Best method to import / load OBJ files with custom plugin? (SDK)

Hi gang;

I am developing a plugin that will apply an effect from a 3D OBJ model.

I thought After Effects could import OBJ files as it does so on my production machine. I can simply drag and drop any OBJ model into the media panel. However, I've just noticed on my development machine, which doesn't have many third party plugins, it doesn't allow me to import OBJ files. This is a surprise to me that it is not natively supported. I suppose my productions machine allows OBJ import through one of the installed third party plugins. And yes, I know OBJ import is in the forthcoming beta but that's a different topic.

Anyway, I went through all the work of using AEGP to get the file path of the footage item with the intention that I could import the OBJ file, drop it into my comp, point to the layer from my plugin, retrieve the file path, and then load the data I need. Naturally, this won't work. So now I don't know how to allow the user to access an OBJ file.

Is there another option? Does it need to be loaded using a file prompt? I haven't come across any examples of file prompts on this forum or the SDK.

Is there any other workflow I'm missing that I should be considering for importing / loading OBJ files to work with them?

Thanks,

-Richard