If you're looking to learn and create 3D, I'd highly recommend heading over to dvgarage.com. They have some great deals on their 3D Toolkit, in which you get a functioning version of Electric Image Universe 4.0 (only limitation is not being able to use external plugins). The best part is that this comes with some great tutorials to teach you 3D, which would be useful if you don't know anything.
I bought the 3D Toolkit and found it to be a great package. I think it is around $199 now, but look around and see what you think. They have a 30 day trial version you can download along with some of the initial tutorials to see what you think.
-Elektrix
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