Bouncing Ball
Objective
Model an impossible structure in Maya inspired by "Monument Valley" and "Escher Staircase" and animate a bouncing ball around the structure. Use Python to do any procedural part of the model.
Modelling
The base design is inspired from M.C. Escher’s work used in the game ‘ Monument Valley’ .
Model ideas from three different monuments are combined for the final construct with the entire scene set up in an extraterrestrial environment. The main base was kept almost similar to the original reference and the extended pathway and light pillars were added to give a more complete and broader look. It is designed to look like a celestial light tower with each tower holding a light bulb and the bulb for the main tower will be the ball to be animated. The clouds and starry backdrop is added to offer the ethereal ambiance and appeal.
Having included the starry textured backdrop and clouds, the plan was to keep the model basic and natural.
Simple, subtle and linear colors have been used taking note to bring out the gentle glow and shine during interaction of colors with light. Bright and high toned colors are avoided in order to maintain the soft textural balance and enhance the cumulative effect.
Choices Considered
Palette Used (a mix and match from above)
Texturing
Lighting
The entire scene is lit up using Vray lights which have been positioned and directed in a way to reach specific areas of the model and also illuminate the model as a whole; intensity multiplier, focal length, shadow bias were modified to support the ambiance of the scene and complement the fluid particles. Light saturation for clouds didn’t work well with Maya Software and Mental Ray so the choice of using VRay was made.
Animation
Initial Idea:
Start the ball movement from the light bulb of main tower, making it roll across the impossible staircase and jump over to one of the light pillars making the bulbs glow and finally freeze in space. The idea worked well but on closer examination certain problems were encountered with transition from jump to roll, squash and stretch during jump and almost no distortion during roll seemed to change the type of ball and finally the animation was slightly inconsistent and physically incorrect at some instances.
Finally:
Simple motion, restricting the path to the impossible staircase. This offered better control of the animation, squash and stretch and overall motion of the ball.
