Hi Neo,

Super cool fur job !!!
Blender is definitivally a great alternative, I will probably have a closer look at it when stuffs like that will be intergrated :

http://sites.google.com/a/ckbrd.de/blender---nurbs/nurbs-redesign

and especially the NURBS with Extraordinary Points: High-degree, Non-uniform, Rational Subdivision Schemes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWQPnkjqgA