I haven't got Truespace yet, but I heard that it was not necessary for building FS2 ships if you have another 3D program.
This is the graphics software I have installed:
3D Studio max 4.26
Paint Shop Pro 7.02
Photoshop 6.5
3D Exploration 1.83
On a side note, what FS-related programs do you all have? This is my collection:
ANIBuilder32 1.0 B2
ANIView32 1.1
Alliance FS2 kit - POF Constructor Suite 1.101
Alliance FS2 kit - VP Constructor Suite
CampEdit32 1.0 B1c
Freespace Mission Manager 2.11
MVEExtract32 1.0 B2
ModelView32 1.0 B4b
Cob2Pof / WCob2FS2 (these two are seperate programs but I think they run off the same shell)
Pof2Cob 0.9
PilotView32 1.0 B1b
Segeltuch 0.34
VPView32 2.0 B4
Those Descent Manager programs are really good; they are powerful, stable and have a very professional appearance.
It would be great if HH could release a new version of ModelView that could edit the other chunks of pof data...