I'm sure this is the wrong place and a stupid question.
Is this program good for creating scenes with characters for still images?

It only creates characters and not scenes , Iclone is great for that. 




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So I would need cc3 and I clone or just I clone?  I do not have premade models already

For what your wanting I would just get and use iclone, it renders images and movies.. 

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But can iClone 7 create character models or does it just animate them?     

Iclone Can not Create Characters. CC3 Has the ability to Do nice Stills through Iray Render. Iclone is not overly necessary, but helpful for setting up the backgrounds of your stills. There are work arounds in CC3 but time consuming.

hope this was helpful

You can buy lots of great models for iclone and also import them into iclone and also you can download lots of free models. 

I bought both iclone and cc3 pipeline for the animations and creating and exporting, they are both interchangeable with each other. 


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Yeah I don't see iClone being necessary for what I am doing.  I will not be animating at all.    I will only be creating characters for a comic book style layout. But I wanted more of a realistic look to the characters.
All of my work will be strictly still images.   

So CC3 with the Iray bundle would be the best way to go?    I can create backdrops for my characters with a different program if need be.

The challenge with CC3-alone is making good and plausible environments for your characters.  If standing near a wall, do you want a shadow on the wall?  That won't happen with a simple "background" or "environment image" in CC3.

There are some tricks you can do to bring items (props) into CC3 to give you more of an environment, but those are most easily brought in from iClone (or 3DXchange?).

Look at this thread for what people are doing with CC3, both with an without the Iray plug-in.  https://forum.reallusion.com/382219/Showcase-Yourself-Show-us-what-you-got

My bottom line is:  For "maximum showcase capability" you will probably want something in addition to CC3, so why not iClone?

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

I still have 3ds Max if I get desperate. Its been over 10 years since I have used Maya or 3ds max so it will be interesting. lol