I want to make and distribute props for Daz3D and Poser, and am very close to having done so. However, I'm running into a snag that I hope someone can help me with. My workflow, the one that only almost works, is a bit odd, so I'll explain it.

 First I produce the model in Wings3D, then texture it. Then I import it to Daz Studio, via .obj file. Then I use an exporter script I found (I have tried both PP2 Exp and Obj2PP2) to produce a .pp2 file. I set up the runtime folder from there, and test the prop in Daz Studio. Once it pases that, I send it off to my Poser tester.

Right now my prop works perfectly in Daz Studio. Absolutely no problems. But when brought over into Poser, it begins to exhibit odd behavior. Namely, if moved from the origin of scene it stops rotating properly. It begins to rotate around points other than it's own local origin. My tester has attempted to import the item from OBJ himself, with some success, though he reports that rotation by parameters doesn't always work quite right, even though rotation by gizmo does. Regardless, I would like to be able to make this work without leaning on him, so I'm hoping someone can provide a tip or modification to the above workflow that will resolve my issues. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Note: I am posting this in multiple categories, because I'm not sure where the relevant expertise resides. I hope this is not an issue.

From the tester: I'm currently using the Mac versions of Poser 7 (7.0.2.132) and Poser 8 (8.0.2.10911), and OS X 10.6.2. To better explain the problem, if I don't move the prop from its point of import, it rotates fine (the point origin for rotation is in the base of the object). This works in all axes. If I translate the object, say in the X axis, X rotation still works, but now Y rotation moves the object around in a wide circle, as if it was in orbit around the original point of origin.

Perversely, if I translate the object, sometimes the axes seem to stay relative to the object. For instance, if I rotate it 90 deg in the X axis, they Y translation moves it in what is the "universal" Z axis. Moving the object by hand sometimes results in unpredictable movement. I think that if I try to drag it in "Z", it tries to move in it's own "Z" axis rather than the universal Z axis.

Other props from my library do not behave in this fashion.

Probably unrelated, but I have recently experience a problem with my 3D Navigator where the Y and Z axes have swapped on the controller in both Poser 7 and 8.

If the prop always rotated around the wrong center in Poser,
the solution would be simple.

1. Center the OBJ as closely as possible in Poser,
2. Export as OBJ from there,
3. Re-import with all boxes unchecked. 
4. Use Joint Editor (alt-W-J) to place the origin at center.
5. Save as PP2.

But the "unpredictable" motion, along with the 3d Navigator problem, sounds
more like a system failure, possibly OpenGL software?? or video card problem???

 I think you may have hit on something.

I was the guy trying to pose the thing, and what I meant by "unpredictable" was that dragging the thing in one view sometimes resulted in it moving in directions I hadn't anticipated, or were not apparent when I was moving it in a particular view. Like,if I was using the left view, I would move it relative to X and Y, but find that it has displaced itself considerably in the Z axis.

for a prop simply open the joint editor and see where the center is (green + sign) . If its way off move it to the prop and close the joint editor , then  save the prop again.  You may also need to align the center to the prop to get it moving the way you expect.

I'm 95% certain that the problem you describe is caused by a wrong channel order in the pp2. In a prop the channels should come in a specific order in the channel stack.

taegetGeom [morph, optional]
OffsetA [optional]
scale
rotate
translate
OffsetB [optional]

The most likely cause of the problem is that translate channels have been placed above the rotate channels. It might also be caused by the Offset channels being in the wrong place. The offset channels are not really necessary. They are only for moving the origin, assuming the origin is already in the correct place, they can be deleted. So check that the channels in the pp2 are in the order as listed above, and if not move them to the correct place. This is usually easier to do in a cr2 editor such as the free CR2Builder, but can be done in a text editor. If you want more details of how a pp2 is set out, look in any Poser Primitive prop.

It may be that your exporter script is geared toward figures rather than props, the channel order in figures can be different.

Thanks lesbentley! I went in and edited those parts of the file, and that seems to have cleared up the issues. Thanks a bunch!