Ermmm... I know this depends on the situation of the user,
but can anybody please compare those softwares for me?

I heard that Maya is easier in animating models,
3D Studio Max makes modelling very easy,
and Lightwave is good in texturing and rendering...

I'm currently learning lightwave though they say it's already a dying software...
I chose it since I got impressed with its ray-tracing & radiocity rendering ability...
(though I'm not sure whether could mental-ray achieve that standard or not...)
plus I like to make still pictures more than animated pictures,
lightwave satisfied me with its realistic renders...

just want to get more information of the other softwares,
wondering my decision is right or wrong...
and I heard MMU teaches Maya, I'm going to that university...

I see... thanks all......
I might try 3Ds Max or Maya then...
but I'll still continue lightwave...
they're not much different,
have to use the same method to make model too,
just the terms and some ways of controls are not the same...

well, as I know you've made a correct choice since Maya is good in animating... but do remember, a movie production is not a solo job... it requires a large group of crews working on each category of the movie production, like modelling, animating, layout designing, sound editing, music composing, finalizing, marketing etc...

yup, unlike Lightwave, it depends very much on its plug-ins...

hmmm... Lightwave 8 (8.0 - 8.3, I don't know about 8.5) is more buggy than 3Ds Max I guess... 'coz after Lightwave 7.5, the programmers have changed, that's why I kept using Lightwave 7.5...