The location of the ball in the xz coordinate frame at time (frame) t could be easily computed using elementary physics. Is there an example video of this problem being solved in Blender by using the exact (physical) solution, instead of us manually trying to do our best to emulate physics? (this is not intended as an insult, getting "a feel" for physics as an animator can be a valuable skill, but I'm just wondering if there's a Blender resource that treats this problem rigorously).
Hi Carbs.
Yes it's possible using physics. Although even if you use the exact physical solution, you need to tweak things to make it look the way you want.
Here is an example of me solving the bouncing ball using the exact physical equation.
https://cgcookie.com/lesson/drivers-and-custom-properties
However, I had to tweak things, like gravity to make it look the way I wanted.
The main reason it is better to animate this by hand is because you can make animation look better than real life.