Blender. Blender is awesome. It's interface is hard to get used to at first, but if you stick with it there's no limit to what you can do with it. It rivals 3DS Max in features (and beats it in some cases), yet is completely free and open source.
People seem to be pretty much split into two camps: "I heart Blender" and "Blender sucks". The latter camp are usually the people that don't take the time to learn it's interface. I highly recommend trying it out and seeing if it works for you - there are lots of video tutorials for getting used to it, and even a book, The Essential Blender, which can greatly help you get to grips with it.
If you don't like it, some other free modelers are TruSpace (although it's being discontinued), Wings 3D, and of course XSI Mod Tool Pro.
[edit]: Anim8or is okay. If you want something similar to that, there's Milkshape3D. It's pretty cheap ($35 last I checked) and exports to about a bajillion different formats.
"No programmer can pick up a TV remote without thinking what it would take to add a stun gun. [...] Their motto is 'if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet'" - Scott Adams,
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