Poser has a problem loading OBJ files. And oddly doesn't have the same problem when loading 3DS files.

Say you have a prop with three materials. Material #1, Material #2, Material #3. Note the space in the material name.

If you load this prop into Poser from an OBJ. file you end up with only one material. If you load the prop from a 3DS file it will load correctly. This is really odd because I have always been told that the preferred format is the wavefront OBJ type file.

The work around is to take the OBJ file into a text editor and do a search to replace Material # with Material# or Material_# getting rid of the space. You will have to do the same thing to the matching mtl. File as well.

What is also odd is that Poser has no problem saving OBJ files that contain spaces or working with props that contain them once they are loaded. You can look inside an OBJ file saved by Poser and the Material names are there complete with the spaces. It just can't load them correctly unless you use the work around.

You can also save the prop in poser as a pp2 and it will work correctly with the spaces in the material names.

I have not experimented yet with material names that are more descriptive like "table top, table leg, chair top and chair leg" but I suspect in the example given you would end up with two materials, table and chair.

This is a real drag because many 3DS files seem to use this "material #" type format making them a Problem when used with Poser.

Thanks, Roy G, That is interesting and helpful information. Someone who wrote that section of code for Poser evidentialy used the "space" character for a delimiter when importing .obj files which would cause the problem you describe. A global "search and replace" in the .obj file would fix this quite easily. Just search for "Material #" and replace it with "Material_#", no? cheers, dr geep ;=]

Here is an example. I used a 3DS prop Enterprise 1701B model by Eric Peterson. I don't remember where I got this but it's an old file. Please Ignore the holes in the mesh this is just an example.

The top ship is the imported 3DS prop with 75 different materials the material names contain spaces. Poser had no problem with it.

The middle ship is the same prop exported from Poser as an OBJ and then re-imported. It now has only one material. As you see it lost all of its different colors.

The bottom ship is the result of using the work around on the same OBJ and MTL files used for the middle ship. It now has 75 materials again and looks identical to the original 3DS prop.

Hey, nice models Roy. Are they your creations? Hmmmmm???????? Now where to store this li'l titbit of info away so I don't lose it? cheers, dr geep <---------------------------------------[wanders away muttering to self] ;=]

No I didn't make them Geep, The readme that came with the file credits Eric Peterson. I wish I had his talent I just found the model on my hard drive and started Mucking around with it.

Yep the trick is to name all your materials in 3D max. If you export your obj, without, then Poser can't read the materials because of the space in the material name. You could easily work around this, by opening the obj in a text editor, and pulling all the spaces out.

What is odd is that Poser can import the Materials ok in 3ds format. But chokes when importing in OBJ format. Even when Poser itself is used to create the OBJ file.