I’m trying to figure out how to simulate something like a fishing rod, so that the rod bends when forces are applied to the end point:
I’ve made a tiny bit of progress, but really not sure if this is set up correctly (attached). I’d also like to be able to attach multiple rods together (imagine a clothes line) and put weight on the line to pull that line down & simulate both its dip and the deflection of the rods.
I’ve drawn them here anchored to the ground also, as I was just trying to figure out the rod tension, but the rods and whatever is creating tension could be horizontal, or, really, any angle… so ultimately, gravity comes into play.
Not to get too far ahead, but is there an “easy” way to set up the flex to simulate a tapered rod, ie so that the flex happens more as the sections get smaller?
The ‘Rod’ component is actually just creating ‘Angle’ goals between consecutive pairs of segments, and ‘Length’ goals for each segment.
To control the bending stiffness so it changes along the rod, you’d need to create the Angle goals directly instead of using Rod.
Here’s an example where the rod gets weaker in the middle, but stiffer towards the ends. You can use any function you like to create these variable strength values. variableStiffnessBending_example.gh (12.5 KB)
Ok - I’ve been looking at this a bit & have a few questions… not having much experience with Grasshopper, I’m struggling with the components a bit.
Where is the curve coming from, and how is it being oriented?
For the Load component, I see it has a default value of 0,0,1. However, if I change this input to the Unit X component and set the value to 1, the value in the Load reads as 1,0,0, but the result is the same. If I change the Unit X to Unit Z, the value matches the default (0,0,1) but the result is different.
Is there a simple pass-through “on/off” switch? I’d like to use that instead of disconnecting/reconnecting components…
The curve in my file was created in Rhino. After referencing geometry from Rhino, you can right click the component and choose Internalise data from the dropdown, which then stores the object as part of the Grasshopper file, so you don’t always
need to share or keep track of a Rhino file along with it.
In the file I shared the input of the Load component was not the default, but set to 1,0,0, which is why connecting the Unit X component made no difference. You can change the inputs to a component by right clicking on the parameter and setting it directly.
FYI, I tried doing my homework. However, 1) I don’t necessarily know where to find references specific to what I’m trying to figure out (or what specific things may be called for what I’m trying to do), and 2) some things don’t show up, such as the Load component when searching here.
That said, I’ll still check out the tutorials for the basics. It would be cool if there were a cross-reference to which (non-basic) tools were used in various tutorials.
