Hey,
umm well recently i started using Autocad 2007. its heaps easy to learn and operation is a breeze. and awhile ago i found google sketchup, that lets you create 3d drawings, and thats helped my heaps in this subject, especially with assignments.
i used rhino for my major project, that due in august. i used rhino to model the object... then exported to autocad to make all kinds of 2D drawings, ortho, iso, oblqiue, planometric, ... Oh.. and for the renderings i used 3ds Max 9 > mental ray. its great, industry standard, and if you know how to use it you can get really good photorealistic renderings.
hey i used PROdesktop for like all mjy drawings i sude it in like yea 9 and 10 for my tech drawin class and eya been usin it since u can do just bout everyin with it make 3d drawings to size and everythin, u can render them, and also do all ur measurements and that aswell, it is so easy to use and everythin so yea i would recomend it if u can get ur hands on it