Animation project 2

Teams of 2 (new partners)

Use Maya (although if both partners wish, you can make an argument to use another software, but I think that all students should have some Maya experience).

Design a jugglng club (as a 3D shape of revolution). Texture mapping GT on it is optional. ;-)

Design the 3D motion of the club as it travels from one hand to the other. Remember that the motion has 2 parts: (1) the follow-up and anticipation transition while the club is in the hand and does a little rotating motion around the wrist or elbow of the juggler and (2) the free motion where the club is in free fall with an initial translational and rotational velocity and flies in the air, does one flip, and falls back in the other hand. You can create this motion with keyframes or through simulation. Bottomline, it should be realistic and you should not spend hours doing it.

Make a symmetric copy of the motion and link them together into a continuous loop motion that looks like the motion of a real juggling club. Make a 3 sec video showing that motion.

Then make 3 instances of these moving clubs, assign a different color to each, synchronize them so that they are 1/3 of the period apart. Make the animation go in an endless loop.

Set the camera to pan around the action slowly and make a movie showing 10 complete cycles as the camera pans 360 around.

Grades will be asigned based on (1) the realism of the motion shown in the video and (2) the clarity and elegance of the description of how you did this.

For extra credit you may:

- Add arms, hands, a body (up to 40%)

- Put your video next to the video of a real juggler and explain the differences (10%)

- Add special visualization effects (motion blur, stream lies, particles)