Michael,

You're right. Newtek isn't great about stuff like that.

You're probably aware that Lightwave 3D is essentially two distinct programs - modeller and layout.

In Modeller you create objects and in layout you create scenes using those objects.

The instances in LW aren't cloning the point data for objects, they are taking an object as a pattern and laying out nulls in the scene that are replaced during render time with the point and surface data associated with the template object. It's essentially collapsing the scene file size and reducing the render overhead by only instantiating objects where the instance is part of the visible scene.

As a lapsed LWer (my version of LW pre-dates instancing) I wouldn't expect MOI3D to be building instances in the LW sense. Instances don't exist in the object sense, only essentially as markers in a scene for object replication at render time.

[edit: Also I'm not even sure that you can merge LW scenes, so even a template scene with the correct LW style instances may be of little use in practical terms. ]

Paul