"relatively inexpensive" brings to mind Silo and Hexagon. Silo, from nevercenter.com, had a habit of making obj files bigger than they needed to be. Don't know if they've fixed that. The support and response to customer requests from the Silo people is impressive. I really admire those guys. Hexagon, from eovia.com, is gaining converts as well. Both have 30 day uncrippled demos available. At the end of the day good-ole-Wings (free) is still my favorite though. I can work very fast with Wings, but that's very subjective territory.