3D - 2

What is the best 3D Program for animation to be used for making movies?

I am very serious about making movies and although I have made some good movies using After Effects and all, I'm ready to expand my knowledge and get into animation. I've heard of a bunch of 3D Programs such as Milkshape and Autodesk 3D Max. What's the best stuff available for a budget under $1000?

Public Comments

1. You could always get Blender. It's free and some people have already made some Pixar-quality short films with it. http://www.blender.org 3D Studio Max is a big one as well.
2. Maya is very popular for video animation. I'm almost positive that Pixar uses it. 3DS Max is great too, but it's more commonly used in video game production.