Oh, I'd agree that some of the modern manuals are not very good, and the Poser manual does get quite vague in places. As for file formats, the only cheap way to get at 3ds Max files is to download the demo version. It's time limited. but you can do a lot of conversions in a month. Also, there's a program called Deep Exploration, from Right Hemisphere. Demo versions available, and they can convert Lightwave to .obj that Poser itself won't touch, as well as many other formats. In particular, models that use a .lws file can be converted from a set of .lwo files to a single .obj file. Some free modelling programs do import and export. I use Wings and anim8or for various odd jobs. And if something odd happens, try a different conversion program. I've had a wire-spoked wheel turn into a disk using Poser to import, but it came out OK going through anim8or. UVmapper Classic will clean up some problematic .obj files--just load and save.