I’ve recently been pondering the logistics of physics simulation in certain situations for the animated series I’ve been working on, and one particular scene I’ve written stands out as something of a head-scratcher to me.
It’s a seemingly simple action, where one character tosses a sheathed longsword to another, but how best to execute that is what’s got me thinking about it. I know I can easily fake the entire action by animating the start of the toss with keyframes, cutting to a different angle, and keyframing the catch animation; but I want to have my options open for other, more complete and encompassing shots of the toss, if I want or need them.
I’m kind of weighing my options, here. Tweak keyframe animation until I get something that looks right, or try to incorporate rigid body physics into the action?