Finding the distance across a parametric surface is a miminization problem (there is no direct solution to just go from this point give me a point at this distance along this axis, you have to integrate your way to it), and setting rectangles flush within boundaries is a packing problem, which is also an iterative kind of problem to solve.
You've picked a bitch of a thing to deal with if you're using ICE :p Is the rectangle just a flat space with boundaries? If that's the case you only need to resolve the packing and then can place/transform the result from an arbitrary point on the surface. On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 8:48 AM, john clausing <[email protected]>wrote: > hello all, > > i need to place particle instances.....on a surface. each of 5 instances > in a group are rectangular, but of different lengths. > like boards in a floor. there can be no gaps. i can do this with similarly > sized rectangles but fail in arranging these randomly and sensing their > sizes/shapes so that they but up against each other. > > any ideas? > brain = scratching > > thanks, > > john > -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
