I would think a rope would be easier done with rigging or morphs (or a combination of the two)  in iclone 7 they show we get morphs for objects to me this seems like it would be the best way (you can add some physics too lol) but to me i would start with a rigged cylindar and well shape morphs which right now you need to make it a character but soon you will be able to do it without making it a character (then add some physics on top of that)

edit you could get away without morphs right now just rig a cylindar should still be "rope like" just i like to be fancy.

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"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

You might have some success with a long poseable tube. I made these vines some time ago. The thinner one might work. Just remove the leaves. It has a skeleton that can be posed with the "edit motion layer".

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3nsNVGroEz6MVNQY0NrSFFHeTA

yeah that would work i would think .. i was gonna make a cylindar with bones in it in a bit but if you have some done already it should work fine.    Then you can 'grab' it by a bone in the chain so both ends can dangle and move if you make em move turn on some physics and it can move some more :). 

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"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

I think I have a way! :)

It'll take me a while to get a tutorial together, but in the meantime, here's the gist of what I think will work.

Use a tube with at least 2 bones in the skeleton. My "vine" from my previous post will work fine.One bone should be at the "pivot", or base" end of the tube (rope), and the other at the other end, or close to it.

Use softcloth physics on the rope, with a map that is black at each end.

Scaling the rope shorter along it's length will allow the middle section to droop. Scaling it back to a longer length will pull it more taut.

Now the cool part.

Link whatever you want swinging on the rope to the bone at the end of the rope. You can even attach a couple objects to use for reach targets so your character can grab and pull the rope. The scaling of the rope moves the linked objects, and thus the characters arms reaching.

I'll work on the tutorial later when I have a bit more time.

yeah that would be easier then just the physics the bones give some control.   

if anyone wants it this is just a cylinder with bones in it .. lots ... and its fairly um polygon heavy as a cylinder but i was thinking of it bending nicely.   If you want to mess around with ropes it should work (more or less) if i didnt miss something i did it so fast.. looks fine .. haven't actually tried it in iclone but it should be fine..

click linky..

(why am i spelling cylinder with an a?)

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"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dr. Seuss

All of this sounds fantastic. Thanks, Rampa, for the vines and I await the tutorial eagerly.  I also have high hopes for being able to use morphing props in Iclone 7. I have created a flail weapon with linked chain sections in a similar way, but of course it's a slow job animating it to get it to look right. 

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