Is it possible to use translate or rotate commands on a group of mass
and connection objects? And is there a logical way to #declare a group
and reuse it (through translate or rotate) in the topology block? I
guess if the first is no, then the second question is moot. I've tried
searching the newsgroup and google, and come up with nothing. Looking at
the mechsim.inc seems that all the macros just create the masses and
connections in place, and doesn't move them afterward, but that doesn't
seem to mean the same thing as 'not possible' when just reading the file.

I have a set of loops I wrote to draw a small piece of chainmaile. About
  10 tori [1] in a small connected array. I created a group of mass and
connections that should, I hope, mimic the way metal would behave. I'm
trying to find a way to just reuse a single group object by rotating and
translating it, instead of writing a seperate group statement for each
different ring. I suppose the obvious answer is to write a torus
creation macro with the rotation and translation built in, but I don't
care for trig so I'm hoping someone else has another way to do it.

Thanks for any advice, pointers, or other bits of wisdom about mechsim!

[1] 10 tori for the test and placement, it will be more in the final image.

Post a reply to this message

Sabrina Kilian wrote:
> Is it possible to use translate or rotate commands on a group of mass
> and connection objects? And is there a logical way to #declare a group
> and reuse it (through translate or rotate) in the topology block?

None of those is currently supported.  All the macros in mechsim.inc 
have a parameter for specifying a transform to move the created structures.

Christoph

-- 
POV-Ray tutorials, include files, Landscape of the week:
http://www.imagico.de/ (Last updated 04 May. 2006)
MegaPOV with mechanics simulation: http://megapov.inetart.net/

Post a reply to this message

Christoph Hormann wrote:
> Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>> Is it possible to use translate or rotate commands on a group of mass
>> and connection objects? And is there a logical way to #declare a group
>> and reuse it (through translate or rotate) in the topology block?
> 
> None of those is currently supported.  All the macros in mechsim.inc
> have a parameter for specifying a transform to move the created structures.
> 
> Christoph
> 

Thanks, guess that means I have to write my own macros.

So another question about the group keyword. Is there a way to get
information from the group like there is for the mass objects? I think
it's mechsim:mass(#):position, so would mechsim:group(#):position return
a usable value, or would I have to be specific about which mass in a
group object I wanted the value of?

Post a reply to this message