Funny, no one mentioned Rhino as a modeler tool. It's a great program, honestly. I've tried a few others down at school and just couldn't get the hang of them. Rhino is kinda the "get your feet wet" it's not a great renderer, but there's always Flamingo for that. For a few hundred bucks, IMHO, Rhino is definitly worth it if you're just going to be doing Props for other apps (like Poser or Bryce) I've used Lightwave and 3DS at school and the learning curve is a hell of a lot steeper than Rhino's is. But get the downloads and see which one works for YOU. It's not a matter of what other's use, it's what clicks for you that counts. Demo's are a definite upside.

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