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I would like to model a shape which is enclosed like such a chandelier, so that I can apply some wind force to make it move.

chandelier

The basic structure of the enclosing, cloth like material should somehow look like that:

enter image description here

I have had a look at lot of tutorials showing how to make String/Noodles, but there are two things I do not really know how to do:

1.: How to attach a rigid Disk on a string, or chain of vertices

2.: How to create this whole lot of string with this whole lot of disks attached?

I appreciate any help, since I do not have any Idea how to do that. If coding is necessary, its no problem, I fine with it, since coding is what I normally do!

Thanks in Ahead!

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You were probably searching for the wrong keywords for your tutorial, you may want to search for "Physics Chain" instead.

This one seems to put you in the right direction.

Anyway you will have to model your chain of links in some sort of rest pose, using the Physics tab in the 3D view Toolbar set all chain objects to Add Active except for the ends of the chains or any fixed objects they will attached to, which should be set to Add Passive instead.

For all of them make sure you change the Collision shape to Mesh under the Properties window > Physics Tab > Rigid Body Collisions Panel > Shape and the Source to Final if they are using any sort of modifiers.

Also set the Mass and Margin properties to a low value under the Rigid Body and Rigid Body Dynamics panels, like 0.001 depending on the dimensions your objects.

Chain Physics

You will almost likely need to increase the precision steps of the simulation to a higher value under Properties window > Scene Tab > Rigid Body World Panel > Steps per second. Probably a high value like 1200 or higher.

Also for simplicity sake if you have repeating parts in your lamp like equal chain strings you may want to make a group out of them and clone the group instance instead, so Blender will only calculate physics for one instance. Although if you plan to make it react to physics this will not work.

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    $\begingroup$ When using rigid body physics you need to make sure you work in dimensions larger than 1 cm, or the objects will act chaotic. $\endgroup$
    – Anthony Forwood
    Commented Jul 8, 2016 at 20:47
  • $\begingroup$ This looks really good! Gonna check it out tomorrow morning! $\endgroup$
    – philipp
    Commented Jul 9, 2016 at 5:13
  • $\begingroup$ I have tried following each step, but the objects are just »exploding« so I guess they are too small… What should the smallest length be? In this case the diameter of one of the rings? Do I have to work in a metric/unit bound system, or can I also use no unit? $\endgroup$
    – philipp
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 10:48
  • $\begingroup$ Well in metric units those are quite big and out of scale, actually, each of the larger circles is probably around 2 m diameter. You might have to model it intentionally big and scale it down after baking. I had a lot of exploding problems too, you'll have to tweak values a lot. I had to increase the simulation steps a lot, otherwise objects fell through each other, and reduce the mass and gap of all objects a lot too. Don't forget about the mesh settings for modifiers I mentioned $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 12:51
  • $\begingroup$ I don't know what is wrong with my tries… Can be anything from geometry to proportions to settings… Do you think you could post the .blend file from above anywhere, so that I could compare? I would really appreciate that, since It took me a whole day to delay the explosion of the chain to frame 100. $\endgroup$
    – philipp
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 20:41

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