I've recently started looking into using a 3rd party program so I could do certain things that the creation kit cannot provide. So for editing models and textures which program has any one had experience with and which one is better in their own opinion, I would greatly appreciate any feedback. So all I'm asking is which program do you find more compatible with the creation kit.

I would also like to know this. Can somebody answer please?

It really depends. The industry standard is Max, but Blender is more common among hobbyists. Both are powerful tools, and both generally have good support and documentation. I would say, however, that Blender's interface (at least back in 3.4 - I hear 3.5 is better) is much more confusing than Max, due to being quite different from other software. I also believe that Max currently has more up to date exporters. On the other hand, Blender is free (Max can also be obtained for free with an education licence).

Personally, 3DS Max all the way. I find it easier to use, more intuitive, and more robust. Other people would say the same thing for Blender.

3D Max is way more powerful but costs a lot.
Blenders is free AND open source but still powerful.

I use Blender because it's free and it gets the job done.

IF you qualify for a student version MAX is also Free for 36 months !!

I've been using Max for years and find it much easier to use than Blender. I've never liked Blender's UI and when I tried it, I couldn't find a way to change from Orthographic view to a Persective view. I find Orthographic just awkward to work with. Max' UI is much more intuitive, although there are a LOT of hidden features. One other thing I've noticed about Max (which probably applies to Blender too) is that there's usually multiple ways to do the same thing. If you have any experience with modeling programs, you'll know what I mean.

For me, I'll never switch from Max. As for exporters, it's only a matter of time before both programs have a proper functioning one. The current exporter for Max is still missing some features since the Nif format hasn't fully been decoded yet. Again, that's only a matter of time though. I have a sneaking feeling that Blender will be ahead of the game sooner than later though. It just seems the more popular choice usually for clothes/armor modellers (at least that was the case with Oblivion).

~DE

I use 3DS Max, and prefer it over any other 3D Software. Blender is awesome, but the UI just ruins it. 3DS Max with Photoshop is an unstoppable force.

Really, it depends on how your brain is wired... But from my experience, I've found 3dsmax to be more compatible with skyrim imports/exports (of course blender could be updated at any time, but you're waiting on someone to do it for free, for the benefit of blender users--which on the bright side seems like it will happen). And as for UV editing i've found that 3dsmax has more dynamic UV mapping tools (for slapping textures on your model). As far as the user interface goes, I got into 3d using blender, and I dunno, I'll still say that it still has convenient hotkeys for on the fly modeling. In 3dsmax it seems like you kinda have to... go to room B to get item B, go to room C to get C, come back to room A to use item B and C (though you can see it as 3dsmax having a bigger stock of modeling tools)... where in blender, you can access B and C with a few hotkeys. It's kinda like building a sandcastle, 3dsmax has buckets, shovels, chisels, rulers, molds, and a bunch of other tools, where blender just has buckets and shovels. But it doesnt mean that you can't build a jaw-dropping sandcastle with just a bucket and a shovel. Keep in mind I started in blender... had I started in max, I might be saying what everyone else says about blenders interface... maybe it's just personal preference. who knows.

Also blender is free, like other people have mentioned.... its free and you can model with it... whats that worth to ya?

Well, those are two separate questins. For editing meshes you have basicly two main choices as stated above. 3DStudio Max is a professional programme, but uness you settle with sort of a demo version you would have to pay. I have used Blender for several years for modelling for Oblivion and Inever hit any limit. I could do what I needed. Blender is totally free and it had a good support. At the moment, there are no good import/export scripts available, though. So, to use Blender you have to sort of cheat the the programme and it is very tedious right now. I, however, hope that this will get better soon as this software is very popular. Many people say that Blender is confusing, but I must say I never had much problem working in it and I am no profi modeller. I also think that there is a programme called Maya. Some people used it, but has always been a minority.

As for changing textures you would need a different programme. Since the textures Skyrim uses (the .dds format) is quite special you would have about two optins. The first is GIMP which is free, the second is Photoshop, which is a professional programme and quite expensive. Both need some free-to-download plug-ins to be able to work with the .dds format. Then there are soem applications that allow you to transform .dds files into some more managable ones like .tga and such, but I have no experience with those.

If you think about changing textures or meshes you will also need NifSkope which basicly allows you to change some aspects of a mesh and especially allows you to attach textures to meshes.

There are of course many other possibilities, but Blender, 3DSMax, GIMP and Photoshop are most common here so, you are most likely to find people here who would provide help if needed.

The CK has nothing to do with texturing or meshing so you do not have to fear about compatibility.

Good luck