i think you are wrong !

i played with torque demo :

you have an animated model :
and with a cursor in a bar you can move in realtime it
and have real time LOD : there aren't any fixed LOD :
the LOD is done in real time according to your cursor position !

Try the demo of Torque !

well ; i maintain it :
a function do precalculate LOD would be cool !

but i don't know how do others engines like Far cry with LOD ?
i think i will try Far Cry LOD to see how it works for them :
-integrated function to precalculate LOD Models ?
-real time LOD ?
-standard way : we have to give ourselves the diffrents LOD ?