if you can afford a mayor package, 3ds max or cinema 4d suit you well, where cinema is a bit easier on beginners, but has a bunch of cool features, it even comes with a paint module to directly paint on your 3d models.
if you do not want to spend a lot and you're not afraid of tweaking things a bit, i recommend you get some free apps (sketchup, blacksmith 3d paint) and some low budget (milkshape, fragmotion) and then get entity workshop (most reccomended).
Best to start with the free stuff and try to make something like a crate or a table actually work in fpscreator before you put out a little fortune to no avail...
I am Jacks complete lack of surprise.