"I can't ever get that bending tool in Anim8tor to work..." Ha, you're not the only one! Look around and see if you can find a copy of a program called "Simply 3D." Not dial oriented necessarily but the "easiest" modeling program I've seen. There's probably something out there that works the way you want, they're only a jillion modeling programs out there.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken