Direct Manipulation

The Direct Manipulation tool allows you to directly adjust an element’s Translate, Scale, and Rotation parameters: You can also use this tool to adjust falloff zones when setting up joint parameters for a poseable figure.

Direct Manipulation tool.

To adjust an element, first select the Direct Manipulation tool, then select your desired element:

Clicking and dragging one of the shaded boxes above the selected element increase or decreases the element’s X, Y, or Z scale. This is the same as adjusting the xScale, yScale, and zScale parameters, respectively.

The Direct Manipulation tool makes posing easier.

You can also click and drag the red, green, and blue axis circles to rotate the selected element along its respective axis. Poser calculates the rotation by using object coordinates for optimum control. Dragging the red circle rotates about the element’s X axis. The green circle rotates about the element’s Y axis, and the blue circle rotates about the element’s Z axis. The cursor changes to indicate which transformation will occur. For example, move the cursor over the circles, the cursor changes to a rotation icon, and so forth. Elements rotate about their origins.

Clicking near the selected element’s origin translates the element as if you were using the Translate/Pull tool. Clicking away from the origin and axes/circles allows you to rotate the element as if you were using the Rotate tool.