3d-brush has had a new release, and it seems to fix many of the issues I've been having. I know there has been discussion on these forums about 3d painting (or the lack of it) in lower priced 3d software. If like me Hex didn't work out, or you didn't like Tattoo, I'd seriously give this a look.
It's also got a shallow learning curve, so no worries there. If you need help with some of it I'm happy to help you out in this thread.