model two joints constrained to each other one skinned to the main body one with the tail.
how to make the tail movement dynamic: create a curve
add a spline IK
make selected curve dynamic hair simulation
hairsystem drives the dynamics
nucleus is the physics of the world
follicle drives growth of the hair
if you play the simulation the curve drops.
point lock set to base will make the second end drop along with the curve
use the node editor to make the dynamic curve drive the IK handle
Start Curve Attract. Determines the amount of attraction of the current hair position to the start position. This attribute is useful, for example, where you want to have stiff hair, or hair that moves with a character.
When Attraction Damp is 1, the motion of hair moving towards its start curves is fully damped, leaving only its Start Positions and field forces to dynamically influence its motion.
The Attraction Scale ramp attenuates the Start Curve Attract attribute value along the length of the hair clumps in your hair system. You can use the ramp graph to define a varied stiffness from root to tip for the hair clumps in your hair system.
create a control for the system
Use the interactive playback to move things in the viewport
nCloth Collision attributes:
solver displays: specifies what Maya Nucleus solver information is displayed in the scene view for the current nCloth object. Solver Display can help you better diagnose and troubleshoot any problems you may be having with your nCloth.
Collision Thickness
When on, the collision volumes for the current nCloth object are displayed in the scene view. Collision Thickness helps you visualize an nCloth’s thickness and it is useful when tweaking an nCloth’s collisions with other nCloth objects or and nParticle and passive objects. The appearance of the current nCloth’s collision volumes is determined by its Collision Flag.
delete the tail part that is affected by the system and set the rest of the body as a passive collider (cloth settings). now the tail will move without colliding with the rest of the body.