"Believable" vs. "accurate" vs. "appealing" animation - they all seem somewhat different. "Best" one depends on the situation?
I can imagine a beach ball as a "passive object". Physical laws are followed pretty strictly. Maybe a little exaggeration for effect. Anticipation would probably be an error.
I can imagine a beach ball as a "character". We pretend it has muscles and intelligence. Physical laws are followed loosely, violated freely. Anticipation would probably be desirable.
[Maybe a long question for a simple concept. But it seems fundamental.]
The first step is to understand how timing and spacing works, as close to the real world as possible.
Once you know that, then you know the affect of changing this will have on the outcome.
You will 'know' how to push things to add 'character' or 'emphasis' a cerian movement, or even know when and how you can 'break the rules'.
But, as you have probably heard many times before....."You must learn the rules before you can break them"
I guess that aligns with the way I was thinking. There needs to be some starting point; the only logical one I can think of is real world physical reality.
I wanted to be sure I was aiming at the right target before spending lots of effort trying to get there. I wasn’t completely sure (in some cases) from the critiques if I missed “real world” or had missed a desired “look”.