1.
Transform the Asset
Press s
to call up the Transform
tool then click on the character and RMB-click
to accept. This selects the whole character and brings up a transform
handle that affects the transform values of the asset itself. Use
the handle to position the character to the left and rotate the
character by around 45 degrees. This method is good for establishing
the asset's starting position.

2.
Pose the Pelvis
Press
tab > Pose. Choose Select
> Select Entire Subnet to toggle it Off.
This lets you access the parts inside the digital asset subnet.
Use the same Pane menu to turn Secure
Selection off. This will make it easier to quickly
change your selection as you pose the character.
Click on the
pelvis control then RMB-click
to accept. This null object is inside the digital asset. Use the
pose handle to drop the pelvis down until the character's knees
are bent. You can also use this to rotate the hips a little.

3.
Work with Nested Digital Assets
Next, click
on the cube null object sitting in front of the character's left
knee. This selects the nested digital asset that controls the foot.
A handle appears at the heel and two HUD sliders appear that give
you control over the toe roll
and the ball roll.
Position the foot with all of these controls. Next, click on the
cube null object in front of the right knee and use this same digital
asset control to position the right foot.

When you turned
Select Entire Subnet
off, you made it possible to select an object directly even if it
sat inside one or more subnets. By default this means that you would
dive right down to the low level object. The nested digital assets
would therefore be skipped because they are intermediate level subnets.
To force the Pose
tool to recognize the nested asset, simply set every object contained
within the asset to unselectable.
The Pose tool
will then jump up to the subnet level above the selected object.
If this subnet is a digital asset, then its handles and HUD sliders
will be displayed.
Click on the
null object selector at the character's left wrist. This jumps your
selection to another nested digital asset control that has sliders
for rotating the hands and a handle for positioning the arm.

4.
Pose the Head
In some cases, you can take
advantage of how the Pose
tool works with parts of a character directly. To pose the character's
head you can select the head bones directly as long as their rotation
parameters have been promoted to the top level of the digital asset.
Click-drag
a
selection box over the character's head to select the head bones.
Oops! You selected the whole character. This is because the character's
geometry is unselectable therefore you are jumping up to the digital
asset level. In the network pane, make the Beatrice character unselectable
and then selecting the geometry won't do anything.

Now click-drag
again over the character's head to select the neck and head bones.
Because you are using the Pose tool, you get a temporary end effector
to adjust the head using Inverse Kinematics. Press x
if you want to use global controls and rotate the bones. Make sure
to press x again
before you start posing the character any more because the nested
digital asset controls will not show up in this mode.

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