AGK uses this lib:
http://www.assimp.org/main_features_formats.html
Maybe you find something in the documentation.
EDIT:
At least the ms3d format can be parsed with material groups.
I think this is as near as we can come without proper fragment shader implementation.
It may be easier to parse the .FBX or .DAE format, because they are human- readable.
The specs of the ms3d format can be found here:
http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/ms3d/ms3dspec.h
The .OBJ format is not a good format.
It's very limited and has not much to offer.
I had a very good experience with the ms3d format, as it worked from the first minute without any problems.
Although there are some features like 8 texture UV maps, that are (
afaik) only available though .fbx or .dae.
Greetings,
Jack