3D Ball Animation

So I am taking my first Maya class. Maya is the name of the 3D Software used in many feature films. It is similar to what Pixar uses to make a movie like Cars (except they use their own proprietary software that is constantly being modified per the demands of the movie). This class is called intro to 3D modeling. The first assignment was to model a simple ramp and floor upon which we would animate 3 different balls: Beach ball, Basketball, and Bowling Ball. We did some studies and observation (Research and Development) to see how the balls interacted with the floor and gravity and stuff. Then we had to animate everything using keyframes. Keyframes are basically specific frames of a movie where you tell the ball to be. So I would set a keyframe at frame one telling the basket ball to be 'Y' amount off of the ground, and 'X' amount of speed. Then I go to the end of the movie and tell the basket ball to be 'Y' amount again, and 'X' amount again, and the software figures out the in-between frames.

In traditional animation they called this "tweening" - or "in-between-ing". This meant that an animator whom Walt Disney admired and loved (probably going out for drinks after shifts etc.) would draw Mickey Mouse standing, smiling, looking forward, Then he would draw him again looking surprised to his left. Then another lesser known animator, (young, underpaid, one of hundreds that were at Disney hoping to catch a break) would draw all of the in between frames to connect the two KEYFRAMES that were drawn by Lovey Von Kissupson. It was an assembly line.

But I digress. Now we have solved the problem and eliminated the underpaid animator all together. A computer does all the thinking now. Actually, despite the amazing calculations of the computer, its still just a tool that is no better than the animator behind the keys. This is apparent by each of my ball animations. Though they resemble the weight and movement of the different balls, you can still see that there are subtle tells that it is hand animated. (other than the lack of texture and lighting etc.) Mind you, there are no gravity simulations or collision properties going on here. If I didn't tell the ball where to stop, it would continue through the floor, or float away into space.