@gorman: maybe a wallet full of cash

i think Cinema4D is better then blender or 3DSMax cause its way easier to work with, but it lacks the physics engine though, so i got Cinema4D and 3DSMax, but i prefer making 3D stuff in Cinema4D

People buy shareware? WTF

Damn yust relized my pc cant handle 3ds max
So thats the end of that

3DS max or Maya

Blender cus it is fee.

Um Wats the Link to "Download" Blender? lol

blender3d.org

while youre downloading check out

yofrankie.org too

come on, why would you start learning with max or blender

go with cinema 4d, much easier to start off with and get good results, then make your way to max once you have a better pc, there is a significant learning curve when it comes to max and blender, compared to cinema 4d, which is pretty much the easiest to pick up

although any is really a good start if you know all your shortcuts.

in general tho it depends on what you need to do

advanced animations are more possible with 3ds max, especially with plugins, the cinema 4d volumetric rendering engine for particles isn't that good compared to the one that you get for max called afterburn

cinema 4d is much simpler to set up beautiful still frame renders of interiors etc, with max it requires, ALOT, of tinkering, and probably vray lol

blender, I don't know too much about, tried to learn it once, and even after learning c4d and max, still can't get a grip on the controls of it. so your better off with max or c4d.

or better yet, go with wings 3d free and easy, not really for rendering tho ;p