Molecule Modeling - Need to snap cylinders to center of spheres

[ShamanicHarmonics]

I am very new to Maya, and am still figuring my way around the interface. (This is actually my first post here). I am doing some simple molecule modeling using the traditional sticks and balls molecules. Like this image -


What I want to do is to somehow link the cylinders to the spheres, so they penetrate right to the center of the molecule. I am not sure if I should create a sphere, then cylinder, rotate cylinder and *somehow* snap one face of the cylinder to the center of the sphere, and then CTRL+D (and then G) to duplicate around the center of the sphere on one axis - and then maybe duplicate and move the sphere so each cylinder has spheres on each side. The moving the spheres in 3D space to achieve the depth?

Basically a little lost and looking for any guidance or thoughts from those more experienced in the community.

[halfstone · Accepted solution]

I did one of these years ago and needed to adjust the position of the balls from one render to the next.  I made up a little system of point and aim constrants that worked pretty well.  

I put together a little video of how I did it ... you can find it here http://youtu.be/LOBZB_DwDjI

By keeping the construction history of the cylinders "live" they always update to connect to the center of the associated spheres; the aim constraints keeps them from getting out of round; you can have multiple connections and even double bonds to any given cylinder.  

It may be overkill for what you're trying to do, but it's a neat little exercise to learn constraints, anyway. 

[ShamanicHarmonics]

THANKS! I'll give this a shot and report back 🙂

[ShamanicHarmonics]

Thanks! Your video was exactly what I needed and worked perfectly. THANKS!