Poser only reads .3DS Material Groups, which the object may already have. Try this - load the .3DS, then select Poser's Grouping Tool, create a New group and then hit the Add Mat Group button. If there are materials shown in the pop-up, select one (the selected mesh should turn red) hit OK and then hit spawn props. You'll need to do this for each mat. Then just select the original nongroup object and delete it. Be aware that there may be Material Groups listed that don't correspond with any part of the object. HTH; Dan