I want to constrain separate parts of a model together AND be able to separately fracture each part. Is there a good method? Presumably I use RBD Constraints from Rules node's Connection Type: Surface Points to connect the separate parts of the model?

e.g. constrain the metal hammer of a sledge hammer to its wooden handle but only fracture the handle in to pieces so that a force will snap it and still leave splintered pieces that are directly adjacent (connected) to the metal hammer in place.

Are you talking about RBD constraints?

There are RBD Constraints From Rules|Lines|Curves SOPs for the purpose of constraining RBD pieces in various ways either just by proximity, groups, or more manually within viewer state, they also come with example file in help

Hi tamte,

Yes, I am referring to RBD constraints.

From what I have been able to gather so far, model parts can be constrained together using the RBD Constraints from Rules node's Connection Type: Surface Points. And presumably, you can separately fracture and apply Glue constraints to the individual model parts. I am still investigating how to go about it.

if it's easier you don't have to have everything in one stream even though the 3 wire nodes may suggest such workflow
you can isolate pieces you want to constrain, use any of mentioned nodes to create any constraint links you want, potentially convert using RBD Convert Constraints, then just continue with middle output, configure them using RBD Constraint Properties and merge with other constraints

you can also create them in any way you want as each constraint is just a 2 point polyline with s@name of the piece on each point, then you can use RBD Constraint Properties to configure type of constraint
or further customize using other attributes [www.sidefx.com]