One thing I should mention: I thought I had averted the 'drop to floor' problem by replacing the 'empty' handle geometry with one that contains an infinitely small cube. But that's not the case. I'm not quite sure about the details, but in certain poses 'drop to floor' still only works when all the handles are visible.

For now I'll leave it at that. It's a bit of an inconvenience, but not too important in the grand scheme of things. In the long run, I'd like to try a different strategy. Instead of adding figure geometry to the handles, I'd like to try adding a prop for each handle and slave the appropriate channels of the handle actors to the movements of those props. I think Les might have some experience with that kind of thing...

-- I'm not mad at you, just Westphalian.