A look at how one might rig up an accordion style lamp in Softimage from Caffeine Abuse’s Ola Madsen. The accordion style lengthening and shrinking of the “x” shape of interlocking arms might seem like a simple thing, but it is an intricate mix of motion and constraining motion.
…The distinctive design of the accordion lamp may look simple to rig, but don’t be fooled. As the lamp expands or contract the joints at each end of the arms moves in a circular motion, rendering the standard constrains useless…
In the end this set up will work much like an accordion lamp would in real life by rotating any of the arms will cause all arms to rotate which either expand or contract the lamp. Ola also provides the Accordion Lamp rigged in Softimage for reference which can be found here. [direct link]