I'm trying to make a machine gun prop for Poser. Basically I created the prop in Wings3D and then exported it into OBJ and then imported into Poser. The gun swivels and rotates on its stand. However, in order to make it so that it could swivel and rotate, I had to import each part of the gun separately into Poser and then parent each part in the correct order so that by rotating one piece the rest of the gun would rotate with it.

Now when I try to save the gun to the props library I have to save each piece separately. Is there a way to save the entire ensemble as one prop while retaining the ability for it to move?

Many thanks!!

IMO it's a lot simpler to just rig it in the Setup room, rather than the parent prop business.  Watch Phil Cooke's rigging tutorial, think about it, and give it a try, I bet you'll figure it out very quickly.  You only need two polygon groups, one group for the gun and ammo, and one group for the tripod; and two bones, one for the gun/ammo, and one for the tripod.  Turn off "Bend" property for the gun bone.

http://www.philc.net/rigging1.php

Gary, I'd forget saving it as a prop now you've done the rigging and save it as a figure. I'd make the Tripod the body.....

If you have it parented together , just use the button on the bottom of the hierarchy editor to create a figure.  select the parent part first.

Saving the parent prop should prompt you to save the entire group which would give you a prop set.

Ditto Markschum.  The setup room will be difficult and the results could be weird.

Just use the "Create New Figure" button in the hierarchy window.

After the figure is made, edit the CR2: change all lines that say

bend 1

to

bend 0

and resave.

Presto, a usable figure.  You might need to bring it back into Poser to adjust the origin of the joints, so the gun rotates around the proper center.

I went into the Hierarchy editor and clicked on Create new figure, however, it didn't seem to do anything. I selected the top most parent and named the figure but then it didn't seem to save anywhere or do anything. :(

It should have put it into the New Figures folder. 

To answer the original question:

Quote - Is there a way to save the entire ensemble as one prop while retaining the ability for it to move?

When you click the "+" in the Props palette, you will see a button to "Select Subset". Click that button and select the parts you want to include.

When you create a figure via the Hierarhy Editor, the figure will be placed in the "New Figures" folder. Have you looked in that folder? The props need to be parented together, and the prop that is at the top of the hierarchy must be the selected item, before you click the "Create New Figure" button.

DId you set the head space and timing on "Ma Duece"

Ooops! I found it. You were right lesbentley. I didn't realize there was a "new figures" folder but it is there.