Animate a Ball Throw with Alex Williams

We've added a new series of videos to our Vimeo Tutorial Channel, on how to animate a character throwing a ball.

The tutorial is important for any animator learning how to animate a physical action, and shows how to use live action reference in order to create a believable and technically accurate result.

Morpheus Rig
The tutorial uses the free Morpheus Rig, which can be downloaded for free. Any animator looking to use Morpheus for the first time should test the rig out, and also read this blog post on how to get the best from Morpheus (don't skip this stage).

Technical Videos

There are five Technical Videos to watch:

1. Attaches and Parenting. How to attach the ball to the character's hand, and then un-attach it (10 mins).
2. Live Action Reference. How to use live action reference in Maya (10 mins)
3. Live Action Reference. How to import live action reference into Maya, and project it onto an image plane (6 mins)
4. Spline vs Stepped Curves. Animators block out their animation on Stepped Curves, only using Spline Curves later to smooth their work (7 mins). 
5. The ParentMaster. This video on the free ParentMaster plugin shows how to use it to attach and un-attach objects in Maya (12 mins). 

Tutorial Videos
There are Seven Tutorial Videos to watch, showing how to animate Morpheus throwing the ball.

The tutorial shows a studio-friendly approach, in which live-action reference is used to inform and direct the animation. The live action underpins the animation, making it believable and convincing.

You can find the videos at our Vimeo Channel here.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7385962

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2020, follow this link.  To apply, visit the official page here.