Hello Juggernaut,
The most of the 3D characters are constructed from a one mesh and from several limbs (also known as bones). The bones form the skeleton which moves the mesh. Each of these bones affects on certain amount of mesh vertices. If you rotate or move a bone (limb), the corresponding mesh vertices are rotated or moved. In this way we can create animations of the character.
If the character has a mesh and a skeleton, and bones are assigned to vertices, then the character is rigged and ready to animate. For example all characters from FPSC model packs are rigged.
But if our character has only a mesh, we need to create a skeleton and assign bones to vertices - this is called rigging.
Good rigging is not easy, you can do it in 3D editors like 3dsMax, Blender, Milkshape or Fragmotion.
If your character is rigged you can use ANIMER to animate.
About ANIMER:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=206187&b=21
Rafhalzer
ANIMER - Character Animations Editor.
Edit and create your own animations of FPSC characters.
Supports DirectX and DBO formats.