I have read quite a number of topics on both Unity Forum and here on Answers related to importing fbx files. Unfortunately, I have been unable to figure out what I need to understand. Here is a simple example of what causes me grief: I upload a *.dae file to animeeple and apply one (or more) of their free animations to it. Then, since I paid the $50 for the animeeple fbx exporter, I can export both the mesh and the animation. These come into Unity just fine. However, the rotation on the model is "wrong", i.e. the model is laying on its side. Various attempts to fix it have failed. For example, simply rotating the model merely means that it will revert to a bad rotation when animations begin to play. Trying the trick of parenting the model to an empty game object do not work, and I have seen other users say the same thing. Some of my reading has lead me to believe that this is a well-known problem and that I am simply not going to see a fix on how Unity imports some fbx files until Unity 3.0 comes out.
This issue is causing me some angst. 
And, I would truly appreciate knowing the
actual scoop so thatI can either fix my problem or just get on with my life and re-examine
it when Unity 3.0 is announced. Any light you can shed for me would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks very much.
–rmbunity