I've resorted to playing with kids' 3D modelling programs, and found Cosmic Blobs to be about my speed. Cranked out a character after just a couple of hours of puttering. I would like to see if the models can be used in other programs, but have had no luck yet. It is a VRML file (extension .wrl) and I have no program that seems to open this. Bryce 5 is supposed to open VRML files, but I get an error message when I try. I suspect this is because it opens VRML 1 and perhaps Blobs saves files in VRML 2. Does anyone know of a program (for Mac, ideally) which could convert VRML2 files to OBJ or maybe even VRML1? All the convertors I've found so far work in the opposite direction.

AC3D can import them and then export as an obj or something else more useful. It is not free but the demo is free and full featured for 2 weeks. The program costs about 70 dollars.
Actuallythe dude looks pretty cool. Hey if it works who am I to judge.

You could get 3DWin; it will convert just about any format (including VRML 2) to just about anything else. It's also not free (29 Euro, about 37.53 US dollars) but it's a might handy program to have if you're going to work with multiple software products.

Thanks to both of you fo the suggestions. :) I'll see what I can do with them. (Hoping AC3D will run on Os X.3.9, otherwise I'll borrow the Windows computer at work and test out the convertor.)

Okay, this is interesting: I e-mailed the Cosmic Blobs people asking about file exporting and conversion, and it turns out they're working on the beta for a similar modelling program (not a kids' version), but which can export OBJ and 3Dxml files as well.

If anyone else wants to try the beta, it's free to download at http://cbmodelpro.com/

Looks cool!