Hi Ashley

Maya has a personal learning edition that is fully functional and free to download.
3d studio max has a 30 day demo version.  Lightwave also has a 30 day demo.

When you feel you are ready,  e mail me at    chieftanoclan7@sbcglobal.net  and we'll go through the process with the next figure in the plain folk line.  Plain Elaine.

Also,  when Jane is completed I'll be posting kind of a bibliography in the developers forum of all the books,  videos, and people that have helped me over the years.

In the meantime checkout the 3d modelling forum here at Renderosity and the 3d modelling forum at www.cgtalk.com 

Cheers
Patorak