I began to attempt using the pendulum movement in maya and given that I was still new to this software I thought that this would be a good teaching method for me in terms of using the software. To aid me in this effort I referred to the guide on doing the method that Johnny had posted on Blackboard for the students to use and this was something that I was familiar with as I sometimes like to review on tutorials when trying something new be it book binding or digital painting/illustration methods. On the matter at hand the first step was to create a cube in the grid and so using the polygon tools I created one that appeared in the centre of the grid then using the select tool I selected and lifted it onto the grid so it's not stuck between the lines. The next step was to move it to the bottom of the grid at what the guide called -12.
The next phase was slightly tricky at first, the idea was to separate the anchor point from the cube and place it at the centre of the grid, on a normal computer this would be done using the insert key but since I was using my own mac computer the key to this was the "D" key on the keyboard. To move the anchor point it needed to be dragged along whilst holding down the "D" key it was slightly difficult at first but I managed to get the point into the correct position then clicking the "D" key again to lock it into place, as shown below.
The next phase was slightly tricky at first, the idea was to separate the anchor point from the cube and place it at the centre of the grid, on a normal computer this would be done using the insert key but since I was using my own mac computer the key to this was the "D" key on the keyboard. To move the anchor point it needed to be dragged along whilst holding down the "D" key it was slightly difficult at first but I managed to get the point into the correct position then clicking the "D" key again to lock it into place, as shown below.
I played around with the rotate key for a while when the anchor point was selected to get a feel for the controls. This was where the learning element came into play, because up until now I've been using the "S" key to insert the keyframes on the timeline that Joe advised not to get used to using obsessively in this type of animation. This showed me the right way of doing it as I discovered how to insert the frames by clicking on the channels option and selecting key selected whist the object was in position to add a key frame at that exact movement for only one channel.
The first movement was set at -90 for the beginning of the swing but not before I put in a 25fps hold at the very beginning of the animation as advised by Joe. This was put in place and I began the animation process creating the key frame at frame 25 then on frame 50 for the next swing where it would lose power the channel that I used was rotate y as that was the position and section that I was using. The next swing was at the position value of seventy which as shown above is a position during the swing where it begins to lose power then on the opposite side on frame 75 the effect was the same when loosing power in its swing like it was hanging from a string and the same was said on frame 100. On each frame they had to be done in 25fps spaces to move slowly.
Looking back this was the more challenging element as for several of my attempts at getting the timing right made this either slower or faster on the grid or even when adding my own touch of the last swing before stopping took up a lot of space on the timeline and compromising the swing speed and spacing. It took about three tries and referencing back to the instructional guide for guidance and help in this particular problem. The next step was looking at the graph editor which I recently discovered was located in the key section on the tool bar and with this I began adjusting the waves in the graph editor. However when I began playing with it and following the guide the swing began to loose a lot of its speed even the cube just rotating in the beginning space. In the end I altered the editor to the settings that seemed the most presentable and acceptable for presenting to the group on Friday.
Looking back on this task it was rather challenging but the point of this was to have a go and when presented to the tutors to get some feedback and how to refine this further for a final version much like the stop motion version that I've done. The end result of this animation exercise can be seen below.
I was rather pleased with my first attempt and at the same time it has helped me learn a lot from using the software itself even though I'm still trying to find my feet when learning how to use it again after so long. The next project would be doing the anticipation and follow through animation using Maya and I knew that this could be the more challenging one but hopefully what I've learned from the experience will help me in completing this task.
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