thanks so very much for both answers. it seems this might be possible after all. but, 
i am not sure how do you do things such as :

1. applying image to the figure's texture
2. apply image to the transparency
   or
3. do a transmap on the body and head and write things.

i will try to read about how to do that - but if you have any quick tips i would be very happy to read them... :-)