This has been an interesting and insightful thread... I have a couple of thoughts/questions and need input on something.

I’m a 1 person Game studio using Unity. I’m not an expert yet… probably just below the intermediate level. 

One can get lost in trying to figure out which tool to use… then learning how to use that tool, etc. to the point you’re always learning/researching and never doing.

So,to leverage my time… and actually get to the place of making an actual game… I gotta do a combination of picking the right tool(s) and buying assets to use…and just get on with it... so I don't get stuck in the learning/researching vortex.

When I look around the “tool universe”… you basically have Blender, Maya, 3dsMax, Cinema4D,iClone, zBrush, etc. And the high level “topics” / features (in the context of this reply) would be Rendering,Modeling, Sculpting, Animation, Rigging, Texturing, VFX, Lighting. 

So,when I break down the various topics… here is how I see it.

Rendering– I’m using Unity so rendering can be handled by Unity… so the rendering prowess of the various packages I don’t think would/should matter?

Animation– Unity has some great animation assets you can get in the asset store… they seem to work great for folks… like the “Very Animation” asset, UMotion Pro and a bunch of other ones… not to mention assets like Final IK. Also, for Unity 2020,they are redoing their animation/rigging process/tools and from what I can see and heard… they are pretty good… to awesome. So, I don't see a need to take the deep dive into learning how to do animation on some other software package.

Rigging– same as above for Animation… Unity and some of the assets in the Unity Asset Store seem to do a good job.

VFX& Lighting – I would use Unity for that… especially with what they have coming out for 2019 and 2020… in terms of the VFX & Shader Graphs… Render Pipelines… along with a ton of solid assets in the asset store. 

Texturing– I think Substance Painter is a must learn tool and software to have. It seems like it has become the industry standard and I haven’t seen any assets in the Unity Asset store that comes close to doing what Substance Painter can do and I do plan on learning how to use this tool.

Now,here’s my issue… I’m not that talented of a modeler/sculptor… so a solution to my shortcomings in this area is what I’m looking for…  a way to buy a model/asset(from the Unity Asset store or from the various sites which sells 3d models)…and use that purchased 3d model as a “base” and then edit/modify it in a software package (perhaps using iClone or Character Creator 3) to make it “my own.” And then I can take it into Substance Painter… customize it some more…and then use the finish product in Unity where I can use the animations I already have in Unity to work with it… ie. retarget animations I already have to the new model/character that I created. SO... long story short... what is the best tool/software package to do this with (edit/modify/customize already made models/3d Objects)... given all of what I said above… where the learning curve isn’t as steep as it would be using Maya,Blender, zBrush, etc. and where you don’t have to have world class talent to produce something good?

PS – on an unrelated note... and curious... where does DAZ fit into all of this? I see it mentioned on the site but not sure, other than being a place to buy models… where it fits in at?

So this post is a couple years old, and I just wanted to get your take on how the landscape shapes up now?
For reference, I've been using Unity for most everything the last 5 years, but I really was impressed with the look of character faces created in CC3 with new facial plug-in, so I bit on buying CC3 with that plugin.
Been using it a week or so, and like the flow and export to Unity for custom created characters.

Now my question is, should I also pick up the iClone 7 asset for animation?    I'm a bit of a novice in this area, but I have used Umotion Pro in Unity to do a few small custom animations for my characters.
Would I be better served to continue educating my self in Umotion Pro with my CC3 characters or is iClone 7 now in a place where it could dramatically improve my workflow?

I'm not familiar with Umotion Pro, but what iClone would give you is access to quite a large library of pre-made animation clips (they would need to be purchased). In addition to that, you can create your own animations using keyframes. There are also various Mocap solutions that can be integrated with iClone.

As to the pre-made animations, you could check out the Content Store and the Marketplace to see if those motions would be of use to you.

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RAG DOLL COLLISION ANIMATIONS FOR ICLONE 8 & 7
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Ghost Origins

My latest Feature length film created with Iclone.

My IMDB listing
Anabran Abdhul Quarnain - IMDb

Appreciate the insightful perspective.    I'll go ahead and stick with Umotion Pro with the CC3 exports for now.
Thanks!