Quote - any tips how to fast merge two materials together? for example how to merge torso,hip,neck,chest,niples in to one material?

the only ways i know are already pretty fast.  in edit mode, you go to the relevant zones and click select until you have all the polys of the relevant material zones selected. then choose the material main you want and click assign.  or you can just assign the areas as you select them.  either way, it shouldn't take long to setup the 3 skin zones (whiich i'm figuring is the main issue).  i mean, still annoying to have to do every time, but not too time consuming.

i just checked, and it took me about 20 minutes from export import to finished render with Blender internal.  mind, it took longer than it should have because i:
a) didn't realize the texture i picked didn't have bump, so i had to look for one that did
b) needed to tweak my world settings for a decent render
c) was slow to realize that if i chose an existing image first, when i browsed for a new one, i'd start in the proper directory
d) felt the need to delete unused material zones as i went
e)  tweaking the normal strength for that bump map

just as a convenience, it's also possible to rename materials after they're set.  face and torso work as names, but i renamed the single limb material 3_Limbs. 

oh!  and iirc, if you use PoseRay to export, it bundles your textures with your obj, and Blender picks them up from the mtl file.  i've never tried that, though.