Hi Midge I'll try to hold back unless nobody else answers :)

Well for now it looks like you are stuck with 3DS Max. Now I don't really mean stuck because 3Ds Max (Autodesk) is a fantastic program to use. I'd switch to it for modeling only the cost is a bit steep for me. Presently I use Cinema 4D for my modeling needs. I do a bit of rendering with it as well. My Roman domus was built and rendered entirely in Cinema. Lightwave is another good modeling program as is Maya.

Vue is very good for rendering outside scenes. Their ecosystem is fantastic for natural 3d environments. Also good for populating cities and such. Even animating roman soldiers...I would not recommend modeling in Vue. It can be done, but Vue was not meant to be a modeling program.

Other tools I find essential is an image editor such as Photoshop. Not so much for touch up after rendering but if you want to create and edit your own images to put on your models, Photoshop is a big help. Usually I will create a model and then UV map it with a custom texture I created.

I've heard the learning curve in 3Ds Max is steep. But really any program you start using is going to take some time to be productive. Hopefully you will have some classes using the software and that will be a huge help. I took some classes in Cinema 4, and found it to be of great value. I should take some advanced classes as there is much I don't know about. Stick with it!

Your project sounds to be exciting. It can be difficult working from little or no specs as in the case with the Pons Aelius project but fortunately I was able to get a bit of info from what we already know of Roman forts in the area and some of the forts along Hadrians Wall. Little to nothing was available from the fort itself. Sometimes as an artist and researcher we have to make educated guesses based existing evidence...an artists conception if you will. Pictured below was an integration of a layout of the Forum of Pompeii and the models I made which I used to create my depiction of Pompeii...