Iv been watching a few tutorial videos by tornado-twin which have been very helpful so far. But he mentions that its better to use different 3d modeling programs instead of just unity when creating 3d objects in a game.
I just wondered which is the best choice (that is free to download) of 3d modeling software to use and learn on?
Anyone one anything other than Blender, google sketch up or maya? I would be interested to know what you all use thanks! =)
Blender is free and good, but fairly complex if you haven't used a 3D modelling package before.
Google sketchup is probably quicker and easier to get started with. It can export to Collada format, which should work with Unity.
Lots of people use blender as it is free and easy to achieve good models after a little practice
I'm using sculptris and have found it really quick to learn and easy to use: http://www.sculptris.com/download.html
Heres a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DNRg6pdNeE
It's a sculpting tool so it best suited to organic things like characters and trees, less suited to making buildings.
i know this is old but sooo many people miss this.
maya is in fact free if you are a student. just go to the alias site and navigate to the student page. actually don't bother cos it's here, look, just below :)
free maya and other alias stuff for students
ching ching!
My Favorite is Cheetah 3D. It's easy to use and powerful.I would check out Cheetah3d
I suggest that you either use Blender 3d or Cheetah3d. Do NOT use google sketchup,as models created in it are hard to make well and are very simple. I know you asked for free modeling programs,but you can get very good ones for about $20.
Google Sketchup
I use Cheetah on my crusty old G4 eMac… it is the machine’s sole purpose as I can’t get my head around Blender on my PC!
Cheetah is BRILLIANT!!
I’m still deciding whether I should use either Blender or trueSpace 7.6. I can’t find out how to make a material, but I will check the manual soon, which you’d be able to find here:
*If you’re going to choose trueSpace, make sure you download it soon because they’ve discontinued it. Read the Letter from the Founder which you’d find when you go to the caligari website. And even though it is discontinued, I recommend you try it out because it has been there for more than 10 years, so it’s a good program. It’s saddening for them to go… 
You can get Shade 3D for Unity by way of the Mac App Store (for the Mac version) or via Mirye Software (Windows version for free. Its a full featured modeling product, plus use in conjunction with the Loader Script for Unity (on the Asset Store) to be able to interactively edit models you are already using in your Unity projects.