Mark, Importing .obj files from Rhino is no problem. Rhino meshes as quads and Carrara understands the uv mapping without any fideling [of pipes at least]. Most of my models are mechanical type things like brass fittings and aluminum extrusions and in my experience meshing doesn't always work well for 'square-ish' things with holes in them. All three of Rhino, TurboCAD, and Carrara have good .step import/export, which works well for 95% of these models. I previously tried the first three of your suggestions and the closest I came to correctly mapping the pipe was Flat Mapping with Ignore Normals checked. What that appears to do is break the pipe's uv map into a box and maps the pipe as if it has four unconnected or seperate sides rather than a continous circlular section. Close, but no dice. I'll keep at it ... thanks for all the help