Thank you bother for your responses! Glad you got some help, Gerald! You don't need to be an (amazing) one-man band any longer!

Select the original item and export the materials as a set to a new DS 'material preset', then you can apply that entire material preset onto the equivalent VWD_xxxxx item in a single step after it is created by VWD. Save the scene normally, and it should then reload with materials applied as expected.

Dan, I'll try this ASAP and let you know how it works out! Thanks so much for the assistance. It's greatly appreciated!