Download the new learning version of Maya from
www.aliaswavefront.comOr the learning version of Softimage
www.softimage.com.
Both are completely free and have all the basic tools that the full $16,000.00 versions have. They just have some crazy watermarks built into the render engine, but since you won't be rendering anything, it should work good for you.
Also, try to find a program called Blender. Their website used to be
www.blender.nl, but last I checked, they were not offereing the program to be downloaded anymore. Anyways, thats another free program for Windows/Linux, etc.
Or try Discreet's gMax. The free stripped down version of 3dsmax (which sucks by the way).
jakobud