single mesh - multiple bones (max 5 and art tools)

Hallo,
im trying to create some basic animation, so far its going well but all the tutorials i found only illustrate how i create meshs with single bones (with linking the bone to the mesh), what i need to know is how i make an animation with two or more bones deforming one single editable mesh

im using max 5.0 and the art tools, i created a simple basic stick with 5 segments and 2 bones in it, when it gets killed its supposed to simply bend in the middle, nothing more for the test

when i kill the stick the bones do the movements, but alone without the mesh, i almost always get "couldnt load "name".mdl" when placing the new unit on the map but sometimes it doesnt seem to matter, another thing i find strange is that i have to add a material and uvwmaps to the bones

ive attached the mdx and blp that max created

any ideas?

thanks in advance, Narf :)

are you sure you made the bones to real bones? uing the property editor?

? i assume you mean the property editor of the dexporter? well i was hoping that i can use the normal dxf-export function of max 5 itself (which was implemented by the art tools), shouldnt that work as well?