Best 3D modeling program???

[Sith Vicious]

I am a teacher at a local college and I am able to get edu prices for Maya, 3DSMax Lightwave etc. So... I was wondering what would my fellow JKII enthusiasts and modelers would recommend? The learning curve is not a big issue. I have decent hardware too so that is also not an issue. I am interested in doing character modeling, skinning and animation. Maybe some maps as well. Thx

[sithlord-II]

for characters and such i would personally recommend 3d studio max as it seems to be one of the benchmarks the industry uses... alot of 3d games use 3d studio for its characters and animation so it only follows if you want to make something for those games, you should use the same tools