6 Axis Hydraulic Rig Assistance

[Anonymous]

I am rigging a 6 axis hydraulic gimbal and need some suggestions as I am finding it very hard to achieve what I need.

This is the rig I have, currently the way I animate this is via the control ring around the top base then the hydraulic rams follow that top base and this works very well.

What I want to achieve is being able to have each individual ram act upon the top base like in the image below:

Each ram sits on universal joints, in the real world they are all pivot points for the top frame and they respond to each other.

Is there anyone who did this kind of rig, or is it even possible to rig in this way in maya?

Thanks in advance.

[pixel_xyz]

So if I got this right you want the pistons to slide inside the cilinders so that they can extend and contract causing the top ring to raise in certain areas and lower in others?
I once rigged some hydraulic pistons, not so complicated though, like a couple of tubes pulling an arm up and down, and what i did was making an aim constraint on each hinge at the extremities where the piston and the tube rotate (for the orientation), so that basically the piston and its cilinder would look each other, and then having a piston made long enough to cover the maximum extension the pipe would reach did the trick in the end.
Hope this this can help 🙂

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is already rigged in that way using aim constraints but the only way I can move the pistons is to move the top frame and they basically follow it via the parent constraints. 

Whan I want to do is some sort of IK rig I am assuming where I can animate it via each individual piston. For example push one piston out all the way and the other pistons and top frame's positions are effected too just like a real gimbal.

Not sure if its possible i am experimenting with an IK rig at the moment, but not much luck.