hinge multiple objects [Q]

[snowflake]

Hello.
I've just d/l-ed Algodoo and done the tuts and already started to make out with it
I've reached a point where I need 3 bars hinged together in one point.
I tried everything and even searched in the forums but I got nothing. I was hoping maybe somebody knows a little more than... everything

[Kilinich]

bar - hinge - bar - hinge - bar

[TC42]

bar - hinge - bar - hinge - bar

And remember that you can move things to the front or back by using Shift + mousewheel.

[snowflake]

bar - hinge - bar - hinge - bar

I got a feeling there wouldn't be another way but well, I was hoping for a neater one.
I called it un-neat because you have to "snap" the 2 hinges -- make the top bar transparent so you can see the hinge underneath and eyeball the second one on top.
Plus you have to move one bar to another collision layer.
But you gotta deal with what you have...
offtopic: I love your Chevy car scene -- the one with on-screen gauges. Seen it on youtube but couldn't find the d/l link.

And remember that you can move things to the front or back by using Shift + mousewheel.

Saves me a good 1/5 of work.

Thank you both.

P.S.
I'm bitter I know, but so many versions have past and nobody has suggested a multihinge/axle?
If it were for me, I would've used a layer approach and apply the operations on the active ones, as opposed to locked.
4 active layers, 2 top most selected would mean you could f.i. span a box in 2 layers at once and could hinge them together plus with the other 2

[Kilinich]

Just use grid for snapping or "add center hinge" from action menu to put another hinge to the same position.
Multi-link hinge is not so necessary and, besides, how it can be a motor?

[Chronos]

how it can be a motor?

It doesn't need to be if it's just being used as a hinge.

[Kilinich]

naaah, too complex and not very useful.

[Chronos]

I don't find selecting a group of objects and hinging them all together being very complicated, and I can see it being very useful.

[Someone Else]

How about this- Some number of objects are selected and overlap at some point. You select the hinge tool and click on a point where at least two of the objects overlap. Is spawns a lot of hinges such that exactly one hinge connects each possible pair of objects at that point. All of the hinges would be grouped together.

Each geom is hinged to each other geom exactly once. This way, none of the geoms will collide with each other and all of the hinges could be a motor.

This sort of thing would also work with the fixate tool, but it would only need to spawn (n-1) fixates- bar - fixate - bar - fixate - bar - fixate - bar - fixate - bar - fixate - bar instead of... hmm... Well. Google Images is not cooperating with me.

Anyway, draw a circle with some number of points spaced evenly around the perimeter. Draw a line connecting each point to each other point. That's the idea.