Thanks electroglyph, but that sort of stuff is a bit beyond me at the moment.

If you work on games as projects like you do then I can uderstand why you need to know all that stuff.  I'm just a total newbie to this though, that's why I'm using FPSCreator;
its easy but VERY powerful.

Easy...apart from this animated .x I mean.

bikermouse, I'm wondering now if there's any utility that allows you to load in standard "grouped" 3D objects, define how they are to be animated, and then output in an animated .x format.  After all this, I'm starting to think maybe that's gonna be the case here.  I hope it doesn't mean I'm gonna have to shell-out for 3DSMax - because there's no effin' way I'm going to - lol

As for not guessing from my link - here are some that will take you streight to the product and demo.

The LIMITED demo can be downloaded here :
http://files2.thegamecreators.com/fpscreator/FPSCreatorV1_Demo.zip

The main website for this product can be found here :
http://www.fpscreator.com

I can tell you all now, this product is INCREDIBLE and I TOTALLY want to take it to bed with me.

cough

The FPSCreator is TOTALLY customisable, that's what rocks about it, because it has 'hidden' power by using custom scripts on every aspect.  You should download it and check-out it's scripting abilities detailed in the manual.  My guess is, you'll probably need something to wipe away the drool - seriously!

Len. (Major thanks to Erlik, who pointed this thing out to me in the first place).

It's like my '3D Construction Kit' days have been reborn - I LOVE IT!

The wait can be horrific, but the outcome can be worse - pumeco 2006