Hmm, just to make sure:
Of course you donīt have to give the model exactly this action:
action model
{
my.material = shader_mat;
}
This was just a simple example. You can of course write many more lines of code into this action, which include your animation instructions ...
action model
{
my.material = shader_mat;
// many more instruction can be placed here ...

}
Cheers!