I have tried conv3ds with limited success: mesh but no animations. The most successful attempts have been with using the plugin for Max, but that also falls apart on certain models.

Mike Lischke's Opener program is the basis for the work I'm currently doing. I've stripped out quite a bit and added the framework for the 'film' and the 'frames'. I've verified some of the data that it strips out of the 3DS files, and I'm currently analyzing it. The other programmer is tackling it from another angle: the lib3ds project on sourcefourge. But, he tells me he's starting to have hard drive problems.

Mike has a section where he tries to build a keyframe scene but it just doesn't work for the models I'm using. So, I'm thinking he's somehow stacking the operations incorrectly. Or, there are more op branches that he has not anticipated.

Thanks to everybody for their replies and insights.