Yeah, Ed that was a great post. One thing that I will add as something to consider is that recently Alias (the people who make Maya) was aquired by Autodesk (the creators of 3D Studio Max). Upcoming versions of Maya and Max may start to borrow features from each other and ultimately become interchangeable. However, making the switch from one 3d program to another isn't too difficult as your skills as a modeler will stay the same. My suggestion is to download student trial versions of different programs (or just get the pirated copies of the full version like everybody else does) and mess around with them a bit and go through some tutorials to see how much you like modeling. Also, modeling and animating are a world of difference apart. Another facet of the process that may interest you is character rigging. I'm taking a course in it right now and it's extremely interesting.
Come to think of it, the student trial versions of Maya and other programs are pretty cool, but I would recommend just getting a pirated copy for learning purposes. If you ever want to do some freelance work however, I would definitely purchase a legitimate copy of the software to prevent any legal rammifications. A buddy of mine was talking to a guy from Autodesk as a conference and he told me that they don't seem to mind piracy as long as it's for educational purposes only. (It doesn't make it any more legal, but you get the point.)
Best of luck to you! And you'll defnitely have to post some of your models or animations after you get started.
Jam it back in, in the dark.
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