OK, It took me forever to find free 3D software (Blender). Another small forever to find out about Terragen. Is there ANYTHING ELSE! I should know about?!?!?!!
The links above aside, the most important thing you want to know about is Wings3D, www.wings3d.com It’s a must-have.
Coz you can clean up a lot of things in your objects in wings with tools that blender doesnt have. Its sole purpose is a modeller. I use it to detail my characters and objects (lood draw, edge cut…blah blah blah)
A must have? whatever, decide for yourselves 
GIMP (for complex 2d work)
Be sure to bookmark this online manual:
http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html
And this viewer is great for managing a bunch of images with a minimum of fuss: http://www.xnview.com
handles loads of formats.
What??? Do you expect to be told about ever piece of 3d/graphic software ever made and that will ever be made. Its a search you find out about something just looking at sites or hanging around forums like this or chats. You just learn about things as you go on. It always amazes me how the under 25 crowd just wants everything there is and wants it now with out making any effort 
Ah, a linux hater, people make freeware for certain reasion, its not to give to the greedy, besides the program can’t be use for profit because thats not what Blender wants, programmers do it out of there spare time as a form of art, its like us showing renders and animation that we created with Blender “without charging” because of the pride that goes into our work and show what we can do. There’s also a plus side as well, if a corperation get a hold of the program that is done by the coder it will increase there chances of getting a job, its like a portfolio that is availble for everyone to see. Thoe sometimes a program is so good you may ask, why the hell is it free or not being marketed, like the game engine Cube “which is the best freeware engine I ever seen” Some people like to do it out of kindness to benifit others, I had seen skin for charater models that are free to use for both personal and commerical use.
But I’m thankfull that Blender is free for personal use without the nag screen or ads, it gave me a chance to work with professional application without having to pay thousands of dollers, “Like 3ds Max and Maya” that I can’t afford. I’m sure alot people benifit from freeware such as Blender because it gives them a calling and something to do instead of hanging around gangs and doing drugs. Don’t you think thats worth the effort ?
No Al_Capone I am not a linux hater. I think it is a OUTSTANDING OPERATING SYSTEM. The only reason I do not have it install is that I need a larger hard disk. In order to really do it justice I need a bigger one in order to keep what I have in windows and add linux.
My point was that the under 25 crowd (to me at least ) seems that they should just get everything for free. We live in a free market economy. People /companies like to be compensated for their efforts. The younger crowd does not seem to get the concept fo paying for a software product becasue it took effort for the developer( be that a company or some lone guy like me banging away at a keyboard in a one room apt).
I think shaba’s generalization of people under 25 is unfair and narrowminded. To say that everyone under 25 has no appreciation for developers and programmers is ridiculous. I could easily download full pc games off the internet, but I choose to buy them instead. Also, most of us realize that when you buy software, you’re not paying for the little plastic disc it came on, you’re paying for the developer’s work. I’m just saying that maybe you should have a less stereotypical view of the world.
munkey_mike. I am black 40+. Grew up where there were still “whites only bathrooms” and where I could only siit on a certain section of a public bus. You think you could explan a lltte more to me about people making generalization about a group??? I do not think there is very much you can tell me about being “stereotyped”.
I was not generalizing about people under 25 but it just disappoints me to see how many people in the age group come on this and other forums expecting to get “warez”. I use to write program and make them “donationware” I never made a cent. But at the same time I saw them posted all over fidonet. (the precursor to the greater internet, you old timers know what I mean)
I have nothing against open source software or freeware and I would LOVE to be able to afford 3ds or Maya. What I was saying was the general idea that EVERYTHING should be free and availible. The idea that SOME people in that generation have that they just want things a do not want to make and effort to get them.
I have a 3d game creation program called 3DGS. Its trialware for 30 days then you have to pay to get the unlock code. Every week someone comes in complaining that the program has stopped working( Like that is somethng that should not happen) and asking for the “codez” Or another good one is they come in (without even bother to open the coding manual that come with it.) asking someone “How to you create something like GTA II” and fully expecting someone to post the complete source code for them to do that.
http://aig.cs.man.ac.uk/icarus/
Free motion tracking/image stabilization and video distortion correction for use with combining 3D animation and live action video. Available on multiple platforms.
Eeshlo created a script that lets icarus and blender basically work together very nicely. Search the python forum for icarus.
Warez, on this forum ? You must be kidding me, theres only freewares here, warez isn’t that hard to do, you just get the download version and run a keg generator program and thats it. Let the company worry about that, I’m not going to stick out my neck to cover there greedy ass.