Easier / scriptable export workflow?

Hey all -

I’ve been experimenting with Blender (2.49b) as a platform for modeling & texturing meshes for games - been able to export models / scenes / animations fairly successfully, but the workflow seems pretty cumbersome and I’m wondering if there’s a better way.

My basic workflow is:

Blender: modeling & UV mapping ----- Collada 1.4 export ----->
FX Composer 2.5: lighting & shader development ----- FBX export ----> XNA platform for programming, etc.

I’d love to be able to make quick tweaks in Blender to a model, and hit a key to export to Collada / XNA with some preconfigured settings, rather than having to click File, scroll down a big list of items, Export submenu, another big list, Collada 1.4, maximize the script panel so I can see the UI, then click Export, and minimize the panel again. On some exporters the settings even reset each time, so I have to go through and set every button how I want, and navigate back to the paths where my exported assets go each time - which is crazy cumbersome if I’m going to do any serious development with it.

Is there any kind of “quick export” feature available, or if I were to dig into python scripting a bit would I be able to cook something like that up?

Thanks in advance -

-Luke

Found a good Collada solution - can keep a script panel open with that export script - but the FBX script pops up its own “modal” window so if anyone has clues on that (or blender UI repetitive-task scripting in general) let me know.