Blender 2.46 is out
The Blender Foundation just released the newest Version of the popular and very powerful open source 3d Modeller "Blender 3D". The work on their second open source movie "Big Buck Bunny" has resulted in a new version with a greatly improved feature set. There's a new "Hair and Fur" System, with astonishing capabilities, a completely rewritten Particle system, Cloth Simulation, improved Render Baking, Approximate Ambient Occlusion (awesome speed & quality), raytraced soft shaows, and much much more. So if you're into 3D, or just want to experiment with it, you should definately try Blender, since it's not only free but also very competetive.