A well known fact for the most computer graphics (CG) artists out there is the Free Maya Personal Learning Edition from Alias | Wavefront (Win/149 Mb, Mac/136 Mb).

Maya is a brilliant renderer. However, for the average amateur computer graphics artist, the price of the award winning Maya Complete software package has always been the greatest bottleneck. Therefore Alias | Wavefront announced the Free Personal Learning Edition of Maya. The only exception, or say requirement, for using the Personal Learning Edition is that you may not produce commercial films such as Final Fantasy and the package may not be used by training centers or academic/educational institutions for instructional purposes.