milkshape will allow you to skin, so does poser
body paint3d too
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pc...s/examples.htm
http://www.perpetualvisions.com/arti...aint-poser.htm
i wouldnt recommend maya or max for this as the learning curve will be very steep.
also look for halflife and quake md3 skinning tutorials they are quite similar and a lot of them use milkshape