I'm a graphic designer looking to create still illustrations. I've worked with Strata but found it to be buggy. However it had a very familiar UI. But I'm not turned off by the UI in Lightwave and I'm also very attracted to Modo from what I've seen on their online materials. Can anyone advise me on what program would be best for illustration purposes? I'm also taking into consideration how easily/quickly my coworkers will be able to pick up 3d modeling which I don't believe they've ever done. Thanks!

What kind of illustrations do you want to make? Why do you need 3d for this?

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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand

I need it for photorealistic illustrations of metephorical objects and structures for non-fiction book covers. some examples might be: pencils in weird shapes, crystal pyramids, books floating in the air forming a sphere... things that wouldn't be practical for me to physically build and photograph.

Modo is a good choice but it is on the expensive side. It has good rendering and modeling tools.

You can also try blender 3d and pixie render engine. Which is open source, free and can be used to achieve great results.
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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand

thanks! We'll see if my employer thinks it's worth it. I'll check the free ones out too. do you know if the free open source ones would have issues with someone using the results for commercial purposes?