I've actually used blender for a while and it has improved dramtically. The power of it is quite amazing for a free 3d program. The interface is a little confusing to use at first but once you learn how to use it it is actually really fast. For anyone interested check out:
www.blender.org www.elysiun.com
You can find documentation on how to use blender in the documentation link at blender.org. The documentation is a little old and doesn't show the new interface but the old interface is similar and the key commands are the same. Look around these two site and you can find a lot of information.
Blender 
Linear Mode
