CGI Tools — First Assessment

The project procedurally generates a infinite Möbius-style stair mesh and animates a bouncing ball rig that interacts with the stair surface using face normals for orientation.

Project Overview

This tool demonstrates procedural modelling, rigging, and animation in Autodesk Maya using:

• maya.cmds
• maya.api.OpenMaya
• numpy

The main goal is to explore geometry-driven animation, where a bouncing ball follows a path derived from mesh face centers and aligns its rotation to face normals to maintain correct orientation during motion.

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Final Render Links

• 25 Sec version: https://f.io/vZHPabHn
• 10 Sec version: https://f.io/kYR8WdC1

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Core Features

Möbius Stair Generator

• Procedurally creates a stair-like strip mesh
• Applies extrusion, twist, and bend deformers
• Identifies walkable / bounceable faces based on face normal direction
• Computes ordered face centers and normals for animation control

Bouncing Ball System

• Creates a polygon sphere with a simple rig:
  • Global control
  • Rotation control
  • Squash & stretch scale control
• Computes bounce trajectories using face centers and interpolated apex points
• Animates translation, rotation, and scale over time
• Aligns the ball’s orientation to surface normals using quaternion-based rotation.

Animation Logic

• Bounce arcs are computed using triangle paths (contact → apex → contact)
• Squash and stretch is applied on impact and takeoff
• Rotation continuity is preserved across frames

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Project Structure

CGI_Tools_First_Assessment/
├── Classes/
│ ├── Ball.py # Ball creation, rigging, and bounce animation logic
│ └── Mobius_Stair.py # Procedural stair generation and face analysis
│ ├── versions&experiments/ # Experimental and prototype code that shows development process
├── utils/ 
│ └── maya_helpers.py # Scene cleanup function
│ └── run_in_maya.py # Code to run Repo in Maya
├── media/ # Videos and Images that show development process
├── main.py
├── pyproject.toml
└── README.md

Experiments & Versions

• Early prototypes, tests and alternative implementations that show my development process.
• This files can be copied and paste in Maya Script Editor to see their individual results.

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How to Run

1. Open Autodesk Maya.
2. Make sure Maya’s Python environment can access this repository.
3. Copy and paste the run_in_maya.py in the python script editor in Maya.
4. Update the project path.
5. Hit run.