Well I''m not an expert or anything, but 3DS Max is very popular for game graphics. I''ve played around with lightwave which is also nice though I''m not sure how it for games. Maya is a close runner-up I''d say to 3DS max. In the end it will probably come down to your needs and what you find most comfortable.

Down load Gmax from discreet for free and play with that for a few days. Although it dose not import/export, and it is only low poly it is basically the same as 3dmax. If you think you are getting on well with it, go with 3dmax.

forget truespace, it´s still got too many flaws and inadequacies to make it useful for games.

MAX will probably be the way to go, it has most of everything you´ll need and is not too expensive. It is also one of the most widely used systems, so you´ll find a lot of people willing to help if you run into problems. Also there are a lot of books around.

If you can spare the cash you should go for Maya. It´s the most complete and powerful 3d graphics package I have seen so far, especially the new release has some extremely powerful tools which make low poly modelling and texturing a lot easier and faster than it used to be.
It also has an excellent API, is highly flexible (much more so than MAX) and you can even use it for prototyping.
The downside is that it is *very* expensive. There are three different versions available, Builder (the basic modelling and texturing package), Complete (most of everything you´ll need) and Unlimited (Physics simulation, Cloth, Fur, etc.). I´m not sure about the price, but Maya Builder is around 8000 Euro per license (one computer), Maya Unlimited costs much more than that.

Bzzzt! You''re all wrong.

The only correct answer is to buy whatever package your artist is most comfortable with and can be most productive in!

Duh.

quote:Original post by Pyabo
Bzzzt! You''re all wrong.

The only correct answer is to buy whatever package your artist is most comfortable with and can be most productive in!

Duh.

That''s essentially what cenuij said.

Duh.

trying to avoid going broke is also an important factor. artists are flexible, they have to make do whith what´s there.