Newton's cradle

This exercise which looks at the principle of slow In and Slow out worked quite well. It highlighted movement and weight and looks at the ideas of physics in balls and takes it a step further from the bounce of squash and stretch. Gravity is meant to be used in a way that shows weight and speed. The motion works as when the balls connect, there is an equal amount of believable force applied to project the ball at the other side. Weight is definitely distributed but I feel that there is a bit of rigidity in the wire/string that connects the balls. Thankfully it doesn't look mechanical and this adds greatly to the overall realism of the animation.

Using the rotation tool, I added keyframes in order to create a smooth flow as the balls connected. I went from a high angle, 70 on the x rotation to a 0 and so on in order to create an even distribution of frames.

Once the keyframes were set, I manipulated the graph editor in order to show slow in and slow out. This is before I edited. 

Using weighted tangents, I first smooth the curve to get a more realistic curve.

In order to get a sharper curve of slow In and Slow Out, I used the move tool to edit the keyframe points and add a better effect to the flow of the animation. The ball therefore manages to impact with a better sense of motion and gravity incorporated in it without looking stiff and lifeless.

This is the scene just before the playblast. I think that the other principles of animation such as timing and anticipation are also incorporated into this cradle in order to add more to the animation.

There are some issues as I still need more practice with the graph editor and the rigidity is still present in some places but overall i feel that this was a successful exercise in animating the slide in, slide out principle. 

THIS ANIMATION USES A RIG CREATED BY JASON THEAKER AND REFERENCES ANIMATIONS ALREADY CREATED BY HIM AS PART OF A LEARNING EXPERIENCE. I DO NOT OWN OR CLAIM TO OWN IT'S CHARACTERS