I've been wondering how I might find some 3D modelling software that allows ignerint folk like me to take stock character models, tweak them and pose them, set up light sources and backgrounds, and render images. Ideally there would be a decently large library of models and clothing, or, alternately, a lot of downloadable libraries from the web. Fantasy/medieval/mythological stuff is primary what I'd be interested in.

The image I've linked to below is more complex than I necessarily need. Something in between software that can produce that and, say, the "Face Maker" in Hoyle Games, would be what's called for. I just want to be able to load human models, adjust the proportions, pose them, give facial expressions, and render the image with a particular lighting scheme and camera angle.

The image below was created with Curious Labs' Poser software program, which is pretty pricy, but that's what eBay is for. I downloaded the demo and found it to be more complex than I particularly need, and I couldn't figure out how to swap around hair and clothing (although maybe that was a demo limitation). So if there is something simpler (and hopefully cheaper) than Poser but along the same lines, that would be ideal. But I'd also be interested in products that rival Poser, so I can check out the competition.

(The background was created with Bryce, a software program for constructing landscapes, and while I think that's pretty cool, I'm not real concerned about that part.)

Anyway, I was wondering if anybody out there knows about a software package that might be sort of what I'm looking for. The all-important thing is that it has to have stock character models, because constructing a character model from scratch is entirely beyond me. Also flexibility of attire.
Anybody know about software like this? Thanks.