See this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YWxa1_vP5g

When the parent moves, the child (hand) pulls the child's body with it.  That's not what I want.

I'd like to connect one character's hands to the other character's hands so when I move one guy's arms, the other character's cooresponding arm moves up or down without bringing the whole body with it.  But when I try to parent the left hand to the other figure's right, and then the right hand to the other figure's left, the first parent setting is lost.  Then, when the parent object moves, the whole body is lifted off the ground.

Is there a way to anchor the feet so only the arm would move?  Is there a way to parent both arms to the other guy's opposite arms (hand to hand really) so both arms could be pulled around by the other guy's movements?

This is a snippet of the goal:  http://www.youtube.com/user/MrFlibbits#p/a/u/0/rWlGf3xZKw4

To achieve that I had to pose both characters' arms.

Is there a way to do that with parenting (or any other method) so I don't have to move, by hand, both characters arms?  If I could parent both hand to their opposites, and anchor the character so he isn't lifted, I could achieve that by moving only one character's arms (the parent character.)

You should parent Person2's hands to Person1's hands and enable inverse kinematik on Person2's arms. Then you should move just Person1's hands, the hands of Person2 will follow without moving the whole body. At least that's what I would expect. 

Can't do it.  The moment I parent a second thing, the first loses the parent setting.

Here's the procedure.

1.  Parent Person 2 right hand to Person 1 left hand.

2.  Parent Person 2 left hand to Person 1 right hand - the parenting performed in step 1 is now lost.

Just tried the IK on the arms as well.  That didn't stop the whole body being dragged along for the ride.

if you have p9 or pp2012 you might try a contraint. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNjWK9SO9c4 for a demo on using it.

No, I have only the previous Poser Pro.

Not sure that would work.  I think it would simply drag the constrained hand with it, rather than make the whole arm move.

1.  Constrain figure 2's hand on figure 1's.

2.  Move figure 1's arm - figure 2's and would move, but the arm wouldn't.  The hand would stretch or bend or somehow deform as it was pulled by figure1's hand and by its own forearm.

The following worked for me:

Use two props for parenting and move those. I've tried it in Pro 2012 and Pro 2010 and it worked in both versions. I loaded two ball props into the scene, set IK on for both arms for both figures and parented the hands to the props. 

So with Ball 1 I move Fig1-right hand and Fig2-left hand, with Ball 2 I move Fig1-left and Fig2-right.

Please be carefull that the arms are already bent in the first pose. If the arms are straight, the IK won't work properly.

Does that work for you?

Similar problem.

Add Ball 1 and Ball 2 to the scene.

Parent Figure 1 left hand to ball 1, and Figure 2 right hand to ball 1.  Set IK on for hands on both figures. 

When I move the ball, the figures shift, their entire bodies move around with the ball.  The arms aren't moving, just the entire figures.  It's the same as the last attempt.

Parent Figure 1 right hand to ball 2.  Figure 1 left hand is no longer parented to ball 1.

Parent Figure 2 left hand to ball 2.  Figure 2 right hand is no longer parented to ball 1.

Each figure can only have one body part parented to something.  When I try to parent another body part to something else, the first parent setting is lost.  And, moving the parent drags the whole body rather than moving the arm.

Ah, figured it out finally.  Instead of using Figure, Set Figure Parent use Object, Change Parent.

The only problem is when I parent the hand to the ball, the hand becomes gigantic.

Using Object, Change Parent works even without the prop.  The only issue is that the figure 2 body part changes scale to match the figure 1 (parent) body part or body.  In the actual animation scene Figure 2 is 90% scale.

That's fixed by scaling the child body part (each of Figure 2's hands) up.  Yup, you'd think it would be scaling it back down, but it's scaling it up.

Thanks for the help.

Step 1:  Set IK on for Figure 2.

Step 2.  Figure 2 left hand - Object, Change Parent to Figure 1 right hand. 

Step 3.  Figure 2 right hand - Object, Change Parent to Figure 1 left hand.

Step 4.  Because Figure 2 is 90% scaled.  Scale up each of Figure 2's hands to 110%.

You have to switch on Inverse Kinematic before you parent the hands to the balls. If you move the balls and the figure moves then you have parented the body of the figure, not the hand. 

Great that you figured it out while I looked for Poser 7. :lol: 

Haha!