I was just curious if (SimpleScene) reached the level where a 3D model formatted in obj (but made in any 3D software) could be imported into it.
Yes. It loads static models in wavefront OBJ/MTL, or animated skeletons in MD5Mesh (in a branch, but will me in master soon)
It renders those models with diffuse, specular, and emissive (glow) maps. Bump mapping is not done yet.