Blog Post and Work Log 2/21/2022

Process Page:

    Recently I have been working on the animation part of my project, specifically the animation of the leaf falling. I have some pictures here that show how I am working through that process.

    The first thing I did was I made three pairs of semicircles, one for each speed variation I was incorporating. To make things go faster or slower, I make the keyframes the same time apart, but I change the distance that the leaf has to travel. The green pair is fast, the yellow is in the middle, and the red is slow. Originally I had four different pairs, but then I changed it to three because I realized a fourth one was unnecessary. I also originally had the change in distance less drastic between the colors, but I decided to make them farther apart because the speed change wasn't noticeable enough.

    Once I had the spacing figured out, I moved on to the actual placement of these markers. To make the path look semi realistic, I followed this reference picture that I found online. I did have to make a few changes to the path around the places where the leave turns, but for the most part I stuck to this outline. I placed the markers in a specific order, so that when it is traveling in a steep path, it is speeding up (green); when it is going around the turns, it slows down (red); and when it is in between these speeds, it is going at a medium speed. The hardest part of this process was doing the turns so that they look smooth and not robotic. I did have to move away from the reference near the bottom of the path because I want the leaf to land in the hand.

    After I plotted the path in the side view, I then changed perspectives so that the leaf traveled diagonally after each turn. I did this so that the leaf didn't stay on the same y level the whole time. Also, I think it makes it more realistic that the leaf might travel to the left or right.

Reflection:

    Overall I think that this animation is going pretty well. There was definitely a lot of trial and error involved in the process, but I think it was worth it so that I could end up with something I am happy with. And looking at how the animation is turning out, I would say I am pretty happy. I am very excited to see how the final product will look.

Work Log:

Monday: I continued working on animating the leaf falling from the tree.

Tuesday: I continued working on animating the leaf falling from the tree.

Wednesday: I continued working on animating the leaf falling from the tree.