GMax was quite an interesting commercial venture. They took the basic modeller section out of Max, and left out all the complex rendering stuff. Made it pretty much useless for the big boys, but ideal for just modelling.

Then, to get it out into the hands of the users, they made it 100% free. But...unable to export ANY format, and only save in it's unique, native 'gmax' format.

Then...you license plugins to major game producers who are looking to support a big mod-community. When I was last properly involved with the commercial aspect of this, the plugin license was around $10,000+ depending on the work needed and the estimated volume. The game sellers pack up a copy of the plugin on their disc, and you can produce an instant model all ready to go. It doesn't appear to have caught on bigtime though. The price of the plugin puts it out of the realms of most small selling titles. You need to sell a lot of extra units on the back of this to justify the cost.

Anyway...it would be good for everyone if another modeller could be pursuaded to export CAS files. Max is a tricky tool to learn for the novice, and really must put off a lot of people who would otherwise be modelling right now! Something like Milkshape 3D, Blender, or maybe the new version of Zmodeller if it supports proper skeletal structures