Now, the key piece of a bouncing ball is to make it look like it bounces accurately, according to the laws of physics. This can be really complicated, when dealing with keyframes. So instead of trying to reproduce an accurate curve with keyframes, my classmate and I decided to innovate, surpassing the levels of our other brain dead classmates by using the curve editor, making the arc of the ball more organic and natural. Check out the video:
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However, towards the end, I got really cocky with the curve editor, and decided to make it go crazy and jump back to the start. I also made it turn into a football, because why not.
Also, because it took so long and I was a bit behind, I had to render it quickly and didn't have much time to set up the lighting. Because of that, you can't really see the texture on it too well, but it's an obscure eye ball. If you notice, the texture moves; the ball is actually rotating!
Making the ball rotate was rather simple, requiring a bit of math. I simply measured the circumference of the ball, and divided it from the distance, then multiplied by 360 degrees, to find the exact amount that the ball needed to rotate from start to finish.
It's a simple project, so I didn't really put too much effort into making it look pretty. However, the fact that it's done is a good foundation to start a class for animating.