Octane is 600$ for any app. Same price for Carrara and Lightwave. Carrara is about 50$ vs LWs 995$, so LW better have 20x more features... But for 995 you can get a modern 3D app like Clarisse iFX 4.0 that does 3D and compositing with "a bazillion polygons" in new Hollywood movies. Still requires Zbrush and Maya (or Carrara, LW, whatever) for modeling, but 20 years newer than Carrara, LW, Maya, 3dsmax makes it efficient. There is a free Clarisse PLE, thinking about trying it with Carrara...