i am not one to disparage Poser's controls as much as some others here, but right now I am in Carrara and enjoying the manipulators.
Two additions to what was just said.
- your rotate/trans/scale tools do not need to be "off to the other side of the screen." You can tear off that short bar and move it to a more convenient place.
- you also don't have to select the body part from the list on the right.
a) direct click on the body part works better in Carrara than in Poser, although it still can be frustrating sometimes.
b) if you right-click near the part you want, you'll get a pop-up of 'likely' suggestions and then choose one.
::::: opera :::::