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building chains


cspears2002

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For a personal project, I want to create a chain consisting of metal links. I know I can create this chain manually by tediously creating and copying a torus and placing the copies in the proper positions. However, I am sure there is a smart procedural way to do this. Any advice? My ultimate goal is to be able to create a digital asset where I can determine the number of links in the chain and therefore the chain's length.

I want the individual links to be rigid bodies. However, if I create the links in one Geometry OBJ, I can only select that particular OBJ. THe result looks more like a board than a chain when I drop it. Any advice?

I included my first atttempt at this project as a hipnc file attached to this message.

chris_chain_v01.hipnc

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Thanks Swann! With your help, I was able to build a simple chain! Now, I need a way to put each link in a group, so I can use the RBD Fractured Object DOP.

Normally, I would use an expression or just select each link and put it in a group. However, I eventually want to turn this network into a digital asset that will let the user determine the length of the chain, so the number of links will vary. I was hoping that I could allow the user to determine the level of detail in each link as well, so the number of primitives that make up a link will vary too.

Suggestions anyone?

chris_chain_v04.hipnc

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Hmmm...looks like I should try the Partition SOP...how come I always think of these things after I post a question?

Also, once you bring in your geo into the RBD Fracture OBJ, turn off "Laser Scan" under the Collisions tab. This will result in more accurate collisions between links. Laser Scan only accounts for the nearest and farthest intersections and ignores everything else in the middle when calculating the volume representation of your torus which would mean that it would take into account that there is a hole in the geo.

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Guest Swann
Hmmm...looks like I should try the Partition SOP...how come I always think of these things after I post a question?

:blink: if I remember properly in example hip that I attached there is partition and connectivity used to make it possible import it as a fractured object :)

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