Material characterization of brittle and ductile materials, by means of determining characteristic material parameters such as hardness, elastic moduli or yield strength, is of significance to the scientific community. The evaluation of indentations on micro-and macro-scale can be employed to characterize materials but is governed by highly sensitive acquisition hardware and complex analysis. Profound analytical, experimental, and numerical approaches exist to evaluate the impact of spherical indenters on a plane surface but require a deep knowledge of plasticity and computational mechanics. This work aims to provide a generalized analysis tool, which is based on fundamental Newtonian mechanics, to be applied on brittle and ductile materials of homogeneous and heterogeneous constitution. Based on bouncing ball measurements, the coefficient of restitution is evaluated to determine the homogeneity and degree of plasticity of the selected material. The measurements are supported with additional physical (e.g., electron micrographs, velocimetry) and numerical (Finite Element) investigations. It can be demonstrated that the evaluation of the bouncing trajectories provides essential information on the plasticity and topology of the selected material and leads to adequate results compared to complex experimental and numerical analysis.