I use Blender quite a bit, and while it definitely has a steep learning curve, I find it quite usable now for working on my projects. I know there are people out there who absolutely hate it, but I don't know how long they spent learning to use it.

If you do give it a shot, I strongly recommend logging onto the IRC channel #blender on irc.freenode.net, which is very kind to newbies. Sadly you need to register your nick with nickserv before they'll let you in, for some unfathomable reason.