Week 11 Elearning Lab 1

Exercise 1

In the Playback End Time box, enter 72.

Click the Go To Start button to go to the start of the playback range. This changes the current frame to 1. Select the ball, then select Animate > Set Key.

Go to frame 72. With the Move Tool, drag the ball's X-axis handle to position the ball at the right edge of the ground.  Set a keyframe at 72.

Go to frame 33.

With the Move tool, drag the Y-axis handle of the ball until it sits slightly above the fence. Set a key.

Go to frame 50. At this moment, the ball sits in a position above the middle section of the right half of the ground. Move the ball so it sits on the ground. Set a key.

Go to frame 60. Move the ball up again, but not as high as its peak height above the fence. Set a key. 

With the ball selected, select Window > Animation Editors > Graph Editor. Shift-select only the Translate X and Translate Y in the left attributes in the left column of the Graph Editor.   

Select the point on the Translate Y (green) curve at frame 50. In the Graph Editor, select Tangent > Linear.

Select the key point at frame 50 (not a tangent handle). In the Graphs Editor, select Keys > Break Tangents.

Select the right tangent handle and use the Move Tool to move it up a little. Do the same for the left tangent handle. Be careful not to select the key point. 

Modify Graph Editor.



Window > Playblast.


Exercise 2

reflection

This exercise has taught me how to use keyframes and graph editors to do the introduction to animation. It was relatively easy, which made me feel like I could have done more and better animations for exercise 2. 

Self-Critique

reflection

Looking back at my modeled stapler, I feel that I did not achieve the level of detail that I would have liked. The actual stapler comprised many intricate parts that I was not able to create in my model.

In the model, the curve of the beige-coloured plastic arm is not as smooth as the original stapler. I tried using vertices but the end result was that there were some uneven sections. The bottom of the plastic arm also had a beveled edge which narrowed towards the base of the stapler. I tried beveling to create the same effect but was unsuccessful.
The plastic base of the stapler also had smoother, rounded edges but the edges of my model remained sharp.  When I tried using the bevel tool to address this, the image became distorted.   

The parts of the modeled stapler are slightly out of alignment. Again, I was unable to rectify this problem without distorting the entire model.

The back view of the stapler was the most difficult part to model. Several details were left out as I was unable to find the right tools to model the smaller components that could be seen in this view. Because of that, details such as the fulcrum (which keeps the arm at an angle apart from the base) are missing, leading to the empty gap between the arm and the base of the model. Other details such as the axle and its related parts were also not accurately modeled.

The upper arm of the modeled stapler is clearly seen to be distorted in this view. This was made worse after I applied boolean>difference in an attempt to capture details visible from the top view, such as the round indentation near the top end of the stapler arm. However, I decided to retain the indentation as I

figured that it looked more similar to the top of the stapler this way.