A new version of the 3DS Max exporter is now available on the exporter downloads page, this version includes a good many fixes and enhancements from earthquakeProof. The exporter allows you to export fully animated meshes from 3DS to OGRE.
The export path is via XML (which handily allows you to read and potentially edit the exported data), and this download includes a precompiled version of OGRE’s XMLConverter.exe which allows you to turn the XML into binary .mesh and .skeleton files for use in runtime applications.