I didn't like Animator. Well, if you once use a rolls royce app like 3d Studio max you never wanna go back. the free version of cinema4D seems to be pretty good, and of course, wings3D. combine wings3d with lithunwrap and there you go.
what I didn't like with Animator was thefact that it's named Animator but it cannot save animated 3DS, only static ones. Well, that was the reason why I installed it, I thought it can make animations for DB or Blitz.
If you are new to 3D it might take some time until you have tried all the free Modeler Apps. Here you'll find some:
http://www.3dlinks.com/links.cfm?categoryid=1&subcategoryid=2However, if you like Animator, the go for it.