You should test drive modo

You can get a 30 day http://www.luxology.com/trymodo/

a small warning: Modo does - according to their homepage - not work on Windows Vista (see hardware). Just in case you you Vista.

from their forum it runs OK with Vista but yes you should ask questions and try at own risk.

JakeL,
I have been a maya user for several years and I would actually recommend against maya unless you were interested in maya unlimited which has fur,cloth,live and tons of other features.

I also have modo and I really dont like it, the interface is clunky for me and the learning curve is sharp.

I like simplicity and power. Sort of a zen combination(if your into zen). For my money and ease of use I would highly recommend silo then animate in blender if your work is in gaming. I would also recommend zbrush for normal maps.

TriNitroToluene,

Now that's the kind of info I need! I'll take a look at Silo.

It's going to take me some time to sort this out -doing trials and everything, but everyone here has helped out.

Thanks again.

I don't think supporting two applications is going to help your customer service a great deal.

As for the cost, it is rarely measured in the cost of the software but the skill level of the staff and the training of staff. If the staff are experienced then they will work efficiently but introduce new software to the equation then costs (at least initially) will rise dramatically whilst efficiency normally takes a hit.

I wasn't referring to our customer service, I was referring to Autodesk's, and I will keep the specifics between us and them.

As I had explained, our team has grown and quite dramatically. Members of the team have different modeling programs that they are experienced with. Coordinating our asset production pipeline would be both difficult and costly unless we streamline the process by selecting one or two software packages to produce the bulk of our products.

Cost of software, or any other for that matter, directly affects the bottom line and is always a huge factor. This is why I posted. I asked for recommendations for affordable and efficient software. Businesses would always like to have the best of the best, but it is not always economically feasible. I do understand your points, and we have already accounted for the loss of productivity during training.

Thanks for the input.

Does anyone else have any experience with the software packages mentioned thus far in the post? All the info has been a great help!

I think modo work flow is the best of all 3D apps, Maya has the biggest learning curve, modo is easy. But its what you are used to.

Ahh I think I know where you are coming from here. It can be likened to 'extracting teeth' upon occasion

I would explore C4d and download the latest trial as it seems (I am currently checking it out) a very good package with Collada support.

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Once I make a decision, I'll let everyone know what info I've come up with.