To add to Mike's response about the tools of the modeller, Lightwave and Max also have integrated animation tools to unite modelling and animation as many forget that animation and modelling are worked almost in unison with one another as animators must often go back to the modellers of modelling themselves to correct an arrangement of polygons or reset a morph so that when the deformation takes place, it gives the desired result. This is true for most high-end software. To go into production and have one without the other is asking for trouble before the project even gets off the ground. That is why you will find that most high-end packages ie: Maya, Lightwave, Softimage, Houdini, Cinema 4D, Max, etc... These pieces of software not only host a great deal of robust tools for modelling, but also for animation, programming and mathematical alogithms to achieve the goals of the user. You could say, the more autonomy the program gives you, the better it is.