You're right, the obj does work better.  I'm not sure what you're referring to when you ask " . . . why would you need materials to finish the modelling process?"  By way of explanation I might, for instance, make a flat sail, export it, then use Amapi, Rhino, or LightWave to give it the right bend and sag. Then I could import it back in the shape I want before applying materials and grouping it with a yardarm & mast, etc. Ok, that's not a very good example, but do you see what I'm getting at?

 I like Bryce; it's familiar and intuitive and I'd rather stick with it than become a convert to LW or Carrara (though I often envy their render times).

Sorry, no, I don't see it. If you export the model to Rhino, you don't materials exported with it. You only need materials to finish the scene after you've reimported the model into Bryce. So the material export feature is irrelevant. See what's confusing me?

@AS, could u try exporting your famous bot? the one from way back that keeps appearing from time to time. i think u won a challenge with it once actually... u know which one i mean?

Yup, the Bolo Robot. ;o)

I had given that robot to Brycetech a couple of Siggraphs ago, and he has already exported the whole thing out of Bryce and rendered it in Carrara, lol!

Myself, I've been so freaking busy, and so distracted by Bryce's HDRI, I have yet to get to the robot. But, I will definitely be coverting it all and exporting it out. That's absolutley why I'm gonna experiment with poly count, see how low I can get it, while still looking decent. Maybe teach myself how to rig up the arms and legs in Poser/Studio...

Materials don't export with models, and neither does UV mapping. I built a model in 5 pieces in Lightwave, (UV mapped and with textures) then imported the pieces into Bryce and assembled them, then I exported the complete model, It exported without textures and when I tried to apply the textures manually, the UV mapping was gone too.

Yup, prior uv mapping does not carry through.

UV mapping might not, but if you export a converted boolean that's textured, then import it back the material is still there . . . .  maybe not quite as good but there nonetheless as this picture illustrates. The two parts on the left are the original that's been exported to 3ds and obj formats with the wood material, then imported - materials more or less intact.

However, I wouldn't care if it didn't. I just want the ability to shape parts with other apps then bring them back in. I can deal with materials when the parts are finished.

Quote - That's absolutley why I'm gonna experiment with poly count, see how low I can get it, while still looking decent. Maybe teach myself how to rig up the arms and legs in Poser/Studio...

I'd guess that the lowest decent-looking model comes out only at 16. 8 is too low. Poser is way complicated for rigging. I can do it, but it's a pain because of the positioning. For instance, I succeeded once in moving one bone away from its parent, but never again. Now when I move a bone, its parent moves with it. Studio/Bryce needs something like the basic rigging in Cinema: you create a skeleton, assign it to a model and the program handles the rest. Of course, for good rigging you need to spend time on it, but the basics are easy.

Yeah, the lowest poly count on exporting is too low for a good level of visual quality....but if you wanted to export it out to be used in say, in a video game level/mod you were constructing...I would see that as nicely acceptable.

Yeah, I have never tackled rigging in any program. Not looking forward to the headache, but to eventually see something I built from the ground up walking around on the screen.....that would be awesome!