C4D is a great app, but the basic product is weak at character animation. You'll need to spring another 4 or 500 bucks for the MOCCA module if you want to polish up that end of the app. It's also great for rendering, err, if you wanna spend another 4 or 500 bucks for that module. hehe. I think it's the easiest of the biggies to learn. Nice clean interface, good documentaion and almost never crashes. Others might disagree, though. There's another product called Animation Master that is wonderful for character animation. It's only $250 to $300 bucks and you won't need any plugins. It uses spline/patch modeling, though, which drives some of us nuts when we're accustomed to working with polys. Down side to Animation Master is that because of its proprietary (I think) patch models interoperability with other apps can be an ordeal. I love A:M though. There are some pros that you'll see posting on various 3d forums who work with Maya, Max or Lightwave in their jobs, but do their personal stuff in A:M. Good luck in your quest in the massive swirling vortex of info, opinion and confusion that is 3d graphics and animation ;)