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One ball is dropped. The other is thrown. Which ball will hit the ground first?

Note: For illustration purposes, the viewport background in this tutorial has been set to black.

Choose File > Reset.
Activate the Perspective viewport.

In the Create panel, choose Plane.
Open the Keyboard Entry rollout.
Enter X = 90, Y = -70, Length = 150 and Width = 400
Click Create.

A plane appears in the Perspective viewport:

In the Name and Color rollout, click the color swatch.
In the Object Color dialog box choose AutoCAD ACI palette.
Then click the white color swatch:

Name the plane Floor:

In the Create panel, choose Sphere.
In the Parameters rollout, enable Base to Pivot.
In the Keyboard Entry rollout, enter Y = -50, Radius = 10.

  

Click Create. A sphere appears in the Perspective viewport:

In the Name and Color rollout, name the sphere Launch Ball.
In the Color Selector dialog box, assign the ball a bright red color:

Press the space bar to lock the selection of the Launch Ball.
Right-click on the ball and choose Properties.
In the Display Properties group, turn on Trajectory:

  

Turn on the Animate button and advance the time slider to frame 20:

Pan the Front viewport a little down and to the left.

In the Front viewport, move the ball to the right in X.
The ball's trajectory follows behind:

Two keys appear in the track bar: one at frame 0 and one at frame 20.
Drag the time slider to frame 10:

The ball moves half way back:

Move the ball upward in Z to make a nice arc:

Scrub the time slider back and forth between frames 0 and 20. The ball follows the trajectory.

Click Open Track View.
On the left side of the track view, locate the Launch Ball.
Expand the hierarchy and select the Position track:

  

In the toolbar, click Function Curves. The function curve for the Position controller appears:

In the toolbar, click Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types.
In the Parameter Curve Out-of-Range Types dialog box, click Relative Repeat and OK:

The function curve repeats across the track view window:

In the toolbar, choose Edit Ranges.
Drag the range bars of the ball 10 frames to the right:

Close the track view. The trags:
Scrub the time slider back and forth. The ball bounces across the screen:

Select the Launch Ball and choose Edit > Clone.
In the Clone Options dialog box, choose Copy.
Name the copy Drop Ball and click OK:

  

In the Name and Color rollout, select a bright blue color for the Drop Ball:

In the track bar, select the key at frame 10.
Right-click on the key and choose Drop Ball:Position:

In the Drop Ball:Position dialog box for key 1, set X = -50, Y = -50, Z = 0. Then click the right arrow.
In the Drop Ball:Position dialog box for key 2, set X = -50, Y = -50, Z = 75. Then click the right arrow.
In the Drop Ball:Position dialog box for key 3, set X = -50, Y = -50, Z = 0.
Close the Drop Ball:Position dialog box.

    

Select the Launch Ball.

In the track bar, select the key at frame 10.
Right-click on the key and choose Launch Ball:Position:

In the Launch Ball:Position dialog box for key 1, set X = 0, Y = -50, Z = 0. Then click the right arrow.
In the Launch Ball:Position dialog box for key 2, set X = 50, Y = -50, Z = 75. Then click the right arrow.
In the Launch Ball:Position dialog box for key 3, set X = 100, Y = -50, Z = 0.
Close the Drop Ball:Position dialog box.

   

Click Time Configuation.
In the Animation group, set the animation length to 60.
Then click OK:

Play the animation. The plays in a smooth, continuous loop.

At frame 20, your animation should look like this in the Front viewport:

Zoom and pan the Perspective viewport so that your animation fits in the view.
Open the Cameras and choose Free.
Click once in the Perspective viewport to create a free camera:

Press CTRL + C to match the camera to the viewport.
Press C to change to the camera view.

Select the camera.
In the Modify panel, click the 50mm button.
Then check Orthographic Projection:

Your camera view changes to an orthographic view:

Open the Render dialog box.

Set the Time Output to Active Time Segment:

In the Render dialog box, set the Output Size Width = 500, Height = 200:

Close the Render dialog box.

Right-click on the camera viewport label and choose Configure.
In the Configuration dialog box, click the Safe Frames tab.
On the left side, uncheck all the boxes except Live Area. Then click OK.

Right-click on the camera viewport label and choose Show Safe Frame:

The safe frame appears in the camera viewport.
Pan the viewport so that the leading edge of the floor touches the bottom of the safe frame:

Zoom out of the Front viewport.
Open the Lights sub-panel and choose Target Direct.
In the Front viewport, drag a Target Direct light toward the scene objects:

   

In the Modify panel, turn on Cast Shadows.
In the the Directional Parameters rollout, increase the Hotspot so that the cone of illumination encompasses the entire scene.
Create a second Target Direct light that points up at the scene from below and set the Multiplier of the light to .5:

   

Click Quick Render to test the lighting:

Choose Rendering > Environment.
In the Environment dialog box, click the Ambient Color swatch.
In the Color Selector, choose a middle gray and click Close.
In the same way. set the Background Color to a middle gray.
The final color should look close to this:

Click Quick Render to test the lighting again:

Open the Render dialog box.

Click the Files button.
Name the file Ballbounce and choose the AVI file type:

  

In the Video Compression dialog box, choose Microsoft Video 1.
Set the Compression Quality to 85:

  

Click OK and Close.

Save your scene file as Ballbounce.max.

When you are ready to render the animation, choose Quick Render.
The two balls bounce in time with each other, no matter how far the Launch Ball travels across the floor.

After the animation finishes rendering, choose File > View File and select Ballbounce.avi.

Watch your animation play!