Depends of what you need and the limitations of the software and with my experience, how are your skills in that program, I prefer Maya because doesn’t have any limitation at all, only the cost. 3d Max is great to render and modelling, blender is free so that so nice, but if you need something complex, that the program doesn’t have, you have to wait for a update. Now for realistic characters you need gods software: Maya, 3D Max, Blender, Cinema 4D. A good equipment to render, and a good modeler, texture, rig and render.