In P7  I can rotate a figure by  clicking on the twist tool icon and moving the mouse across the button icon itself. The translate and move tool  operate the same way. For some reason
in P8 the translate and move tools work this way, but the twist tool is eratic. The twist tool only works correctly  if you move the mouse tool into the window and operare on the red body circle.
I realize this may seem nit picky to some, but I have be using Poser since P2  and I use this
mehod all the time to rotate the figure after loading. 

Is it just my system? 

Quick test: all three of the direction tools work on my setup.  I don't use them often,
so not familiar with how they should feel.... The rotate tool seems to have
a slightly different feel in 8 than in 7, but I can't pin down the difference.

Also, the twist tool is a bit jerky in 8, and the others aren't.

"Also, the twist tool is a bit jerky in 8, and the others aren't."
Thanks For checking ockham

My twist tool is "very jerky" worst on high polyfigures. In fact I cannot even get a full rotation on a fully loaded V4!

Quote - "Also, the twist tool is a bit jerky in 8, and the others aren't."
Thanks For checking ockham

My twist tool is "very jerky" worst on high polyfigures. In fact I cannot even get a full rotation on a fully loaded V4!

I have the same problem with my twist tool.

I've always just rotated figures with the X,Y,Z rotate dials. You get better control.

"I've always just rotated figures with the X,Y,Z rotate dials. You get better control."

Yes I agree if you are planing on working  on and positioning  the figure. 
I use the twist when I want to quickly examine the loaded figure.  Maybe I am lazy but using dials requires seleting  the property window, move to the figure dialogs and locate  "Y axis' "body" dials usually on a seperate part of the property tag then moving the dial with  with a mouse.

If the Figure is already selected, using the 'twist"  tool is easy to find and  only takes one mouse action! (if It works)

Well that's just showing a difference in work flow. If I want to examine a figure from another view or angle I switch to the Pose Camera and then use that great big honkin' ball and my mouse to twirl around the figure with the camera. It preserves the view of the main camera and it preserves the actual position of the figure I'm posing.

Of course, I'm talking from an animators point of view and you don't want to go "Twisting" a figure in the middle of an animation because it WILL screw up all your key frames in an animation. It's better to swoop around with a camera that isn't going to be used for the render.

"Well that's just showing a difference in work flow."

Yes for animation I agree with you, but I am just talking about examining the figure  
 Using a  pose camera is a pain because you have to readjust your lighting to see the figure
better every time you rotate the camera... Unless you set your lighting for 360 degree ilumination.. Again--  this is a another  set of extra steps just to have a quick look .  

 Whether or not this the best choice does not hide the fact that the dang thing doesn't work the
way it used to and should. I just was curious if others have experienced similar problems.
I'll turn in a bug report SM

Yes, of course and you're absolutely correct. It should work as it's supposed to if it's going to be there at all. I was just tossing my two cents in for the sake of discussion. (Can you tell how bored I am?)

Quote - In P7  I can rotate a figure by  clicking on the twist tool icon and moving the mouse across the button icon itself. The translate and move tool  operate the same way. For some reason in P8 the translate and move tools work this way, but the twist tool is eratic. The twist tool only works correctly  if you move the mouse tool into the window and operare on the red body circle.
I realize this may seem nit picky to some, but I have be using Poser since P2  and I use this
mehod all the time to rotate the figure after loading. 

Is it just my system? 

No, I'm having problems with it too. I does work if I twist the object very very slowly, but if I try a little faster, it just starts wiggling while rotating, instead of rotating faster. Very annoying in a close up where you can't access the twist handle.

See videoclip here:

http://miscfiles.net/temp/0001/P8twist

zenzai
Thanks for sharing the video thats exactly what happening.