Actually, from what I've seen, Maya is simply the most overpriced program in existence. Either every pro who uses it on Renderosity and the satellite sites is an autistic 6-year-old who can't texture, model, or use render filters, or you're buying something that works almost, buit not quite, as well as TrueSpace for only a few thousand more bucks. LightWave, now, that's WORTH the price. 3DS MAX would be worth as much or more, in my opinion. Carrara and RDS, put together, kick ass. All of these solutions cost a fraction of what Maya does, and have one teensy little feature Maya doesn't, that makes it all worth while. They. Work.
Naow, if you wanna good free modeler, go abandonware or don't[/color]. If you want a half-assed one, or the pigs are just waiting to bust ya, go TS1. If you're both rich and stupid, go buy a Lamborghini and use it off-road. But kids, stay off Maya. Do it for your computer, so it doesn't lose the hard disk space. Do it for your future as a 3D modeler, so you aren't blackmailed years from now with some abomination you squeaked out after weeks of work in Maya. But most of all, do it for me, so I won't have to go in and say "I told you so" 500 times when people come back bearing paltry POS renders and complaints. Oh, and do it for the Gipper, because I'm avoiding doing actual real work right now.
