KeyShot object name problem

I never had much luck importing .obj files into Houdini, regardless if the objects within the file where "o"(objects) or "g"(groups). You would be better to export from Nvil as Callada(dae), which Houdini will automatically split(into separate objects) and keep any applied materials.

Steve, even though Wavefront format is inefficient and obsolete, I prefer to use it when feeding Houdini with geometry, because Collada import (via File->Import) creates way too many unnecessary OBJ and SOP nodes, which I don't need when all I want is a raw geo import from NVil.
Also, importing Collada with a file SOP is a little bit awkward. It imports only the first object and I'd need to write a script to scan through the file and pick the rest of them for import. It crashed Houdini more than once too.

Generally speaking, I find NVil->Wavefront OBJ (with group names)->Houdini pipeline cleaner and easier to control.