export keyframe animation?

[sdg9]

I am teaching myself OpenGL using C++ and trying to import some custom meshes and textures into my own scene and world I created.  I played FF before and I though some superheroes would be fun to play with.  I have no problem with meshes or textures but I do not know how to handle keyframes.  I have been using the free 30 day trial for both autodesk 3ds max and milkshape 3d and I have nifskope.  I can take a .nif file and convert it into a different format that can be handled well by OpenGL but does anyone know of any ways to export keyframe data to another format as I won't be working with .nif files.  With the research I have done it seems like people can create meshes and animations in 3ds max and export them to .nif and .kf formats but I haven't seen anything that goes the other direction, from .nif and .kf to .3ds or some other format. 
Any help would be appreciated, I seem to have hit a dead end.

[GogglesPizanno]

I am not one of the 3D folks on the boards... so others will shed more light than I can, but...

As you indicated there are several options for getting a nif mesh out to other formats.
Keyframes unfortunately not (at least to my knowledge.)

You can create them from Max, you can manipulate them a bit once in kf format.
But going from kf back to some 3D package -- I don't think can be done.

Question I would ask, is that if this is just a learning exercise to teach yourself 3D programming stuff, wouldn't it be easier to just use the original Max Files for the FF characters that Irrational released -- I think you can still download them from Irrational's site. Even Milkshape comes with some Unreal template characters set up with skeletal systems I think. You could then export into whatever format you needed them in. It seems to me that trying to reverse engineer the nif/kf files just to get them into Max is counterproductive to your original goal. 

[sdg9]

Thanks I went onto the Freedom Force website and sure enough the MAX files are there.  It looks like they contain everything I need.  As of 2 days ago I hardly knew the difference between meshes and skins, I'm learning a lot quickly but have been going in circles the past several hours with attempting to convert mesh file types.  I appreciate you pointing me in a forward direction!

[GGiant]

You can't export keyframes, I know, I've tried. :P