Freedom (but let's just call that 'creativity') is important in editorial work. In both commercial and technical work, imagination is just as important. Creativity and imagination are closely related, they overlap.
The essence of 3D-software is to simulate physical processes. Not just people and physicians benefit, so do illustrators and animators. You can get extremely close to realism with 3D, but you can just as well change it elegantly, style it, change and comment it. The way I see it, that is the actual firing power and precision of 3D.

Illustration and animation are fit-to-order, so is a quote. 3D can be surprisingly simple when you expect it to be complicated. But the inverse is also often true. Reasoning together with clients often provides straight-forward answers to technical and productional issues.

I often make sketches and storyboards to show and simplify and I like to be an actively co-operating and co-thinking team member. To save time. And money.