I'm not sure recommending Lightwave for an introduction to animation is a good idea. In exploring the web I have often read posts by Lightwave users in which they state that animation in Lightwave is very difficult. These users almost always state that they use Animation:Master for animation. $199 @ http://www.hash.com/tele/order.html The primary reasons for recommending Carrara are interface similarity to Poser, and a renderer that, while not as good as that of Lightwave, will give Maya's renderer, even for the most current version, which is good enough that many Maya users who used to render in Lightwave, now settle for rendering native in Maya, a run for the money. My recommendation for low end is: Start with Animation:Master and Poser 4, then add Carrara 2.0 and the pack that adds particle systems, such as fur. For a bit higher end: Lightwave 5.6 plus upgrade to Lightwave 7.5 (with free upgrade to Lightwave 8) $499 @ http://www.sharbor.com/products/NTKN0300065.html with Animation:Master plus Poser 4 plus Pro Pack. Poser 4 and Pro Pack are $89.99 each @ http://www.outpost.com/