I reckon swords are one of the hardest things to do, smoothing wise..What you need to do is selectively split some polys but not others, and create cuts in just the right place, i think maybe with this you need a cut very close to the blade edge then 2 close to center to give it its curve back.......try smoothing it at a different angle in max then doing some cutting and splitting and maybe you can create the same look as you'll end up with in poser, save you swapping apps to check it......Steve