What 3D software is ok for modeling?

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I recently started modeling myself in 3Ds Max and I was already wondering if the animations would fit nice with the HPL2 editors. Since you suggest Autodesk Maya for animations I can just export the models from 3Ds Max into Maya without any problems?

If its just the mesh, then exporting as fbx or obj should work without problems, I do it all the time . Make sure your modifier stack is collapsed to an editable poly though. If you've already placed bones and skinned your mesh in max however, I wouldn't recommend exporting that to maya. In theory fbx should be able to export that as well, but I've yet to meet someone who actually got it to work - most of the time the whole construct just explodes all over the place ^^