Cage opened this issue on Apr 03, 2010 · 610 posts
Cage posted Sun, 11 April 2010 at 6:49 PM
Quote - sorry cage , my maths is just as bad as yours :)
Well, you fake your way through it better than I do, at least. :laugh: I usually assume everyone else knows more than I do. It's safe that way. :lol: And my mathematical ability is disturbingly limited, really. I've only just begun to understand matrices and angles in the past couple of weeks, while working on the loop script.
It seems pretty clear that the y = cosh(x) catenary method, for which I have code, isn't actually adequate. To really be able to apply a catenary, the script would need to be able to handle cases where the chain endpoints are at differing heights.
What about the image and link which lesbentley posted, above? From the image, is Zark applying the catenary correcly, in this case where the chain endpoints are at different heights? It looks like that's just taken the y = cosh(x) curve and stopped before reaching the top of the curve. That seems like a feasible approach, but is it accurate?
If there is more complex math for calculating the catenary when the heights of the endpoints aren't the same, where can that be found? Or does it not exist?
I'd just like to try to be able to pose a hanging chain in a way that looks nice. :lol: If the solution for the complex catenary cases isn't available, I don't see why using a parabola or mis-applying the simple catenary formula would be objectionable. How many Poser users actually know what a catenary is, anyway? I mean, before reading this thread. :lol: I know I didn't, and I wouldn't have minded having a mathematically inaccurate curve for my hanging chain, if it looked okay.
If the correct solution is available, I'd just like to know what it is, I guess. If it isn't available or is somehow unfeasible, some other approach should be tried.
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Cage can be an opinionated jerk who posts without thinking. He apologizes for this. He's honestly not trying to be a turkeyhead.
Cage had some freebies, compatible with Poser 11 and below. His Python scripts were saved at archive.org, along with the rest of the Morphography site, where they were hosted.