[Taera]

To make long story short, here's a list of programs i am familiar with (not that i work in them, i just know about them) and short desc's:

DOGA - its free. Thats the whole point. it produces relatively unrealistic models and doesnt seem to proccess complex polygons and textures too well but in right hands (*stares at atrocities*) can do well enough.

Moray +Povray - not free but of higher quality and more options, plus highly customizable. My preference because its not expensive.

Povray - a free text-based c++ - like graphical language compiler. if you get the hang of it its extremly powerful

Bryce 3d - a rare program to hear of, it is rather expensive and difficult to master but produces extremly realistic images of high quality

3d Max - a "high-end" program. Very expensive but also extremly powerful - lets just say lots of movies are made in it. It has everything you want, and has a very nice cost preventing many (like myself) from owning it (yet....)

Lightwave - real competition of 3d Max, this one works differently yet also produces extremly good quality and is quite powerful and varied. Recently more and more 3d movies/scenes are made in Lightwave

if you have the money and the time 3d Max or Lightwave are a worthy investment. Moray and some other programs whose name i cant recall are intermediate in everything, and DOGA is completely free.