So I see from the FBX documentation of Houdini [www.sidefx.com] that it supports import of texture assignments (like specular, ambient textures and normal maps), but not the export. Seems a bit bizarre that it works only one-way. Is there a workaround for this?

Good export is at the moment the major thing holding me back from using Houdini in my indie-project. I need DAE-files - but that support doesn't seem to exist at all. I could go with FBX if I can get them into Maya and then export there, but the material/texture assignment is missing.
Any other format that could help me? Maybe via the Houdini engine for Maya? How would I have to set up materials and textures so they work in Maya then?