I am new to Blender and I have a very specific image I wish to create to illustrate a new theory of physics.
Specifically:
1) I would like a rubber sheet, where the rubber sheet is held rigid (cannot move) at all edges (perfect would be a circular rubber sheet). Lets say it should 25 x 25 units if square, or 25 units diameter if it is a circle.
2) At every unit intersection (eg 0/0, 0/1, 0/2, 1/0, 1/1, etc) attach a 0.25 unit diameter helium filled ping-pong ball below the rubber sheet, which will cause the rubber sheet to gently stretch upward, like a shallow umbrella.
3) At 3 arbitrary locations (two a couple of units apart and one far away from the other two) attach very heavy 0.25 unit diameter ball-bearings on top of the sheet, which cause the rubber sheet to bend down sharply, but only for a narrow distance. My goal is for the upward curve to be totally overridden between the two close balls, but for the upward curve to rise a above the three balls between the distant ball and the pair of balls.
Can you give me a rough description of how to do this and I will figure out the details. No animation is necessary - just a static image after the balls have distorted the rubber sheet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime I will continue learning blender basics.
[UPDATE]
In response to requests for a draft image, here is what I mean. [You can see by my drawing skills why I need blender :-)]
I have drawn the image looking up from below. You are looking through a transparent rubber sheet with 3 heavy balls "above" pulling it down and many helium balls below gently pushing it upward. The surface is generally raised, like a shallow umbrella, but 3 spots have very heavy ball bearings pulling the rubber umbrella down. The empty circles are helium filled balls under the rubber sheet. The filled circles are the heavy balls which began above the sheet.
I have figured out I need to use a cloth sheet made of rubber. I tried putting the rubber sheet and one heavy ball above it in a blender image, but when I ran it, both fell straight down. So, I need to figure out how to anchor the edges of the rubber sheet so it doesn't fall. Then I need to figure out how to add balls that float (have negative gravity?) below the sheet.
Thanks for any help! I am slowly learning blender. Very cool tool!