Between, Houdini, Modo, Lightwave and Cinema 4d, Blender is also a good alternative, I'd say he's a middle ground between Modo and Lightwave, but the best thing about him is opensource and the community, any developer can implement something in it.
Take a look in this "The best blender demo reel film 2013": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8l8WNHwTOg Blender has ongoing projects very interesting like the "Molecular", which seems to me better than Lagoa, and it's not finish yet, but you can use right now: http://pyroevil.com/2013/10/03/molecular-v1-0-1-uvs-feature-and-osx-build-now-available/ http://pyroevil.com/2013/09/11/block-of-sand-4-millions-of-particles/ http://pyroevil.com/2013/08/28/fluid-solid-and-granular/ http://pyroevil.com/2013/08/28/1920-x-1080-4-millions-particles-simulation-wallpaper/ http://pyroevil.com/2013/03/18/a-little-rope-simulation-with-cython-code/ http://pyroevil.com/2013/04/07/test-with-a-cube-of-sand/ http://pyroevil.com/2013/05/25/cloth-test-with-molecular-addon/ A data processing project similar to ICE: http://phonybone.planetblender.org/ Advanced procedural polymodeling/remeshing: http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?279453-Polydrive-advanced-procedural-polymodeling-remeshing-(-possibly-development-funding)&p=2454126&viewfull=1#post2454126 Node-based everything and openCL particles: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?284448-Node-based-everything-and-openCL-particles Development, Roadmap, Daily Builds, Contacting with Developers... http://www.blender.org/get-involved/developers/ http://code.blender.org/ Valve is supporting 2 developers to work on Blender: http://code.blender.org/index.php/2013/09/valve-steam-workshop-donations-2-devs-get-hired/ I think Blender has a great future and can be a good alternative between Modo or Lightwave. Take a look on artwork from do Max Puliero: http://blendernews.org/xe/Feature_Articles/8087 Also now V-Ray has a official plugin: http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vray_blender.html One of The best resources to learning: http://www.blenderguru.com/ Community: http://blenderartists.org/forum/index.php Softimage Theme for Blender: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?227802-THEME-Softimage-2-70 Blender 2.70 Overview of New Features: http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/blender-2-70-overview-new-features/ Other works with Blender: http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/10-best-commercials-made-with-blender-in-2013 Cheers. Paulo Duarte -- www.pauloduarte.ws
