I made a leather strap figure and it works just like I want it to (bends, twists, etc). Now I want to add to the original mesh. I modified and imported the new mesh and before entering the setup room it looks ok. After I turn it into a figure the left and right portion of the new geometry does't render correctly. I've tried numerous different setting with the affected joints but nothing has worked. I attached an image that shows the problem.

I have Poser5 updated with SR2.
Any suggestions appreciated (other than give up this hobby before it drives me insane).

It might be a rendering problem, rather than a joint problem. Do you have polygon smoothing enabled in your Firefly render options?

These renders were done with the Poser4 renderer. If I import the mesh without the middle segment and then turn it into a figure it renders correctly. It only goes bad after I turn it into a figure making me suspect it's got something to do with the joints.

Did you weld any seams, or do you have any body part "borders" running across the new geometry? If new geometry on top of existing geometry has any vertexes in common they sometimes "cross-weld" and create artifacts in rendering. If that's the problem, try moving or scaling the new geometry ever so slightly to make sure no vertexes are in exactly the same position.

You are correct sir! I had split the vertices on the new geometry to avoid a smoothing problem between the sides and top. I moved things a little like you suggested and the problems fixed. One more "work around" to add to my list of Poser quirks. Many thanks.