What way to go?, Choosing 3D software Options

[Creepin]

Hi.

I decided finally to learn to make 3D art for the sake of my IE modding (yes I know none of my mods ever hit release but hey it's still great hobby for me ). I'm interested in area art creation, from furniture to houses, from city buildings to caves... the thing is, I know nothing about 3D modelling so at this point I had to choose what software will I learn to use. There's that 3DMax stuff which is apparently used by majority here, and there's Lightwave, which might be harder to master but have a remarkable charm of a software vanilla BG was created with. Don't think I had a time to learn both of them so I'd like to ask you an advice - which utility should I stick with for IE area creation?