Basically, I was wondering if there is a way to convert files from Inventor Professional 8 (or 10) to 3Ds Max 7? I’ve found it much easier to make precision models of things (like our robot for example) in Inventor but I prefer the animation abilities of 3Ds Max 7 (Version 8 doesn’t work for us on our older PCs). Is there anything that would allow these to be converted so they’re compatible? 
Yes, if you have inventor installed on that computer you can import the ipt or iam files straight to 3dsm.
Go to file, import, and import the inv. Now sometimes this does not get the quality you are looking for. If you want high quality versions you can save your inventor files as igs and import them into 3ds, where they will become nurbs surfaces.
That is how it works on 3dsm 8, 9 and Autodesk VIZ 07 from Inventor 11. Not sure about 3dsm 7 and Inventor 8 o’ 10.
Also, if you export inventor files as an .stl, you can import them into 3dsmax 6
