Connecting a grid up with rope constraints

Question

I'm trying to make a kind of "cloth simulation" by using ROBLOX's new rope constraints and a grid of parts.

Currently, I've made a 10x10 grid of .4x.4x.4 blocks and now I want to connect each one up with rope constraints.

I've named each part in the grid after their row and column (eg: first part in the grid being 1 1, last one being 10 10)

and then I get the parts around each individual grid part using their name and string manipulation.

I then insert 4 attachments into each part and 4 rope constraints. Here's the code (ab stands for above, be stands for below, etc) :

for i2 = 1, #gParts do
    local ab = tostring(tonumber(gParts[i2].Name:match("^(%S+)"))-5).."     "..tostring(tonumber(string.sub(gParts[i2].Name,-1))-1)
    local be = tostring(tonumber(gParts[i2].Name:match("^(%S+)"))+5).."     "..tostring(tonumber(string.sub(gParts[i2].Name,-1))+1)
    local le = tostring(tonumber(gParts[i2].Name:match("^(%S+)"))-1).."     "..tostring(tonumber(string.sub(gParts[i2].Name,-1)))
    local ri = tostring(tonumber(gParts[i2].Name:match("^(%S+)"))+1).."     "..tostring(tonumber(string.sub(gParts[i2].Name,-1)))
    for i3 = 1, 4 do    
        local atchm = Instance.new("Attachment",gParts[i2])
        local ropeconst = Instance.new("RopeConstraint",gParts[i2])
    end
end

Rope constraint has 2 main properties I need to use; attachment 1 and attachment 2.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 25 '16 at 14:42

I've never really messed with the new constraints, but I believe this should work.

Do keep in mind that the constraints are a new Instance in Roblox, and that they are likely still experimental.

X = 10;
Y = 10;
spread = 4; 
--Spread is the Length of the Constraint. You may have to increase this, especially if it's stiff.

function createAttachments()
    --This is under the assumption that gParts is a table filled with the Part Instances
    for i,v in pairs(gParts) do
        local atch = Instance.new("Attachment",v);
    end;
end;

function connectConstraints(part,x,y)
    if x ~= X then
        connectRight = x+1.." "..y;
    end;
    if y ~= Y then
        connectDown = x.." "..y+1;
    end;
    if connectRight ~= nil then
        local ropeconst = Instance.new("RopeConstraint",part);
        ropeconst.Length = spread;
        ropeconst.Attachment0 = part.Attachment;
        ropeconst.Attachment1 = connectRight.Attachment;
    end;
    if connectLeft ~= nil then
        local ropeconst = Instance.new("RopeConstraint",part);
        ropeconst.Length = spread;
        ropeconst.Attachment0 = part.Attachment;
        ropeconst.Attachment1 = connectLeft.Attachment;
    end
end

createAttachments();
connectConstraints();

If this does not work for you, please let me know. I can contact you from the site itself if needed.

Although I had to edit it quite a bit to work; it does actually work! Thank you! — Ducktor, Aug 25 '16 at 16:24
I'm glad to hear it helped! I apologize if it was error infested, I haven't touched Roblox stuff in a while. — Tanner M, Aug 25 '16 at 16:49
Oh, I didn't even consider that I needed to make it sift through gParts for connectConstraints to work. I'm terribly sorry about that. — Tanner M, Aug 25 '16 at 16:52

Connecting a grid up with rope constraints

1 Answers1