Quote - I'm just trying to optimize this stuff for distribution so that a user won't have to fiddle too much.

I take it then that the bow and arrow are you own creation, though you don't actually say so.

Quote - It was very difficult to position the bow and arrow.

The position of the origin for both the bow and the arrow will make a big difference in how easy they are to pose. I would suggest that for the bow, the origin should be level with the top of the bow hand, and of course on the vertical center line of the grip. The origin for the arrow should be at the point where the notch in the arrow touches the string.

Quote - I’d like to make a pose, or poses, to move the bow and arrow to the correct positions in relation to the character that is drawing the bow. My first attempt with the arrow resulted in a pose that does nothing. Is there a way set this sort of thing up as a pose?... Is there such thing as a "prop pose" that can be applied from the library? A prop pose, (if it existed), would take into account translation, rotation, scaling as well as any prop morphs that are applied.

If the bow is parented to some part of a figure, you can save a pose for the figure, using 'Select subset' to include only the bow in the pose (if the arrow is parented to the bow it will move with it). Such positioning poses will co course be specific to a particular figure. A pose to position the bow for Jessi will not position it correctly for Antonia. Translation and rotation data will be included in the pose by default. Scaling data is not included in a pose saved in Poser, but will be used if you manually edit the data into the pz2. Note that the prop will need to be parented to a figure before the pose can be applied, (assuming the bow is a prop) it should not matter if it is the prop or part of the figure that is the selected item when the pose is applied.

Quote - The one problem is that my bow's "draw" morph needs to be set manually. Is there no way around this?

Not that I can think of off the top of my head. You would want the notch point on the string to move with the rHand, but the position of the hand depends on every joint between the hand and hip, so no simple slaving relationship could do the job. If the bow was a figure it might be possible to do something using IK, but even then I'm not sure it could be made to work.

If you were applying a pose to the figure, the pose could include an appropriate value for the draw morph. This would require some editing of the pz2.

The position of the arrow relative to the string is another matter. Providing that the arrow is parented to the bow, it should be trivial to keep the arrow touching the notch point on the string whilst the bow is drawn. Determine how far the arrow needs to move (in Poser native Units), then just slave the relevant translation channel of the arrow to the morph channel in the bow, using the value you determined in the 'deltaAddDelta' line of the slaving code.