pretty much any prog you use for 3d is going to be a bit confusing for the first-time user...
i think when i first tried out maya, lightwave, 3ds max and such i was quite a bit thrown back by the vast number of functions, toolbars, and right click menus...
usually the best way to start is to follow a few tutorials just to get yourself started... sometimes quickstarts help...
obviously if it's free its not like you wasted any money buying something you don't understand... perhaps though if you want to dabble more professionally, i agree to try out maya or 3ds max, although i think even a temporary license for 3ds max is about $1000usd ...
however, it's quite gratifying to be able to make your way through some of these programs, if you want to try out 3d modeling or animation, or even level design... however... there's quite a learning curve as you not only need to get the hang of keyframes, interpolation, 3d modeling, wrapping to a skeletal framework, not to mention physics and the like...
my only tip would be not to expect much for a year or so... if it were that easy to create badass movies in 3d, we'd have plenty more to choose from... mostly, it's a lot of work... unless of course you have a team that can design models and terrains/levels... plus you usually want to design your own textures and so on...
you might not go too wrong in getting one of those fat textbooks to hold while you get to know such a program, or at least printout a .pdf or help file...
just remember, if it were that easy, it wouldn't be that revolutionary or interesting... take 2d platform games... now that they can be made by one person in about a week, they're not that impressive anymore...
just a thought...
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