Is there an easier way to make a character grasp something that is not a smart prop. I bought Ra light sabers and have had a difficult time putting the saber in characters hands. Is there a way to convert the prop so that it will automatically be placed in the character's hand? Are there tutorials on this subject, if so please point me in the right direction.

See my tutorial at DAZ Aracana site on putting props in hands.

Do you have a link to that turorial? The list there is long.

Attached Link: http://www.daz3d.com/support/tutorial/tutorial.php?id=68

Putting props in hands.

How would you do that is you are using one of the many premade poses for holding a sword? I have a heck of a time trying to place a gun or sword in the hand after I've posed the figure. I eventually manage it, sort of. What I end up with wouldn't be suitable for animation, but for a front still it's adequate.

1. From an existing pose save the hand that is close to what you want to the hands library. 2. Zero your figure and apply the hand pose. 3. Use the method described in my turorial (above) to place the prop. 4. You may need to tweak the hand pose to fit. Save again. Make the weapon a smart prop and save to library. 5. Apply an existing pose or pose the figure yourself. Disregard the hand for now, even if another pose changes it. 6. Apply the saved hand pose and the weapon should be in place, or close. Tweak. 7. Or delete the first weapon and reimport it to the new and teaked pose. 8. See my M3 and V3 hand poses at Poser Pros. Each contains several sword and pistol grip hand poses for popular weapons. Search for 3Don.

Gosh! You made that sound almost easy, hehe I'll try that the next time. I should have asked this question myself months ago. Thanks :)

One problem I've found is that some props have an awkwardly-placed origin. It can help a lot to have the origin within the grip. But fixing that is straying into the world of making props.

I find many times when I'm trying to position a gun or sword that the X Y and Z axis are all mixed up. Sometimes X is actually moved using the Y axis dial, and Z to do what Y would normally do. I thought it was just a one time thing, but it happens with various weapons. I had a heck of a time trying to place a gun in Michael's hand last week.

Acadia, that happens when a prop is rotated away from its origin. If it's rotated even more, you get the effect known as Gymbal Lock, where some of the rotations don't work at all. Poser 6 has a Direct Manipulation tool - it's the last button in the ones above your preview window - which helps considerably.

That's the tool that shows circles for the 3 axis that you can move, right? If so, Poser 5 also has one of those too. I accidently discovered that nifty tool one day and found it easier than using the dials. I use that tool when I need to tweak a body part. I didn't think to use it on a prop though. Thanks for that :)

there's a 'dagger hand' (I think) hand setting that I use. I don't remember who makes it, but it's usually the first thing that pops up in my hands section, so it would be towards the front end of the alphabet, if not one of those interminable !! names..;) It's got to be a freebie. I'll see if I can check when I get home tonight.

"Is this a dagger that I see before me, its handle to my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!" - Macbeth.

Message edited on: 03/17/2006 12:26

Ok..not much to go on, but the hand pose is called Aphrodite Dagger Hand..hey..it's a start..

Attached Link: http://www.schlabber.org/index.html

I think you should be able to use the joint editor to change the center and rotation parameters. I usually try to position the weapon and parent it while the figure is in the default pose. Go to Shlabber's site. he has a slew of sword poses as well as gun and dagger poses that may help. I get the sword in rough position, parent it and then apply a pose and tweak the grip using the hand camera.