maya is amazing, its well worth the time it takes to learn. I took classes at CCS {center for creative studies)in detroit earlier this year. Well worth $1200 just for the ten week class. If I now had access to Maya I was take full advantage! its is the best program out there, just undiscovered. Expect a lot to come from it in the future. Maya with the "fur" plugin is around $17 grand, I beleive. correct me if I'm not