3d data visualisation

Hi,

Here's my problem. Small project, experimental, no budget. I'm fairly new to Macs (working on an imac and pac book pro), but previous history as a programmer.

I have data on a series of equipment faults/failures spread over a year and across 20 floors of a tower block.

I want to create a very simple, rotateable, transparent, 3d model of the building on screen. I then want to 'plot' the equipment failures 'onto' the modle building so that managers can watch the accumulation of failures over the course of a simulated 'year' and see their spatial distribution.

Googling leads me either to sophisticated 3d modelling packages, or to scientific visualisation tools that don't obviously allow me to represent the building.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a low cost package that would let me do this? Even suggestions on what to search for would be good!

thanks

Dave