(Note: I'm trying to do this for DS3-4+ and Poser6-10+)
I've got a manual procedure (with a couple of scripts to assist) for positioning a hand-held prop in a proxy-hand at the world origin. The procedure is basically this:
1) Unparent the prop
2) Zero its translations
3) Zero its rotations
4) Zero its origin*
5) Zero its offsets*
6) Manually translate the prop to the origin
7) Zero its origin
8) Zero its offsets
9) Manually rotate the prop to the correct orientation
10) Record the translations and rotations
(*Note: the zero origin/offsets at (4) and (5) is mainly as a visual reference. (7) and (8) are for ensuring that rotations are about the world centre)
The result of this procedure is a set of six parameters (X, Y, Z rotations and X, Y, Z translations) that can be used along with another script to do the whole procress (1) to (9) automatically in the future.
For many props the six values I get doing this in Poser are the same as I get doing it in DAZ Studio (after converting translations between DAZ units and Poser units of course).
However, for some props I get very different values from Poser and DAZ Studio. I've just realized that the problem occurs when if the prop's local rotation axes aren't aligned with the world axes, since in DAZ Studio step (9) sets world axis rotations, whereas in Poser step (9) sets local axis rotations. At least that's how it looks to me - the attached screenshot should help visualize what I'm on about.
I'm trying to find a way of getting a set of three rotation values out of step (10) that will work in both Poser and DAZ Studio. Any thoughts and suggestions on the subject would be appreciated. I realize that the solution may be on either on the DAZ Studio side or on the Poser side, so I'm posting this on the a couple of forums.