Squash and Stretch - Ball and Dinosaur

Critical Evaluation


This is the Squash Stretch Ball Dinosaur exercise playblast using Autodesk Maya.

Initially, I began with the dinosaur model animation because it was more complicated, thanks to the motion of different body parts and timings. I studied the demo version of this project and wrote a breakdown of each animated controller. Thus, I understood the way of how these parts are animated. Then, I started with the curves of the greater parts, such as the global and main body controllers because I wanted to create the major animations before going into detail. For the translation of these and feet rotation when the model makes contact with the ground and leaves it, I used the same timing as the example, because I understood clearly that the feet would need two keyframes to step and leave the floor for the sake of speed and momentum, and also the bounce was very well approached. However, for the rotation of feet as the dinosaur falls and elevates, also the rotation of head and neck, I used my own timing. My purpose was to set different timings for each animation, because no part of the body moves at the same time.
Secondly, the main objective of this exercise was the squash and stretch principle. Not only the translation and rotation of the main controller created this effect, but also the rotations of the neck and head enhanced this effect. This extension of the body as the model falls and elevates and its closed, passive pose when touching the ground, gave the impression of softness. In my opinion, these different states of the body also created the essence of follow through.
Finally, I also animated the bouncing ball and the the X translations of main body and feet.

This was a very effective exercise to study the example, figure out the hierarchy of each motion and try different timings. Furthermore, the squash and stretch principle I applied also helped me to experiment with various poses of the body to attach the feeling of impetus and follow through, also create a more natural and expressive animation, something that would be efficient for future projects.