Hello Claus! I am a Maya modeller, myself, but I started with and used Truespace for years. Truespace 6.6 is quite good (I still use it for much production work) and it costs $395.00 USD. Truespace 6.6 has a full set of polygon tools, a full set of NURBS tools, a somewhat primative subdivision surfaces toolset, and a reasonable particles set of functions, among other things - so it is quite well-rounded for the money. Plus a lot of other stuff, of course - typical things like common UV Mapping functions, arrays, and a very decent set of utilities. I found that there was a very natural progression from Truespace up to Maya, should you find that your ambitions grow in the future. (And, in fact, it was Truespace work in the end, that paid for Maya Unlimited.) Lightwave is also excellent. It costs more than Truespace, of course. While it is easier to use and has tons of excellent features - including great subdivision surface tools, it lacks NURBS features, as do most of the mid-range modelling tools. If Lightwave had been then what it is today, I would rather have started with it. So, if you are not quite sure of the kind of model-building toolsets you will find most useful to whatever work you decide to do, Truespace is a good option because of the array of tools it contains. One thing, if you think you may really be a model-builder, you should plan on acquiring something that costs between $400 and $1000. Otherwise, you may short yourself, and end up spending money over and over again.