Wings and the Editable poly tool in 3D Studio MAX are both very similar to the workflow that was once found in Mirai (the program Bay Raitt swears by to this day, I hear ;) Wings, however, is a hell of a lot less expensive than MAX :D. I haven't played with it's subdivision capabilities much, but I'm assuming that it can be used to yield amazing control meshes for use in other appliations, as Michael has proved with the MilCat. :)