Simple ? animation request from new user

[peterbrian]

I have a hobby robot kit (Bioloid from Robotis) that comes with Motion Editor software that uses directX files to animate the robot while you program its motions. Robotis supplies directX files for their robot designs, but no tools for creating custom X files for user designed robots. They also have not been forthcoming with how the directX files have to be structured to work with their Motion Editor program (they have simply referred users to Microsofts Direct3D odcumentation).

I have been trying to make .X files for custom robots using XSI 6 Mod Tool. I have figured out how to create the custom robot shapes in a format that the Motion editor can open, but so far have not been able to figure out how to enable joint motion in these files. It may be something to do with the way I import the original directX file to XSI, or the way I create a new directX file from XSI. This conclusion is based on the observation that if I import an original .X file and re-export it without any other editing, I lose the joint flexibility. I have played around with directX import and export settings (Reverse UVs, Reorient Scene, Matrix Keys v SRT animation etc), but so far have not come up with a working combination.

I have several questions:

Can I use Mod Tool to understand how the joint flexibility is allowed in the original X files ?

Are there any tools that can directly read the X files and diagnose the way the file is structured, and what kind of info is in the file ?

Is there something I should be doing in editing the file to make the joint flexible (SRT settings etc) ?

Any other suggestions ?

I apologise if I've posted this message to the wrong thread. I'm a brand new user of Mod Tool and am trying to use it for this one, very specialized purpose. It's frustrating because I've come so close to making it work !

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Peter