Yes. Actually what is later on included in the “animation file” (which will be generated by the Add-On) is a simple list of positions and rotations of this parts over time vs the origin.
Yes. You need to create a skeleton which includes the "starting points* of your parts.
I will have to put some love into the tool as I did not test it for a while (neither with the last build of Blender, nor of Stonehearth).