I'm looking for something easy for text kinda like Elefont, but with a little more control, one that lets you round out the letter and what not.

Attached Link: http://www.ulead.com/cool3d/runme.htm

Ulead's Cool 3D might work for that.

let me rephrase...i also need to be able to export it as a .3ds or .obj

You might be able to do that with the text in Wings3D. But it'll involve some work on your part to make it look right. Not exactly instant or easy beveled or rounded text.

I would think Wings is as easy as anything. You're basically importing splines and converting to polys which has a tendency to get messy. I'd set it up to get as low a poly count as you can while keeping the shape of the text. That way you have less work sorting out the mesh. Once you're happy with the layout of the polys select all of the front and back faces and hit L. This will select all the edges that define the edges so that you can bevel, extrude or whatever to set the hardness after smoothing. - Baz

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com

I've done text in Wings (quite recently, in fact)..I've found that sometimes, especially with sans serif fonts, that just smoothing it once will make for a better appearance. Once you've got the actual model, you have all the controls for it that you do in the other primitives..and it's free..