The Bouncing Balls project is one of my first explorations into 3D animation using Blender. It serves as a foundational study aimed at mastering realistic animations and understanding the 3D pipeline. The animation depicts two balls bouncing down a staircase, with an emphasis on achieving accurate physics and timing.

Skills Used:

• Modeling: Created a detailed staircase using array and mirror modifiers, adjusting for perspective distortions from reference footage.
• Keyframe Animation: Focused on timing and spacing by setting keyframes for each bounce and arc, using constant interpolation to review motion.
• Graph Editor: Fine-tuned the bounces with vectorized keyframe handles and bell curve adjustments for a more stylized effect.
• Texturing: Applied textures from PolyHaven, including a particle-based texture for the tennis ball and procedural textures for other elements.
• Lighting: Used a simple two-light setup to maintain the natural light seen in the reference video.
• Final Touches: Added rotation to the balls after each bounce for realism, and completed the project in Premiere Pro by adding titles and the reference video for comparison.

Project Insights: This project was a great introduction to Blender's animation tools like the dope sheet, graph editor, and curves. It highlighted the importance of careful planning and organization, especially when dealing with perspective and complex scenes. Despite some challenges, including perspective adjustments and texturing complexities, the final video showcases a successful study in animation fundamentals, providing a solid foundation for future, more ambitious projects.