VK, thanks for the tutorial links. They are quite timely since I have been experimenting with ERC's.

Whazizname, a good way to get a general concept of boning is to open an existing file, such as the cobra, go into the setup room and see how it is rigged. You will probably get a warning about morphs may become unusable, but as long as you don't save or change anything, all will be fine. Looking at a couple of vehicles would show how the creator set up the bone and rigging.  Don't forget to look at how the joint parameters are set up. I usually set the mat spheres display to wire frame, so I can see the areas of influence.

Once you see how something is boned and rigged, then you can begin to see how to do your own figure. Creating the bones is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The time consuming part will be adjusting all the joint parameters and mat sphere settings to get the figure to respond to your dials.  As you experiment, take a little extra time to write down your settings. This has been a real help as it gives you a reference point to go back to if you mess up (has saved me many times). If your are working on symmetrical parts of a model, Poser's symmetry tools can transfer joint parameters from one side setup to the other. Another big time saver.

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Too many projects, too little time.

Thanks for the additional tips melamkish.

Now that i have conquered the household flu virus; I'll look into this some more.

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It's not what you look like, when you're doing what you're doing;
It's what you're doing, when you're doing what it looks like you're doing.

Ok, here is a beginner's tutorial on how to make a car figure in Poser 4:

1. We make a simple car in the modeler. The example model has only the most important parts: floor, wheels, and pedals. If your modeler can export Wavefront obj groups, you can name the parts and then export as obj.

2. Import the model as a prop in Poser. Be sure to choose some "Percent of standard figure size", if your modeler exports the model in very large dimensions. Check if all parts are imported. You often get reversed normals on some parts, like the wheels of our car model.

You can't create texture coordinates in Poser. You have to map the model in your modeler or with a mapper software before you import it. If your modeler exports a mat file associated with the obj, Poser will import the material definitions from the mat file. If your modeler exports "usemtl" tags in the obj, you can assign materials in Poser with the Group Editor.

3. The parts of your model are groups of the Poser prop. Open the Group Editor and check if all group names are present and correct.

You can easily fix the reversed normals of a group with the "Reverse Group Normals" button in the Group Editor.

4. Load a Poser human as a reference to scale your model properly. Place the model where the figure library should load it. A car model is usually placed on the ground in the center of the scene facing the front camera.

5. Now the model is a single object with geometry groups. You can export this model and use it as figure geometry file. If your model geometry is a skin (like a human or animal), you should use the "welded" geometry. In this case, the seams of the groups share the same vertices.

If you make a hard body model like a car, the parts are usually not welded. In this case it's a good idea to break the single geometry into pieces, and export the pieces in a single obj file.

Open the Group Editor and hit "Spawn Props" to create a new prop for every geometry group f the original object. Your scene is now populated with several props. Be sure to delete the original object, otherwise you have a duplicate of the geometry in the scene.

6. Write a phi text file. The phi starts with the line

objFile :Runtime:someFolder:otherFolder:objfilename.obj

which is the file path of the obj file used to create the figure. This is the folder where you will place your obj. The phi lists all parts of the figure (except for BODY), the hierarchy level, and the rotation order. The parts are the props you have in your scene. Be sure to use the exact names of the props.

Save the phi file in the same folder, that is, the directory you defined in the first line of the phi.

7. Export the props from Poser to create the new obj file. Use the export option "Include body part names in polygon groups", which will use the prop names as group names in the obj.

Save the new obj in the directory you defined in the phi file.

8. Choose the "Convert Hier File..." menu, choose your phi file, and convert. Poser tries to find the obj file and to parse the phi file, and generates a new figure library (.cr2) for the model. Enter a name for the new library. The new figure is placed in the "New Figures" folder.

Save and close your pz3 document. You should keep the file because it contains a backup of your original figure geometry.

9. Open a new document. Load the new figure from the Characters palette. Before you do anything else, save a new .cr2 from the loaded figure, and replace the original library. The hierarchy converter in Poser 4 writes a library version which is for some reason not compatible with the Joint Editor. When you save the library from a document, Poser 4 writes a correct .cr2.

10. Delete the existing figure in the document. Load a new figure from the new library. Open the Hierarchy Editor and check if all parts are there and if the figure hierarchy is what you expect.

The parts of a car don't deform like a limb of a human, when you move them. Because of this, you have to turn off the "Bend" option of each part. Select each part and uncheck the "Bend" option in the Properties window.

Deactivating the "Bend" option disables the joint deformation engine. However, the joint definitions are still in the cr2. If you want to remove the code (a lot of code, actually) you have to edit the .cr2 in a text editor.

11. Now you can adjust the joints of the car parts. Open the Joint Editor, select the parts and examine the center points. The center point (origin) of a part is displayed as a green crosshair in the scene. The origin is the rotation center and the reference point for scaling. For example, the origin of a wheel should be centered such that the wheel rotates about its center.

12. For example, the pedals should rotate about the hinge where the pedal is mounted on the floor. Select a pedal body part and move the green crosshair to the appropriate position.

13. All body parts have 3 rotate dials. Select a pedal and try which rotation to use (xRotate in this case). Check which rotation direction you need and how far the pedal should rotate. The example pedal should xRotate by +40 degrees.

14. Open the parameter window of the xRot dial. Choose "Min Limit" 0 and "Max Limit" 40. Name the dial, for example, "Push". Now when you activate the "Use Limits" option (Figure menu), the pedal will move only within the limits. That's it. Your car model is ready.

Some modifications of the cr2 can't be done in Poser. For example, you might want to hide or even remove the yRot and zRot dials on the pedals, since you don't use them. Poser adds translate dials to every body part. These dials are by default only visible in the root actor and in the goal of an activated IK chain. If your part uses a translation, you have to open the cr2 in a text editor and make the dial visible.