I would like to know if this is possible within the blender game engine, I hope so, as I am pushing blender as a possibility rather than different game engines.
I need to simulate some equipment, It has a power cable with one end fixed, and this cable goes into the machine.
I would like to allow control of moving this equipment, around fixed objects on flat surface, and would like the possibility of the cable getting caught up around objects and thus the equipment has to take the same route to return to where it is plugged into the wall.
Strange project I know, My blender modeling skills are ok, Need to refresh myself for a few hours to get back into it, and my programming i think are good.
The modeling of the object is straight forward, but it’s the cable feature that I am not sure about. The fact that it is getting pulled and bending around the obstacles and constraining the movement of the equipment.
Anyway, Some feedback on the suitability from some pro’s would be very helpful to me and maybe save me investing a lot of time.
Using cylinders with joints, you can make an adhoc rope/wire that should work alright. I don’t have much expierience with joints, but I know you can make a rope this way.
most moving equipment, or robots that require a cord to be attached to them, will have the cord hanging from the ceiling on a pivoting arm, so that people, and other pieces of equipment dont have to deal with its cable on the floor.
they usually use a retractile that is a simple spring, to keep the cable taunt… so when the equiptment moves away from the cable’s spool, the spring lets some cable go ,and when there is no tension, it rolls itself back up on the spring loaded spool.
anyways… try ways of hanging the cable from an arm… up above the center of your equipment.
make the spot it plugs into the machine on the top of the equipment, to make your life easier.
(Do the cable like WillTremblay suggested)