Cool work Atrocities!!
That's right I use 3ds Max.
I had actually used AutoCAD in my first attempts, I work in architecture and that's a program I was familiar with, but I never got to understand the more complicated rendering stuff. The Niridia shipset was made in autocad and exported into 3dsMax for the final touches and rendering.
And Captain Kwok uses Moray+POV-Ray.
Check this topic about 3d tools.