Conquering Gimbal Lock
Conquering Gimbal Lock in 2ndlife.
A condition called "Gimbal Lock" can happen in 3D graphics when an item is rotated to specific positions.
The graphics subsystem will partially rotate things just enough to avoid the condition. This results in different behavior in different situations.
The left piston exhibits the corrections happening to avoid Gimbal Lock. There is a "rolling" & "yaw" motion inserted to avoid problems. You can't control this, and sometimes you get much worse behavior.
The right piston is free from the curse. It does exactly what one would expect (although that can be a rarity in the 3D world :-) )
I've wrestled with this problem for years, each time failing to solve the problem, and re-shelving it.
As of today, it's no longer a problem. Each future build will be much appealing now that the beast has been slain :-)