That's right, lets get a different take on the bouncing ball.

Let's animate a bouncing ball to mimic the pattern of a bird in flight.

I was thinking of a heavy bird such as this Harpy Eagle.

[video]http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xd/85084224.mov?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=B655008BE7C220707AEA724571DC9D69E30A760B0D811297[/video]

Notice how much the rear of the body and especially the feet go up and down.

Just in case that video won't embed, its from Getty Images:
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/85084224/Image-Bank-Film

Try and animate a 'bouncing' ball with the same up and down momentum as the rear of the bird.

For extra credit, try adding on some legs and feet for secondary.

-DJ

Here is my iron eagle:


koti.welho.com/teekutvo/test_center/Bird.mov



I really enjoyed to work with this exercise and it was fun to test different timing and spacing for different body parts.


-Teemu

quick little ball with wings I rigged up. Fun to work on.

just watched dj's reference he posted, man am I ever lacking with my flap here, the end of the wing actually peaks before the middle of the wing as well, never animate without reference.