VUE doesn't really allow you much control over anything I don't think though, in terms of creativity inspiring stuff. It seems to be just for creating scenes, and quite easily.
There is a trial of Maya you can download, and I have it on here, while I'm testing it out. Its got unlimited time, but has Maya marks all over renders/viewport, but other than that, I can learn to model using it.
I'm wondering that over time, I'll be able to create better things than I can with Max, as the modelling tools seem more defined.