So depending on how much you're in to game development, you may (or may not) have heard of Autodesk 3D Studio Max (commonly called, 3DS Max). Depending on how interested you were in getting that product, you probably found out (like me) that it's ridiculously expensive. And depending on how much you're like me, you probably searched for a way to LEGALLY download it for free. And since you're so much smarter than me, you probably went right to the student section which gives you free downloads, whereas I probably searched the web for hours.
All that to say this. 3DS Max is free if you sign up on their student community site. Obviously some restrictions apply, for instance it cannot be used for commercial purposes or for-profit purposes. That doesn't mean you can't use it, especially if you just want to get your feet wet and try some of the major tools used in game development. Despite being fantastic, 3DS Max is quite a hefty load to learn, but there are sites dedicated to tutorials. All you have to do is search.
Another discovery that I recently stumbled across is something called DAZ 3D (Digital Art Zone). Now DAZ itself was not new to me, as I had checked it out before. I usually see ads on game development sites I frequent and usually I ignore such ads, but this time, something caught my eye. In a word: Free. I did a double take. Did I really just see the word "free"? Yes, apparently I did. My surprise was the equivalent to that of seeing an elephant in my bedroom (okay, well maybe not as much, but I needed some sort of comparison). My second thought was whether or not it merely was a free "trial". Needless to say, I pulled up another tab and checked it out for myself. Sure enough, throughout the end of February, you can get DAZ 3D for free if you sign up at their site. It is smaller than 3DS Max, which might make it better in my opinion, as I'm nearing the max on my harddrive right now, but I'm willing to try both out.
That's my little update for now. If you were interested, the links are below for both sites.
Arcones
Coolio.
Yup. And just to clarify, you can try every Autodesk product as well as the Autocad products.
Oh my God its FU**ING FREE! I must tell everyone in my modding group!
Just make sure you don't use it for commercial purposes ;D