Sorry but, where have you seen that? Nobody is promoting any specific software here. People might explain which software the dev team uses, but most modders use free software, because there’s no need to purchase anything else to mod Stonehearth.
For animation, you must have missed the biggest thread : Stonehearth Add-On for Blender (Animation)
Something more recent: Symbol's Animation Tutorial for StoneHearth
The download for the addon: http://forum.minddesk.com/t/blender-add-on-example-based-on-stonehearth/40