Hi,
I've been working on a scene (sci-fi) where my character is approaching a space station (the Relic from Daz) and I want to put a star wars imperial blaster (prop) in her hand. how do I ensure that when I re-pose her hand, the blaster stays there? I tried checking the 'inherit the bends of the parent' box but the blaster went all twisted.
Are there diffferent kinds of props ( I seem to remember hearing abou0t 'smartprops' somewhere). can any old prop just be put where you want it and the parented to something else?
I'm confused.com

Use the parenting control..   Object/ Change Parent..  and set to whatever hand you like..

Once I've put it in the hand? or with it in any position - will it attatch itself? Sorry if I sound stupid!

It will follow any move that the hand (in this case) makes..  You will still be able to adjust position etc.
by using the Parameter dials..

Put it in the hand first, then parent it.

Smart props are props which have been saved with parenting information in them, so when they're loaded they should jump to the appropriate part of the selected figure. This is figure specific, so a prop which has been parented to V4, say, won't be in the right position for Aiko.

Once your blaster or whatever is positioned against the figure's hand, you can save it into the props library, under a different name so as not to overwrite the original. Poser will ask if you want to make it a smart prop - say yes, and it will be ready for use next time.

Great tip!
thanks.

Parenting is not exclusively restricted to props.  Characters and figure objects can also be parented; this makes it convenient to move multiple associated characters/figures within a scene.

So they would all maintain the same distance relative to each other?

That's it. You can move an entire army around with one control prop. :-) 

 What no one in the thread has explained to you, is how to do the parenting.

Once you've positioned the sabre in the hand, here's the procedure:

1. Select the prop (the sabre)
2.  In the Poser menu at the upper left, click "Object"
3. On that menu select "Change Parent"
4. When the object PArent screen pops up, scroll down it until you find the hand of the figure you want the object to track and click it.
5. Click "OK"

The sabre will now track the every movement of the hand!

It drives me crazy, too, when people like me forget that not EVERYONE knows how to do the really simple things. :)

You're right, basicwiz.  We did drop the ball on the explanation.  And EnglishBob is correct.  Everyone retains their relative distance.  I just uploaded a scene, found here,

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1941805

where the center characters were composed separately, parented to each other, then imported and repositioned within the scene.  I use this technique whenever scenes become complex and renders begin to get longer.  The dagger and torch were parented to the actors also.

The Inherit bends of parent isnt what you want for a prop gun, because your gun should not get all bendy. A prop skirt or shirt however , may benefit. 

If you want to remove parenting from a prop just parent it to UNIVERSE.  You can parent stuff by dragging it in the hierarchy editor too. That can be fast if you have lots of stuff to set.

thanks all - excellent advice!

Quote - Smart props are props which have been saved with parenting information in them, so when they're loaded they should jump to the appropriate part of the selected figure. This is figure specific, so a prop which has been parented to V4, say, won't be in the right position for Aiko.

Once your blaster or whatever is positioned against the figure's hand, you can save it into the props library, under a different name so as not to overwrite the original. Poser will ask if you want to make it a smart prop - say yes, and it will be ready for use next time.

Probelm: It dosnt give me the option for parenting to a figue, namely im trying to save a gun prop fitted to Animedoll, but it only gives me tthe initial save option. however I can parent the other props, the muzzle flash, bullet and bullet time. Would that interfere with saving the gun as a parented prop?