Software I would Like to Research

Over the summer something that I would really like to start doing is doing more research into other software that is available to me, as a poor student, so that I can improve my skills further and gain more industry knowledge so that I can create basic shapes in all 3D software creation as once you generally know the gist of one piece of software the others will start to come naturally as well. The first two below that I have looked at would be great replacements for Unity and the second two would be great replacements to Maya.

UDK
UDK or the Unreal Development Kit is a piece of free software that is the free edition of Unreal Engine 3, although the company is working with Unreal Engine 4 currently, that provides access to one of the best, award winning 3D game engine and professional toolset. It is a fantastic piece of software that has been designed for so many purposes but the top one obviously being for video game developers. Unreal Engine technology is used by a wide variety of people like developers, researchers, television studios, machinima directors, artists and students and can help develop games for PC, iOS, and consoles. To me it seems like the perfect opportunity to try this summer as I would love to be able to gain more knowledge in the industry standard programs, although a lot of companies are using Unity themselves. But for me I want to be able to know a little about each of them to be able to expand my knowledge further and gain a better understanding of the layout of the different pieces of software.

CryEngine
The CryEngine, which is currently in its third stage of evolution is a highly advanced development solution that is used to create beautiful and stunning high quality games. The functionality of it is incredible and isn't limited in any way as there are so many things that the engine can do for the company. There are also many opportunities for getting involved with the creators as they do tutorials for the public to teach them the ins and outs of the software. They have amazing real time graphics that have no faults and it is one of the fastest systems out their at the moment. Although the only thing putting me off this at the moment is that if you want all of the features it has to offer there is a monthly subscription of around £9, which is quite dear for a poor student, but there may be free copies I can test out floating around on the internet.

3DS Max
Now 3DS Max isn't all that different to Maya, as they are both made by the same company; Autodesk. But it can be used a nice alternative to Maya as it offers a few different features that are all used to create 3D models, animate them and then render them out in a high quality. With a similar user face to Maya this will make it easier to try out. One of the main reasons that I want to try this out is due to the fact that a lot of major companies use this, although Maya is growing in popularity, but its nice to have the knowledge of both so that if one is required I can adapt easily.

Blender 
The last piece of software that I want to look at was Blender, this is a free to use for everyone piece of 3D modeling kit that again like the others has massive potential. It has the ability for photo-realistic rendering, fast modeling with lots of usable key board shot cuts, realistic materials and fast rigging, which is something that could be very exciting after the trouble I had on the last project, and lots more interesting tools. what makes Blender the ideal piece of software for me to get involved with as it is essentially Maya and Unity put into one program as it has the ability for 3D game creation as well as operate cameras which would help with any machinima work or looking at in game cameras.