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Considering your future 3d work mentioned would be architecture, I would suggest 3ds max6. It is by far the best all round software for the needs that you stated. It also has exellent compatability with 'AUTOCAD' the most widely used 3d proffessional software in the world, and most other proffessional AUTODESK 3d software (about 20 of them). This is invaluable when working as with others people businesses. Despite what was stated above 3dsmax6 has awesome lighting and rendering abilities. Radiosity, Light tracing and the Mental-ray renderer give it the latest in technology and realism. The material editor is also well set up with real-life material presets built in. (They look and act as the real-life material would) Just remember once you start down the track of one software is is very hard to swap to another. Hope this helps You can see 3dsmax at work in my gallery here.