@JoeJoe11 Vana is right! You need to move the camera to move the joint in the direction you want. The front/back view of your sim is a side to side (can also rotate, kind of). The top/bottom is rotation, and the side view is back/forth (or up and down).
Also, if you zoom in to the joints you can see that some of them are "layered" or stacked on to each other. I don't know why they do that....but they control different parts of that section. Your second click (first is the body selection) should actually move the leg, not the thigh, so that means you're triple clicking when selecting that joint.
And I do the same thing Vana does. xD Click, ESC. Click, ESC. Until I get it right. Lol!
I'm guessing by the struggles you're listing that you need a visual guide, not a written guide, but I'll provide both as well as my own tips.
A video on tips and tricks, including moving the eyes and tongue, and facial expressions: https://youtu.be/t3q33yOE-DA
A series from a famous pose lady: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-n852rZtiYL4VTYyIRX75fz5T6Rxm-KT
I learned extra from her: http://kilhian.blogspot.co.uk/p/tutorials.html
How to prevent twisted joints: http://www.simsweeklyworldnews.info/pose-tutorial-preventing-twisted-joints/
That's about it for what I've collected (besides what Vana linked), but I'm sure there's plenty of other guides out there if you need more info.
Here's my own tips that I gathered from those guides, or I found myself, in a list.
- Some joints are hidden and require clicking several times to get to them (like the eyelids, bottom or top)
- Hitting R twice allows you to rotate and move around the limb more from any angle. So I don't have to turn the camera to turn the limb a certain way
- After you hit R, click your mouse wheel to check for the axis. If you are going for an even pose this should help you make sure both joints are even. Unfortunately, it doesn't connect to anything, only shows your y or x axis, and doesn't do what you want half the time. Just a tip in case it works at the right time though.
- Dragging with your right mouse instead of hitting R allows you to lengthen, or distort, limbs and pieces of the body. G does this as well
- Holding shift while scrolling moves the screen up or down.
- Holding ctrl (or command for mac) while scrolling moves the camera side to side
- Speaking of moving the camera, 4 & 6 rotate to the left and right
- 2 & 8 rotate up and down
- You can select more than one Joint at once and move it. Hold shift and click the limbs.
- If you press B, you can drag and select a lot of limbs too! The Select menu also offers different things, like a circular select.
- Your history for doing stuff is located under Pose > Undo History. Or Hit ctrl + alt + z. Or you can hit redo, shift + ctrl + z. In your history menu, the eye represents where you are at currently. Also, your most recent action is at the very top on the left, not the bottom right (confusing, I know).
- Pressing Delete on your numberpad (the .), not above the backspace button, will zoom in to the area you selected.
- Try moving the section above the one you want to move first to avoid twisting. So if you want to rotate the arm, you need to start from the shoulder (or the clavicle vertex) and rotate, stop before it becomes twisted, then do the forearm, then the hand, etc.
