My 1st 2 months using unreal was mainly on map creation, i made around 15 maps using different tools, but i finally ended up with the map you see there, the map i made in PS then used world machine and the plugin kit to create it, i leant how to use world meshine in the process lol, the maps landscape turned out great the whole map has no limitions for movement.
I use 3ds max and im not pro at using it i just know the basics of rigging in it, i have a friend thats a 3d modeler, the problem you have there can be fixed in max in under 5 minutes 
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Maya is better for rigging and anims but it’s harder to understand as its UI sucks , 3Ds max has some.better tools and its UI is friendly easy to learn.