Why can't I import lwo files, created in Lightwave 3d 2018, into Poser 12? Second, What's the difference between importing FBX files and OBJ files, created in Lightwave 3D?. Third. How do I group like materials together from a prop after using spawn prop in Group Editor? What happens to these groups when I create a figure from the prop? I want to use Hierarchy Editor to create the figure. I don't want to use Setup Room, if I don't need to. Do they become children of the actors. Like in Victoria 4, whereas she has "Figure>Body Parts>Head>Head Parts">?
I'm working with a car. It's one prop containing 3 separate props, Body, Cabin and Rear Tires. The 2 front tire are separate props. Thanks. Any other info needed will be provided upon request.

The best way to import geometries into Poser is an OBJ file. FBX is a container file and can contain any thing from a pose for a figure to a fully rigged and textured figure.

OBJ files only contain geometry. As to why the light wave isn't importing I don't without know what it is(n't) doing..Your best bet is OBJ anyway.

How to group materials together in the Group editor. Select the group you want to add too then Add > Material > [Whatever the material is]

It's technically possible to create a figure from a bunch of parented props but definitely not recommended. If you want to build a figure the setup room will probably be a necessity.  That said, here's how do do it the hard way.

In Hierarchy Editor (HE) parent the props in the order you want the figure to be.

On the Parameters for each object you need to set the order of rotation. On the Object properties palette check the option display in calculation order.

For each of the props you've parented together you need to sort the X, Y and Z rotations so the twist or long axis is first the primary bend is last

Drag and drop the rotation dials to the correct order.

An example rotation order for a knee on a human is Y, Z, X . The wheels of a car are going to be the same. A door would be Z, X, Y where Y opens the door

Select the root actor of your soon to be figure. On a human that's the hip for your car the body or chassis.

Once you have the object arranged and all the rotation orders set click the [Create Figure Button]

It will look like nothing happened. But a figure was just created in a special folder in the primary runtime.

In the figures category of the library look for a folder named "New Figures"

The figure you just created is in that folder.

Save your scene

Start a new scene and load the figure you created.

It will be a "Figure" but it's a long ways from working.

Fixing the joints to be where they should be is where you need the Joint Editor (JE)

The wheels probably won't roll straight. They will need their joint centers set so the center of the joint is there the wheel's hub is.

You can type in values or drag the green cross in the scene.

You'll need to setup how the joint bends. Being a machine this won't be as hard as a human.

There's a option on the figure actors called "Bend" you want that un-checked. That will make the actor rigid.

Save your new figure to the figure category of the library. Choose the option to create a new OBJ for the save.

That's the outline of the entire process and I probably lost you on the first line. But now you know where your going and there is a map. Just ask for directions along the way.

Great answer!. Thanks so much for explaining it to me in full detail. You way beyond what I expected. I just printed out this answer for future reference. Thanks again, nerd. I really appreciate.

After I posted the original question. I imported 3 obj files from Lightwave 3D. Using the Group Editor, I spawned the props, turning each material, imported from Lightwave, into their own separate props. Then I used the Hierarchy Editor to parent everything to the Main prop and created the figure. I choose original, not new and it came out great. I made my adjustment for posing the new figure and saved it to the same folder as the original figure. Saved the document and started a new document. I added the saved figure from the library to the scene and it was perfect. I really just wanted to know the difference between a OBJ and FBX, which you answered for me. Thank you. I also wanted to know how come Poser wouldn't import a figure that I exported as an obj, opened in Lightwave 3D, saved as a .lwo file and then tried to import the .lwo file back into Poser. Thanks again for great reply.

Are there different versions of LWO ??

Also, OBJ (+MTL) is un-rigged. Upside, as both are text files, paths etc may be hand-edited.
FBX may be rigged. It may even have 'relative' texture calls, rather than hard-coded into depths of author's G: drive's folder tree...
But, due to differences between 3rd Party / Open Source FBX plug-ins, eg for Blender, and the proprietary Adobe SDK, import results vary.
I half-joke about three types of outcome:
'Okay', either due Adobe SDK --'Rigged by Maya' ?-- or a temporary 'happy alignment' of eg Blender and plug-in sub-versions' quirks.
'So-So', anywhere between a few and many sub-rigs. Position / pose using first, parent others to this ASAP to off-load Poser hierarchy base...
'Splat', think Star-Trek Transporter Accident. Call janitor to mop mess, close and re-start Poser...

NikKelly posted at 6:12 AM Tue, 11 April 2023 - #4461679

Are there different versions of LWO ??

Also, OBJ (+MTL) is un-rigged. Upside, as both are text files, paths etc may be hand-edited.
FBX may be rigged. It may even have 'relative' texture calls, rather than hard-coded into depths of author's G: drive's folder tree...
But, due to differences between 3rd Party / Open Source FBX plug-ins, eg for Blender, and the proprietary Adobe SDK, import results vary.
I half-joke about three types of outcome:
'Okay', either due Adobe SDK --'Rigged by Maya' ?-- or a temporary 'happy alignment' of eg Blender and plug-in sub-versions' quirks.
'So-So', anywhere between a few and many sub-rigs. Position / pose using first, parent others to this ASAP to off-load Poser hierarchy base...
'Splat', think Star-Trek Transporter Accident. Call janitor to mop mess, close and re-start Poser...

I have the latest version of lightwave and it saves objects as .lwo files. I don't know the difference in the 2 file structures, i.e *.lwo and *.obj. I wanted to know how come Poser won't import a *.lwo file, but will import a Wavefront obj file. Lightwave 3D is the only other 3D program I use, aside from Poser. I use Poser for rendering. Superfly does a better and faster job than Lightwave Layout. Layout is too time consuming for me. With Poser I can set the camera, lights, objects and characters in the scene in mere minutes. Render it in about 5 minutes and get a photo-realistic image. I can tweak it Photoshop and have a great presentation.

My P_11.3 claims it can import LWO format, but only seems to like older models. Hence my thought that there are file version issues...

If you open a simple LWO file in eg Notepad, is there a version number quoted in 'plain text' before the data ?

FWIW, will your Lightwave export FBX ? Directly or via a budget plug-in ??

NikKelly posted at 9:05 PM Sun, 16 April 2023 - #4462417

My P_11.3 claims it can import LWO format, but only seems to like older models. Hence my thought that there are file version issues...

If you open a simple LWO file in eg Notepad, is there a version number quoted in 'plain text' before the data ?

FWIW, will your Lightwave export FBX ? Directly or via a budget plug-in ??

Hi. Yes it will export FBX. I'm not really all that concerned with Lightwave's inability to export .lwo files. I just realized something. I can export Lightwave object as Lightwave(LW2015) and Poser will import it.