Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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There are many tutorials about creating hanging cables with geometry nodes online, but all of them make use of the "Quadratic Bézier" node. The correct shape is NOT a parabola, but rather a catenary. In this video I show how you can create a catenary curve using the fields system in geometry nodes.

Blend file with the Catenary node group:
github.com/WannesMalfait/Nodegroups/blob/main/nodegroups/catenary_demo.blend

Download the math formula add-on:
Version used in this video: github.com/WannesMalfait/Blender-Add-ons/releases/tag/v2.0.0.alpha.2
Latest release: github.com/WannesMalfait/Blender-Add-ons/releases

Music:
"Metalmania" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensecreativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Images:
Catenary Chain - By Kamel15 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5609313

Spider Webs - By Mtpaley (talk) - Own work (Mtpaley), CC BY 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16586203

Sunset Pylons - By Loadmaster (David R. Tribble)This image was made by Loadmaster (David R. Tribble)Email the author: David R. Tribble. Also see my personal gallery at Google Photos - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9458238

Catenary Arches - By Diseño de Antoni Gaudí i Cornet. Foto de Error. - Fotografía analógica de Error, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=355522

Chapters:
00:00 - Preview
00:03 - Intro
00:50 - Mathematics
01:34 - Creating the node group
02:52 - Chain example

Recorded with: OBS
obsproject.com

Blender
blender.org

I have some free add-ons, you can find them here:
github.com/WannesMalfait/Blender-Add-ons

I have some free blend files, you can find them here:
github.com/WannesMalfait/Nodegroups

Any suggestions?
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