rig
The free bouncing ball rig is available for free download at highend3D. This rig is a simple bouncing ball with top and bottom controls for the squash-and-stretch, and also independent controls over its orientation, as well as the rotation and the position of the ball itself.

2. Ultimate Ball Rig
We also recommend the Ultimate Ball, downloadable from highEnd3D.com. Ultimate Ball has the great advantage that it comes with built-in textures, so you can choose from a variety of different choices, such as a football, basketball or golf ball.

Vimeo Tutorials
To see more animation tutorials available at our Vimeo channel, follow this link. Our online tutorials at Vimeo are password protected, so if you're a current student or Escapee, and you'd like the password, email me at alex.williams1@pearson.com

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our BA/MArt, follow this link.  To apply, visit the official page here.