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I'm relatively new to Blender 3D so I'm not acutely aware of any limitations that may persist.

I was wondering how one could initiate snapping of objects together with the presence of another object. So for example, another object A comes along and picks up multiple object B and creates a organised chain of object B.

Thanks for your time!

Edit:

I'm hoping to create a simulation. Long story short, I'm creating a genetic algorithm integrated into blender, but that information for this question is irrelevant. In terms of what objects they are, a rigid body object A picking up another rigid body object B, like a magnet. Object A then collects more rigid object B and snaps them together in a chain, with the objects adjacently organized.

Here is a quick sketch of what I mean:

enter image description here

JakeD
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cheesesandwich
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  • I don't understand what you mean by objects "picking up" objects, nor do I understand what a "multiple object" is. Could you elaborate? – JakeD Oct 19 '16 at 20:37
  • not clear enough, to me: are you asking how to make an animation, a simulation? an intractive scene? which kind of objects? how should they "pick up" other objects? automatically, at a distance, like magnets? define "organised"... – m.ardito Oct 19 '16 at 20:37
  • @m.ardito i apologise! i'm hoping to create a simulation. Long story short I'm creating a genetic algorithm integrated into blender, but that information for this question is irrelevant. In terms of what objects they are, a rigid body object A picking up another rigid body object B, like a magnet. Object A then collects more rigid object B and snaps them together in a chain, with the objects adjacently organised. – cheesesandwich Oct 19 '16 at 20:44
  • @pycoder please read the above explanation, hope it draws more clarity. – cheesesandwich Oct 19 '16 at 20:48
  • @RenTaylor Please edit your question to include all relevant information. Perhaps show a quick sketch of what you want as well. I think I know what you mean, but more information wouldn't hurt... – JakeD Oct 19 '16 at 20:50
  • see http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/43560/magnetic-spheres and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1537/how-to-simulate-magnetism-in-blender also – m.ardito Oct 19 '16 at 21:17

1 Answers1

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I would suggest working backwards with a bunch of offset copy location constraints. This will be a manual process for the most part (unless you want to script the major repetitive tasks) because it is not something that can be done easily and automatically with one of Blender's simulations.

If this is what you are going for, see the blend that I uploaded (of course the starting positions of the balls could be changed to whatever really easily to make them appear to be picked up instead of emitted.

enter image description here

To achieve what I did in the blend:

  1. Animate "object A"
  2. Add a copy location constraint to an "object B" that tracks to "object A"
  3. Animate the "influence" of the cp loc constraint on "object B" for when you want it to "attach"
  4. You can use the offset on the copy location constraint and simple location animations to achieve what I got in the demo
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JakeD
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  • i just realised that this is probably not what I'm looking for. I initially thought it was, but it wasn't. Sorry about that. Object A would have to "randomly" pick up the objects, instead of the action being somewhat destined- so the tracking would defeat the purpose.

    Thanks a lot for your answer though, really appreciated.

     – cheesesandwich Oct 19 '16 at 21:54
  • @RenTaylor Randomly picking one is a much bigger task that involves quite a lot of python that I don't have time to do right now. Note that the effect doesn't have to look "destined" like how I have it shown (it can be made to look random). This is a method for artists; if you are looking at it as a realistic simulation, you will need to learn some python. I apologize if this doesn't help you. – JakeD Oct 20 '16 at 00:51
  • Thanks for help, yes I'm new to blender but at an intermediate level in python. I'm hoping to create a stimulation of DNA repair, I'm more of an a scientist than artist. I appreciate your help though, I will look around for more clues. – cheesesandwich Oct 20 '16 at 07:50
  • @RenTaylor If you can code, you can build an add-on that applies a technique like what I showed in a way based on the distance between the objects or whatever. The would be the best way to get a simulation like this in my opinion. – JakeD Oct 20 '16 at 12:00