If your going to buy a 3d software, it is by far the easiest out there to learn.
Ignore the max/maya/xsi fanboys.
Those software are taught in schools, so they can afford to be convoluted GUI messes because some yahoo who got paid to learn it is teaching you.
Most big studios actually invest money into schools to teach this stuff so they can pump out little Autodesk robots that can piss around working on one thing for months when you could realistically do it in LW in a fraction of the time.
They are impossible to learn on your own, and price prohibitive because they think just because movie studios and big game companies use them, they can offer they're software for the bargain prices ($3600, minimum, lol) that they do (lots of stuff has been done with LW, they just don't brag, like Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Life After People, for instance).
No one owns these things unless it's 1. An academic copy, which you can't legally use for anything, or 2. It's warezed, which isn't legal either.
I challenge any user of these to admit what version they have.
I would lay money on the fact that 75% are illegal.
If you can barely cobble a 200 poly object together in Max, you didn't pay for it, period.
No one drops that kind of coin to piss around in software they can't use worth a damn.
I personally became proficient in Lightwave in about a year.
If you are a half assed artist such as myself, you can too.
If not, it won't matter what software you use, go back to digging ditches or pumping sewage or whatever you do in your real life.
Bottom line, if you are going to invest in 3d software, LW has the quickest learning curve and the cheapest price. It is just as good or better in some respects to the competitors, without the smugness.
I know the 30 day trial is no where near long enough time to evaluate, but take advantage of it.
In fact, I'm going to step up and say it, get a warez copy and try it for six months to a year.
That's what I did, and then I shelled out.
I don't care what anybody says, you can't evaluate complicated software like any 3d stuff in a month, unless you do it for a living....
You will have others come on here and preach the virtues of max, maya, or xsi, but, if you've done your research, that has what brought you to LW.
Ignore them and carry on. LW has one of the best modeling utilities on the market, and even though they are combining the two with Lightwave Core to appeal to the Autodesk crowd (why, I'll never know), you can still get 9.6 which is excellent (I have it).
Your other option is to get a free modeling app, and most of them don't have an animating app.
Don't let users of these fool you either.
They are free for a reason.
All of that aside, there are others such as Modo, which I hear is really good for modeling as well.
Don't know, never tried it, don't need to. That doesn't mean you shouldn't.
Want to know more about Lightwave?
http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/index.phpEdit to add:
I agree with cysphere, FBX is crap.
Problem is GC and everyone jumps on this thing because Autodesk uses it, and the majority of lemmings use it, so in turn, it makes sense for them to use it to hit the highest possible user base.
Good business move, but like most good business moves, it stinks.
