Best way to make a 3D Chain... NURBS? Polys?

[APE Design Ctr]

Just wondering what is the best way, (and that takes the least amount of space and rendering time) to create a long metal link chain (12' long). (like the chain used on a swing set)

NURBS, Polys, etc?

[Travis]

Eddie,

You're asking a lot, and the answer lies in the degree of "realism" you wish to accomplish.

1) Most realistic: Draw a single 2D link of the chain. Draw a circle of the correct diameter to match the guage. Extrude the circle along the path of the chain's link. Convert to a symbol (this way you can modify all of the links at once, if necessary) and duplicate the symbol however many times to create the length of chain. You'll need to rotate every other link 90?. You may then want to create symbols of specific lengths of chain.

2) More efficient: Extrude the single 2D link of chain to the correct thickness; convert to symbol. . .follow above steps. This will be quicker to render and use much less space, BUT the links will appear square when viewed up close. Maybe not a big issue.

HTH

[APE Design Ctr]

thanks. efficiencies are more imporant.

[Travis]

Andrew,

What an elegant solution! Two 1/4"-thick polygons (for example) at right angles would be much more efficient than either of my suggestions.

Only drawback I can see is your version must be rendered in Renderworks to be seen as a chain.

[APE Design Ctr]

Very cool indeed.

[Andrew Bell@NV]

If you're not going to be viewing the chain from up close, you might also consider just using two intersecting polygons with a chain texture on them, using transparency. (You might make it an image prop with the two planes option, so it looks reasonably good from all angles.) If you have multiple views, some of which view the chain up close, use classes to switch between a more detailed and less detailed version in different renderings.