Yskonyn ... i'd find something called Unwrapper (not Lithunwrap) as it works in a similar way to ChilliSkinner which allows you to setup your own mesh deformation areas
so say you have a box, rather than it just trying to unwrap everything of the box and then having to patch it all together you simply burst the box into the sides put 4 together and then weld the edges... et voila unfolds like a dice which is far easier to work with (^_^)
could even use ChilliSkinner itself if you grab a copy of
Gmax 1.2 and
ChilliSkinner for Max 4 you can import as 3DS, then export as MD3 and reimport into milkshape to animate
one of the easiest and most flexible ways to map i've used in years (^_^) - well apart from Maya's/trueSpace's Tucow Mapper
as for the animation just make it in Milkshape as its better that way ... for professional combine all of your model into a single mesh/group and just animate normally.
for Standard/Enhanced then cut the model into sections and use the joints as if they're Axis points for rotation and assign each one to a single mesh/group then animate
export both using JT DirectX 8.1 Exporter
Tsu'va Oni Ni Jyuuko Fiori Sei Tau!
One block follows the suit ... the whole suit of blocks is the path ... what have you found?
