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So currently I have a functioning telescoping piston mechanism, controlled by an empty on the far end of the mechanism (Area of Bone A); however, ideally it has to "pivot" from both ends of the mechanism, not just the end of the mechanism.

PROBLEM: How can I rig/constrain the mechanism so it's anchored from both ends of the mechanism, moving it up and down the chain from both sides? Possibly by empties?

SECONDARY PROBLEM: Connected to the first problem, is there a way to make the new point of rotation/ anchor to be offset to a position above the segment (where the loop is located on the top of the mechanism- not IN the mechanism where the head of the bone is).

enter image description here

Currently I have a "child of" constraint on the OBJECT of the armature rig, which sorta functions as another point of control, but due to the Damped Track on Bone D itself, it causes slippage to the intended position of anchorage and the empty controller:

enter image description here

Each segment/bone has bone constraint of a Damped Track (to keep each segment pointed toward one end of the mechanism) and a Limit Distance constraint to control when each segment stops/begins it's journey down the mechanism.

enter image description here

NOTE: I'm still relatively new to constraints, and the fact I made it this far is surprising, so I request that answers reflect my current beginner status, hahaha!

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    $\begingroup$ maybe this helps? youtu.be/s-X_Ie9uHGc?si=7f6FYQoR1d7Mr0mi $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 3 at 9:57
  • $\begingroup$ Well it "works" but one end of the telescope still has slippage. One end of the mechanism tracks, but the other doesn't and will slip outside of the intended anchor point. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 3 at 19:16
  • $\begingroup$ Update: This method indeed works! In the video the guy says that the all bones have a IK Stretch of 1. For the last bone, or bone that slips, its supposed to be zero. Thanks!! $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 3 at 23:45

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So I figured it out! I used the tutorial mentioned by Chris in the comments (thank you Chris and the youtuber creator) but I also adjusted the IK's stretch on the last "base" section of the mechanism to 0. This prevents the IK from affecting the last part of the mechanism that isn't supposed to move...

Lastly for the slippage: the empty at the end of the mechanism was slipping when extending it AND Moving it around (simply stretching out the mechanism on its X-Axis local was fine and no slippage). It was slipping because the last bone that had the IK constraint attached to it was offset from its intended pivotal location. In order to fix this, I created an empty on the OPPOSITE end of the mechanism, gave it a Child of Constraint to the base of the mechanism so it sticks, and added a damped track to the empty that was slipping TO the base empty I had just made. This keeps the rotational aspect pointed toward the base empty at the end of the mechanism, so when you extend and move it around, proportionally, it will remain in the same spot (preventing from slipping).

Hope this helps anyone who had a similar issue!

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