You are right Ventilator !
And in Blender for animation : IK Solver is so so so powerfull !
Good options it has , and allows you to animate very smoothly and quicly :
you only move the foot or hand and all other bones are rotated naturally
I can't get back ot old softawre
Blender is POWERFULL, FREE : It is just GREAT !
I wait for Blender 2.5 , and perhaps i'll make a complete tutorial on making an animated character for A7 !