odf,

Quote - ... 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....

 :blink:   Hu? I don't hold out much hope of that fixing the drop to floor problem. As the handle actor's geom would still be empty, I can't see what adding a prop to the mixture would achieve.

OK, how about this. Make the "empty.obj" geom small, but not infinitely small, say about 0.0001 Poser Units. Place this geom in the middle of the hip. Set the material to be transparent and the Diffuse and Specular to zero, you know the drill. Most of the time the handle will be hidden by virtue of being inside the hip. If it does get moved outside the hip, it will be fairly unobtrusive at that size and with those transparency settings. Even if it did show in the preview, it would be completely invisible when rendered.

I am going to try that. I will let you know the results.

If the worst came to the worst you could always put the handle geometry back in the base obj, we know it works that way, and it can still be invisible by default. Putting the geom in the base obj feels wrong, but makes no difference to the end user. The only problem I can see with it is an inconvenience for those who want to edit the base obj in a modelling app.