Hi I am a grad student at the rhode island school of design. I am planning t a large chandelier made from credit card sized fresnel magnying lenses, zip tied together to form a 3d sheet. It is made up of a repeating patern. I am not concerned with modeling the optics of the piece. I just want to see how it will drape and hang. The piece will be very large, probably close to 20'x20' and made up of 10,000+ pieces. It was very hard to photograph, but there are some pics here http://web.mac.com/rmgreen13/iWeb/Site/surface%20sample%20pics.html

If you guys could point me in the right direction in terms of software and modelling techniques. I would greatly appreciate it. I have been using Formz recently, but I am pretty sure what I want to do is beyond its scope.

Thanks - Mike green

If you want to actually simulate the way it hangs you need some dynamic simulations. 3ds max, softimage xsi, maya are softwares that can handle it.
1. You just create one peace of magnifying lens.
2. Copy it to form your drape.
3. Connect them with pin tool or other dynamic tools it depends on software.
4. add a gravity object
5. simulate.
6. teak parameters
7. simulate again
repeat 6 and 7 until you get what you need.
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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand