A cable definition is a container for a number of parameter, point, and segment definitions used to construct a cable system. The Generic Cable properties, in conjunction with the Dynamics Properties, can be customized to adjust for thickness and density of the cable, material, points, as well as other parameters related to cable behaviors.

1 Definition
2 Creating Generic Cables
3 Dynamics Properties
- 3.1 Inputs
- 3.2 Scaling Factors
- 3.3 Breakable Parameters
- 3.4 Snapback Parameters
4 Creating a Point Definition

Definition

Define the following parameters:

Some of these settings are context specific and may not appear for your setup. In many cases, hovering the mouse cursor over the field name will open a tooltip with more information.

Inputs
- Active: Indicates whether the cable system is enabled. When the cable is active, it is part of the simulation, when inactive, it is not part of the simulation and has no cost on the simulation.
- Break Now: Selecting this box breaks the cable at the moment it is pressed in runtime.
- Break Closest To: The part of the cable closest a point in the space defined by its X, Y, and Z values specified here will break when Break Now is selected.
- Point Spooling on First (Last) Extremity Velocity: Sets the velocity of the cable's spooling (m/s). A negative value means spooling in and a positive value means spooling out. This field only appears when you select the Enable Point Spooling on First (Last) Extremity box in the Advanced Flexible Definition section of the Properties panel.
Outputs
- Total Length: This is the total length of the cable. If the cable is under tension, its total length will increase by a given elongation which depends on the stiffness of the cable and the tension in the cable. The total length of the cable will also change as the cable spools out/in from a Spooling point or a winch.
- Elongation: The elongation is the difference between the total length of the cable when there is no tension (rest length) and the current total length of the cable under tension.
- Max Tension: The maximum tension in the cable. Each segment is evaluated separately and the maximum value is displayed.
- Max Torsion: The maximum torsion in the cable. Each segment is evaluated separately and the maximum absolute value is displayed.
Parameters
- Param Definition
  - Material Name: The material for the cable collision geometries.
  - Collision Geometry Type: Selects the type of collision geometry from the drop-down list. A given segment might overwrite this value.
  - Geometric Radius: The radius of the selected collision geometry.
  - Compression Max Force: Maximum compression force the cable can withstand before it starts compressing (in newtons). This is mostly used to simulate chains. When set to a low value each section of a Flexible Segment will be able to move between two limits (Almost equivalent to a VxCylindrical with limits.)
  - External Damping Enabled: Activates a linear speed drag force on the cable.
  - External Damping: Scaling factor on the drag coefficient. A value of one simulates the effect of air drag.
  - Geometric Stiffness Enabled: Enables an adaptive technique to stabilize cables. See Cable Geometric Stiffness.
  - Geometric Stiffness Stability Threshold: Controls when damping is applied based on a stability analysis. This is a positive scalar, typically in the range (0.0, 2.0). A value of 0.0 will always apply some damping, and increasing it raises the threshold used in the stability analysis.
  - Geometric Stiffness Scale: Scales the computation of the geometric stiffness, which increases the frequency of damping being used to stabilize the simulation as constraint forces grow. A default of 1.0 is sufficient for most cases.
  - Strap Angle: Determines the angle of the principal orthogonal axis of the cable.
- Point Definitions: See Creating a Point Definition.
- Segment Definitions
  - Collision Geometry Type: Selects the type of collision geometry from the drop-down list. If defined, the collision geometry type here overrides the one set in the Param Definition for this segment.
  - Support Torsion: Select this box to indicate that the cable supports torsion and springs back to a torsion-free position.
  - Attachment Type at Start: Only available if the Point Definition at the start of the segment is an Attachment. This sets the type of attachment between the cable and the part. The available types are:
    - Ball and Socket: The cable can rotate freely in 3D at the attachment point .
    - Fixed: The cable is fixed and cannot bend at the attachment.
    - Flexible: The attachment between the cable and the part has the same bending stiffness, bending damping, etc. as the cable. When this type of attachment is selected, you will be able to select the direction of the cable. Only valid for flexible segment. The values are given in the local reference frame of the part at that point.
  - Attachment Type at End: Only available if the Point Definition at the start of the segment is an Attachment. Same available types as the Start.
  - Fixed Point-Point Distance: This option is for optimization and should only be selected if you know that the distance between the two end points of the segment cannot change and will always remain the same. Use with caution.
  - Fluid Definition:
    - Drag Coefficient: Value used to represent the resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as water or air. To have drag on the cable, it must have a defined Collision Geometry.
    - Buoyancy Force Scale: A multiplication factor used to adjust the buoyancy force.
  - Flexible Definition:
    - Preferred Section Length: Sets the preferred length of all sections.
      - If the cable cannot spool, each section will be of equal length and as close as possible to the preferred section length.
      - If the cable can spool, the middle section will be made of sections of the preferred length, and the remainder will be divided into two sections at both ends of the spool.
      - If the distance between the end points is less than the preferred length, the two sections will share the distance.
    - Adaptive Definition
      - Active Joint Budget: Defines the percentage of points used in the cable to simulate bending. The higher the percentage, the more accurate the simulation but it uses more system resources.
      - Uniform Subdivisions: Number of uniformly distributed active joints in the cable.
      - Advanced Definition
        Maximum Active Joint Count: The maximum number of active joints in the cable.
        Maximum Motion Sample Count: Defines the number of sample taken in cable region with inactive joints to estimate the region's joint motion. A higher value results in more accurate cable motion simulation at the cost of system resources.
        Minimum Angular/Linear Joint Acceleration/Velocity: A cut-off value used during joint motion estimation to determine whether a cable joint is relevant for the cable dynamics.
        Angular/Linear Joint Acceleration/Velocity Coefficient: A weighting factor used during joint motion estimation to determine if a cable joint is relevant for the cable dynamics.
        First Boundary Active Joints: The number of joints in the flexible cable that will not be adaptive at the first extremity.
        Last Boundary Active Joints: The number of joints in the flexible cable that will not be adaptive at the last extremity.
    - Advanced Flexible Definition
      - Max Elongation Percentage: Sets the maximum length of a section, relative to the Preferred Section Length, before the section merges or splits.
      - Max Number of Sections: The maximum number of sections a cable can have before exhibiting abnormal behavior.
      - Hard Limits Enabled: If checked, a section of a cable will not be able to compress or extend.
      - Self-Collision: If enabled, cable sections will be prevented from penetrating each other; otherwise collisions between cable sections are ignored and the cable can pass through itself.
      - Solver Group: Select the solver group this segment will be a part of.
      - Segment Type: Specify the type of this segment. A segment needs to have the same type as the one specified in the Grabbing Tool extension to enable the possibility to be grabbed.
      - Enable Point Spooling on First (Last) Extremity: Check this box to enable point spooling. Use point spooling when you want a cable source without using a winch. This feature is only available for the extremity of a flexible cable segment. Also, the Point Type must be Attachment Point (not Winch).
        Once you select this box, the Point Spooling on First (Last) Extremity Velocity field appears in the Inputs section of this Properties panel.
    - Points: A Bezier curve is created from these control points, helping to define the shape of the cable segment. The Size field determines how many control points are used and the three fields below the Size field determine each point's X, Y, and Z values.

Creating Generic Cables

A generic cable type in Vortex® Studio is a cable that can be customized to create a specialized cable to fit a simulation.