colour coded stages. I used colours to show each level of movement.The ball shows roughly the estimated spacing, squash and stretch and the bounce movement that is going to be used in my animation this is not a precise movement plan but just a rough.

This is a storyboard movement.

 It starts off by my ball character gathering momentum on step 1 then takes off like a cannon ball smashing the side of step 3 and landing on step 2 almost falling off.

Then he jumps onto step 3 due to how high step 4 is he gathers momentum again, jumps but dint make it to the top of step 4 he gathers momentum longer this time then jumps and lands.

because step 4 is so thin and he could barely balance he wobbles as if about to loose balance then uses its tail to slide in a spriral around step 4 landing on step 5.

then jumps from step 5 to step 6 and from step 6 to step seven.

This is the visual story of my ball and tail animation using arrow movements to describe my characters actions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIZVuGPXReM
This is someone elses animation i was watching and thought was really good especially in terms of capturing the body expressions, emotions and movement.

This is my choosen background two ground platforms to start and finish 2 steps on each side and 1 really thin top platform.

Based on my tail observations i started drawing my theory of understanding. I started from your basic jump movement then started looking at the delayed actions/ overlap movement. also looking at different views and perspective in which i could draw my tail character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGHtAwvplOY&feature=related  I started looking at a lot of classic disney animation that has animals involved in it. movies like Fox and the hound, Lady and the tramp, jungle book and Robin hood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWU0bfo-bSY

This is a video that truly allowed me to understand how a squirrel moves, also very beneficial to my background layout of my actual animation because the squirrel is going through a obstacle course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWU0bfo-bSY

Tail ball Animation 2d

To start of the ball tail animation I wanted to understand how a squirrel moves based on the energy of its tail and how its body movement supports its tail movement. I did try to find one in real life but was unable to capture it so I started watching videos on you tube to get me learning about how they move. The reason I choose a squirrel is because the tail of the ball we are using for this project is the same as a squirrels or a fox and a squirrel emphasizes the energy used in its tail whilst moving better than a fox. This is because in comparison a squirrels body in size is almost similar to its tail size this is closer to my ball and tail character in terms of size than using a fox movement because the size of its body might have an impact on the way its tail move giving me a better advantage of understanding. 

this is my bouncing ball animation, due to the fact the marble ball is very small and heavy it bounces very quick especially on a smooth surface. my time limit is just under 2 sec considering in real life my eyes was barely able to see it as shown in the video below.

This is a planned stage of my bouncing ball looking at spacing, timing,squash and stretch also looking at the energy that goes into the ground from the bounce.

Because the marble ball is fully solid it is very heavy meaning it pushes through gravity easier that other balls like a basket ball. This is why when i drop it it is usually fast and i am barely able to see it in the air.

This is the red marble ball i have choosen to use.

This test is on concrete.

This test is on a carpet.

I did a test on 3 different sufaces to see how it effects the bounce and movement of my marble ball. To make it fair i dropped it all from the same height and position.This test is on a rubber tile carpet floor.

Bouncing ball Animation level 1 2d

To start off my bouncing ball animation I started by observing the movement of a ball I did this by choosing a marble ball and bouncing it. Then I did it on different surfaces to see how the surface area effects the ball from doing this I found out its can make a huge difference to how the ball bounces I also found out dropping it from different heights can also effect the gravity and speed of the ball and there is so many other little elements that can make a ball bounce differently to how it is expected to. Elements like the weather; surface, height and how you even drop the ball are all aspects that can effect the movement of the ball.