I don't know if this has been mentioned, but you can pick up the "Personal Learning Edition" of Maya 5 to try it out. It has EVERYTHING the full version has, but renders are watermarked. You can test it out all you want to see if it's right for you.
http://www.alias.com/eng/products-se...le/index.shtml
I could be mistaken, but I think 3DSM has something similar called GMAX, you can do everything except render.
