Alternative for old ika in Blender

Question

Blender had once upon a time such IKA systems i miss. I Used the IKA to animate pneumatic pump.

I realy try to switch to armatures but stuck on it since years, they are very complex.

The way i did it in the version 1.80a was to:

1. add two sticks (big, small).
2. add an ika in both sticks
3. parenting the sticks to the ikas.
4. parenting the ika to each other ika.

The Armatures-Objects looks like a much more complex feature than i need.

Any idea how to construct this is a new blender version?

Answer 1

Without using an armature you can use parenting and constraints.

• Starting with two cylinders, add two empties. The empties should be located at opposing ends of each cylinder.

• Select a cylinder then Shift select the matching empty and parent them with ⎈ CtrlP -> Object. Repeat for other cylinder and empty.

• Select a cylinder and add a TrackTo constraint. Set the target to be the empty of the opposing piston and set the axis to suit. Repeat for other cylinder.

Now as you move one of the empties the two pistons will always point towards each other. If you position one of the empties at the outer edge of a disc and parent the empty to the disc it will rotate around with it and the cylinders will follow.

Here is a sample file to look at.