I really wish I could afford Lightwave, as it is still my favorite 3D program, and the one I first gained any kind of meaningful experience with. I have 3DSmax, and even after going through some of the tutorials, it's just forbiddingly user-un-friendly to me. Produces amazing results though.
It takes a lot of time and practice to get used to 3ds MAX. I only work with it as a hobby so thankfully I don't to have to know everything about it. It is in some ways limitless. I have been working with it for a few years and what I can do on it is only I would say around beginner level, but I am comfortable there and I learn what I need to know.
For more info about AnimationMaster :
http://www.hash.comWhat exactly is it you're gonna have to animate?
Thanks for the information. For an upcoming film, I need to animate a number of tentacle like appendages on a head of a human. The tentacles are supposed to look similar to vines and they "walk" the head. I will have to look at a number of 3ds MAX tutorials to get a start on this, lol.