Maya, Cinema 4d
As far as rendering goes, I would use Cinema 4d Release 9, but thats gonna cost you an arm and a leg, unless you can get it through an education department, and even then it would probably cost you around $300. For character animation, though, I'd say that Maya is the greatest 3d program for that. I would use Cinema 4d for building objects (e.g. buildings, appliances, etc.).