Ahm i believe there is various little programs out there to animate 3d models...
Heck you can create your own model animator in DBP... i believe this was done already within DBC, cannot remember the name of it though...
I previously used 3DS Max 7.0 to animate my models so as long as you export them as .X or .3DS then it should work fine
Try out Anim8or for modeling i've found it VERY easy to use, for freeware at least
. Only downfall is you cannot animate the models within Anim8or so you'll have to turn to 3ds max or some other animating/modeling software package.
Hope that anwsers your question