Poser doesn't handle 3ds files properly. 3ds models can be composed by several parts and each one can have its own scale, rotation and translation.

If a 3ds model has only one part or several parts with no scale, rotation and translation transform the model can load into Poser, even so often the materials are lost. If you mdels has several parts each one with its own transform matrix the mesh turns to be unusable or difficult to fix in Poser.

You can try to use PropViewer 3 for converting the 3ds model to obj, it handle pretty well the materials and each part of the 3ds model is assigned a group name. Until now I don't handle transforms, but you can spawn the obj groups in Poser and try to place by hand each group in its right place. In the future I plan to handle transforms and normal fixes in the PropViewer.

Stupidity also evolves!