[KARMA]

don't forget also 3deploration, for format conversions, iirc there should be a downloadable copy on the reciprocity site

this is maya ... http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services/maya/index.shtml mm i've seen that they have a learning edition wich is very cheap (if not free? I haven't seen where to download), could be worth a try, but unfourtunately it can only save on a strange fileformat, not used by 3dexploration

this is xsi instead http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/v3/ and i've just seen that they have a free old version, called xsi-exp, wich I'm going to download tomorrow:)

[Killfrenzy]

Word of warning:

DON'T USE MAYA UNLESS YOU HAVE AN UBER-PC!!

The processor/memory requirements are very high!!

[Liberator]

Note that both Maya PLE and softImage EXP require Windows 2000 or higher to install and use.