Spline Spline no friend of mine

Well I've about run out of time to continue doing this ball kick piece and in all honesty the drive of finishing it has almost faded away. I've been catching myself falling into a pattern of starting with something simple, over complicating it, speedily racing to the finish line, and then falling short at the very end.

I've been critiquing a ton of stuff at the 11secondclub, but I always have to remind myself that I too am just a newbie. 7-ish weeks of Maya does not make a great animator. I guess I'm just a little disappointed with this latest piece as it was going so well until I hit the spline button (or autoTangent).

Finished Blocking:


Half-way done Spline:


It turned out okay so far but it just wasn't what I was after - the punch of it is definitely gone at least that's how I feel when I see it. My relationship with maya is still pretty rocky. But as always I've learned a ton from this (first time using parent / constrain). I might need to stop getting ahead of myself though.

Well Animation Mentor starts this Monday and I'm extremely pumped for it. Toy Story with the family this weekend as well. Good times ahead :)