Free 3D Software

Blender is another widely known 3d modeling and animation tool.  Visit blender3d.com/cms/Home.2.0.html

blender is NOT for the faint hearted or for noobs. infact, i'd rather recommend 3dsMAX7 or 8 for beginners. blender has a wicked interface, lots of obscure tweaks and a particularly vexing material renderer. and the spline tools? don't even let me start on that! sure its free, open source and written in friendly python but definitely not for beginners.

how about 3d canvas? i started on that before giving anim8tor a whiz and it really laid the foundation for me. as for anim8tor well its cool if u are learning the basics of modelling and low-rez rendering but after a while its just too limiting. in the beginning it wasnt easy because i was armed with lots of surreallistic ideas of scenery and i failed woefully to model even the remotest semblance of recognizable landscapes.maybe my problem was i started with the noobie mindset of hoping to create photorealistic pixar-like images but i realize that when learning 3D its best to think small and start modelling basic objects like cups, plates etc. now ive outgrown anim8tor, thankfully, and im into 3dsMAX (love it) and i love its plugins. im thinking of trying out lightwave sha, because im picking rave reviews on it.
incidentally is there anyone here good on animation, particularly Inverse Kinematics? I NEED HELP!!!

thanks a lot damseremie, will do.