JM, I just spoke a friend, lots of ZB experience, though he’s not sure about this, it being less relevant to his workflow for 3D printing. In any event, I see the pref in the Zplugin> FBX Export/Import for MayaUp, which is Y-up. This would seem to indicate that leaving it disabled defaults to Z-up, begging the question why a Z-up FBX from RC (if that’s indeed the case) would import appearing on its side. Nick claims the default perspective in ZB is “looking down the barrel of Z”, that is a top view, this because of the 2.5 D nature of ZB, an artist looking down on an artboard. This would also be like plan view for an architect. If this is the case, that would explain the behavior we’re seeing. A good test would be to export a Y-up FBX from Maya, import it under both settings, see if that’s consistent with this understanding. Nick claims there’s a pref setting to control the default camera/perspective.
What still doesn’t make sense, if RC and ZB are both Z-up, and if OBJ doesn’t record up-axis into the file, why would an OBJ from RC drop in with different up-axis than the FBX, you’d think with no up-axis needing changing the absence of a recorded up-axis would allow the default Z-up world to pass through to ZB. Have you posted this issue or question on the Pixilogic forum?