Well you said hobbiest so that points in some direction. MayaPLE and Lightwave discovery are both limited versions of the full blown applications so becareful. limits to modeling points render sizes watermarks etc. They are really geared to let you use the tools learn and then purchase ultimately the full applications which lightwave is about $1200 and Maya around $1800. One of the recent 3d magazines had Carrara on the CD full application. while Carrara version on the CD is the buggy one, it's interface is similar to bryce and poser and might get you started quicker just playing around. Wing3D is a very robust modeler and quite impressive for a FREE application, I know a lot of lightwave, max and posers users that do their modeling in that application. Remember as you are playing with all these demos and trying them out that there is a price tag and that particular program that you fall in love with may very well be over $1000. Nothing like loving a Mercedes, but can you really afford one haha.