Hi. I've been dabbling in 3D, and 2D art, for 12 years now, but most of it has been down time. Ive decided to give game art a real push. Right now im confronted with software usage.. what to use for software, I've decided to use Soft Image Mod Tool, to develop a portfolio, such as Organic models, like Characters, Tree's, and Technical Models, such as Space Ships and Architecture. the renderer in Mod Tool is Watermarked, so I've decided to load all my graphics into XNA and take screenshots of in game work, which will probably be just fine for strictly game art and modeling, which is all I want to do. But how would I display Animations, Can I record a animation in XNA to a AVI, or other movie format?? And another question is what should I use for Level / Map Design? Is soft Image a tool that can do that, or is it to over powered. I prefer to use the more professional software, just to get used to using it, as a way to gain access to more professional work. For a while I've been using Truespace, but I don't mind using Blender seeing how most people I see on the forums are blender enthusiasts. And I want to find out why.. Never really given it a go. My Goal is to join a established Indie Game Design Team, or to join a upcoming indie team, which after a game or two can afford to pay salary or wages.

Well, you could use Maya for modelling and rendering. ZBrush is optional if you want highly detailed models for cut scenes or something. Photoshop for textures and miscellaneous stuff like type. Quicktime to convert rendered images into an .avi. And any decent video editing software to put it all together and compress the video -- I use the Adobe one but I forget what it's called. I'm not sure what you might use for level making.

This is what I use -- although I'm not very experienced. But you can use similar (cheaper/free) programs if you like.