I'm haviong problemss rigging the landing gear.
as the weight is applied on the gear i want the shaft holding the tire to stay stationary as the struct travels downward as the linkage rotates outward
My brain (what left of it) hurts any help would be greatly appreciated

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Here's the model of the gear i'm working with

1)detach your lower piston/wheel bone so it can move freely up and down without influencing the main shaft.

2)make 2 knee rigs (2 bones, 2 nulls, IK calf bone to bottom null, AIM AT upper bone to knee null). This will result in the "knee" only bending when the "foot" null rises above a certain spot.

3)use one knee rig to move the flexing supports. make the "foot" null a child of the piston bone so it moves up and down with the piston. move the aim at "knee" bone out so it bends like you want it to when the piston goes up.

4)line the other knee rig up with the shaft. add a 3rd bone to the end, then translate constrain your upper shaft bone to the knee rig's "quadracep" bone and constrain the piston bone to the knee rig's "calf" bone.

voila! you can now hide everything but the "foot" null and your rig should work. the foot null is your ground plane. Add translate limits to keep it directly under the rig and you can constrain it to your surface. It will glide along the ground under your plane and make the gear bound and bend as desired when the plane lands.


Hope that helps,
-Mike

PS.. I don't know your level of familiarity with A:M, so if I went too fast or wasn't clear let me know and I will build the rig for you when I have some spare time.

Mike,
Thanks I'll give this a try. I alway have problems using the nulls .
But it's alway been user error
Thanks again

OK, I must be doing something wrong
i can set up the rig in a action. When I create and on/off pose
and set it up the same way, nothing happens.

Please some help for the thick headed

I stepped back regrouped the remaining briancells and finally was was able to get the rig working in a pose do really know what i did differently

Mike this step seems to be getting me confused. can please brake it down some

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
This is really beating my tail
I've looked through all the manuals and still I'm unable to get this working.
I get the linkage to swing when ether the strut or shaft bone is moved up or down.
But, i just can not figure out how to make the strut travel downward only when the tire touches the ground.

Any help would really be appriciated.

Thanks in advanced

looks like you're heading in the right direction... I am in a hurry now but will sit down and go into more detail this weekend. Kepe an eye here for a better tut.
-Mike