Im a fan of Electric Image, its cheap fast and powerful. I use zaxwerks to model my illustrator
files. (click my head 🙂 to see the link to my demo reel if you care) I also am learning and using MAYA.
Otherwise, for a lot more money, mograph people seem to like C4d. Film people use Maya, Max and XSI a lot. I have used all except max and prefer Electric Image, free training videos and a lot more.
Combined with invigerator for modeling it can be a pretty nice combination.
Cinema is what I would choose if you were looking to work FOR someone. Tons of people use it, its just more expensive and more difficult to learn up front, but it plays well with after effects. Maya is probably the highest learning curve.
SuperNova
Animation & Visual Effects
Scott Novasic
Los Angeles Ca
web:https://web.mac.com/finaleffects