The 3 biggies outside of inhouse custom software are Maya, XSI (Somewhat the reincarnation of SoftImage) and 3D Studio Max... although the later is probably the only one an amateur artist could realistically afford (And it's still a pretty steep price).

Maya is more famous for overall animation production for feature films, such as Ice Age I believe. Square Enix has also used Maya extensively in their games in the past. It is an extremely adaptable and versatile application, once you get past the ever present 3D learning curve.

XSI has been the modelers application of choice, and has been more inclined to working in games than full features. It has a different interface than Maya, but basically, the two are arch rivals and overlap quite a bit of ground. There are differences of course in potential capability, but you would have to be pretty advanced to clearly notice them.

3DS Max is more of the economical, more available software of choice... You can still do some pretty amazing things with it, and it has had a promising track record, and has often been the 3D software of choice when creating Mods for games, such as in Morrowind.

Getting a full license for any professional level 3D application costs you a lot of cash respectively, but in the case that you would have to pick one and money wasn't an issue, I'd say go with Maya (Think it's up to versions 6.0 Unlimited). I've had very good experiences with it, and it has a very good track record. When I do get the go to work with it, it's basically my "Main Gun" of 3D applications.

For a more specialized information, I recommend posting on http://www.cgtalk.com/, the people there live and breath this kind of stuff and will give you a very detailed rundown from many different angles (They might also generally a bit aggressive mind you, as with all large forums, and this question is probably frequently asked, so be a little careful .

[ 01-12-2004: Message edited by: Zephos ]

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www.xynthica.com

However while they are pretty good for learning the programs, they do have their limitations.
Its especial hard if you want your work out of the intended program/game and into another.

A nice alternative to buying the big stuff or using the cut down versions is Blender.
It is an opensource 3d program and seems to be quite a good piece of software (I gonna learn it in the near future).
The interface might be weird in the beginning, but they have some video tutorials on their website explaining it rather well.

Keep one thing in mind Like photoshop these programs are just tools they dont make good models, thats your job and to get to that point you have to learn quite alot of things.

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Wer nicht vom Meister lernt, lernt nie etwas.

I think I'm downloading blender. i think. and I also think that i am doing to much thinking. i think.