Sometimes the PZ3 has some things missing in it. I have seen this before. Like when you conform a bit of clothing or texture. Sometimes they come up missing when used with other people and thier PC software.

Hey Turtlecroc, welcome to PF!

I've actually got some character animation under my belt, in Maya, but I've found the principles are relatively the same as in Poser 4.

*cracks knuckles*

For the outline:  I've noticed in Poser that you're able to color the shadows independantly from the light source.  A white outline?  Is it like the bottom of his foot?  You'd be able to color that if it's his shadow.

For the movement troubles:  IK would actually have ALOT to do with this.  IK is actually a stupid process in that it all depends on how the 'skeletal' structure is set up.  IK is basically invisible bones in your figure that are manipulated to control the movement.  IK is useful in Poser cause it really helps with 'cause and effect' type movement (pull a finger hard enough, the hand follows, with the arm attached. next thing you know, you're dragging a body by the finger).

How IK is stupid is it needs a 'root'  and Poser, with IK turned off, makes the hip the root.  The root can be thought of kinda like in those old gangster stories with the 'cement shoes' effect.  IK 'on' makes the roots into whatever you activate the IK on.  Move a body but not the root and you won't get far  

Long story short, IK off can cause the legs to move up, body to move down cause the hip root wasn't animated in the animation.  I believe that most the animations in Poser are made with the intent to have IK turned on, meaning they animated the foot roots.  

OR

It could stem from the changing porportions of the legs.  While you're changing the length of the legs, the range of motion and distance of movement in the animation is not changing. it'll stay the same.  Imagine a person clapping in a animation. lengthen the arms without adjusting the animation and suddenly the person's hands are going through each other!

Hope all this helps you out!  Welcome once again :3

Turtlecroc,

I did some experimentation today...
That outline you're talking about on the feet is the root of the IK.  You do have IK on in your animation.  Think of it as the anchor of your figure.  You'll see this if the foot leaves the area of the root's geometry, it's main influence will usually be that the toes point towards the root if they aren't animated as well.  it's likely you won't see this happen in the animation cause most Poser pz2's or BVH's ((I think that's the animation files for Poser, not sure)) have info saved for every part of a figure's body.

I think the reason for your character's feet leaving the ground is the modified geometry.  Adjusting figure size or just leg space throws off the animations sync, if that's easier to understand.  A good way to see what I'm talking about is to look at the game Secondlife.

Secondlife allows Poser made animations to be imported for use in world.  However, making these means they're for a preset body size and premade proportions.  SL doesn't modify these when you put them on a differently proportioned avatar.  Hence the Aforementioned 'hands going through each other' for a clap.

Your best bet would be, before rendering, to adjust the animation.  I've yet to actually use Poser's animation function, but if it works the same as other animation programs, just cycle the animation to the frame where the foot is furthest from the ground, move it down and keyframe it there.  that should solve the problem unless Poser uses a wave model for animation movement... then it gets more complicated :/