3dmax5 retail price is around $3500 - $4000, and yes maya is
very expensive program that is around $7000 - $8000 but the thing is
that maya also comes with a professional renderprogram called
mentalray that are used for many renderings in movies. Mentalray
is very competitive against pixar's renderman that is also $8000 retail
and $2000 in educational. There is also programs such as Softimage's
XSI and Electrimage. These were used for making starwars and such.
XSI costs over $10000 and is almost known as the ultimate 3d program among the professional world.
Also Renderman was used to render, all the pixar movies, and all the famou 3dgraphic movies like armageddon, starwars, Terminator.
Visit
www.pixar.com