I use 3DS Max 9.
Cause someone else paid for most of it.
Now I'm used to it and getting better with it.
I also like Misfit Model 3D
http://www.misfitcode.com/misfitmodel3d/
It's free and is a bit faster then 3DS Max.
But has almost the same interface.
So it's easy to work with both.
For some UV mapping,
I like Lithunwrap 1.3
Again it's free and also includes an optimize feature
that works very well.
I used the optimize feature to get VonDos's Titanic down to importable
size for SH3.