3dsmax makes your life simple.. =P
well, i post who i make mines with 3dsmax...
First of nothing i start making the meshes, and texturing... it looks like this
What nexts it's the rendering, withOUT effects, just reflects (Raytrace w/ falloff)
And the last step it's editing the image with Photoshop, what i add here is some contracts in important areas, like the background. And the second effect, the deph of field. You can render with deph of fild from 3dsmax, but it takes many time rendering, and the last it's add the text. And you get this
With practice, you can make this damn fast... i take the time during the making of it, and it's takes me 15 mins
What i'm trying to tell you is,
USE 3DSMAX!!!!!!