Balloon strings/rope effect with ICE strands?

[gumboyaya]

Hi guys,

I have to do an animation with lots of flying balloons which are hold by strings.

So one end of the string is constrained to a fixed point and the other end connects to the balloon.

This sounds like a perfect task for ICE and especially ICE strands with verlet framework applied I assume.

So can anybody give me some hints where to start to create an ICE strand that has this kinda rope effect (gravity, bending etc)?
I weren't able to find any example scene or discussions ... except this clip on vimeo which show pretty much what I am looking for: http://vimeo.com/4177785

Best regards,
tom 8)

[Mathaeus]

Basically, you can use Strand Dynamics nodes from PhilPack (which is included in newer SI versions), apply a negative gravity, then just attach balloons to the end of strands. What you described (strands in between of balloons and fixed starting points) is a bit harder to simulate.
But, if you need 'continuous motion', perhaps it's better to do not simulate anything, you can just add animated turbulence to strands.

Here is setup of this kind, which also has a second point cloud with attached balloons. This, 'attaching' part is probably most 'non factory' part of whole setup.

Forget me if I completely missed the point

Cheers

[irakli_san]

Thanks