I'm not sure where to put this topic, forgive me if this is in the wrong place.

I recently came across a free 3D modeling program called "Sculptris".

http://www.sculptris.com/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DNRg6pdNeE

What I'm wondering if it is useful for modeling for Oblivion. Is it compatible? Can I import and export models created in this program? I know that Blender is a free 3D program that's compatible. This one, to me, seems to be simpler but more geared towards sculpting and it doesn't seem to be as powerful as Blender. I've been wanting to make a few personal mods that require creating new meshes, but I lack the experience and willpower to use Blender due to it's daunting interface. This one seems to be less... "difficult" to master. But I could be wrong.

Thoughts?

From what I could read in the "very" short documentation it exports into OBJ, thus it indeed is compatible. You can import/export OBJ files into/from NifSkope directly, or go the safer route and import them into Blender first to do some further edits, material settings, UV-mapping as used etc. and then import this into a NIF file ready to use.

I'm no sculptor, so I would certainly be lost in this application, but who can work this way already might have a really mighty extension to Oblivion modding in his hands now.

Definitely a nice looking program, but if you were to use it, it would seem as though a pen tablet would help (that is what appears to be used in the videos, unless they just have steady hands). But yes as Drake said, it is quite plausible to use for Oblivion.

I doubt it is any good for modding Oblivion. Maybe you can export as obj, but that is really limited. No collision, no animations and probably a lot of other small problems/things you can't do. Apart from that it is a sculpting program. Not really suited for making a low poly game model. It is worth nothing if you make a great looking apple mesh in that program and one of your apples placed in game cuts the framerate in half because it has 1 million polygons.

If you really want to do some serious modeling for Oblivion you have to use Blender or 3ds max. I think Maya has limited nif support as well. And some people use Wings3D I heard, but I think it doesn't have any nif support and you'd be stuck with export/import obj thing as well. 3ds max and Blender are definitely by far the best options. If you haven't learned a 3d program yet then why not learn Blender. It is always work to learn something new, but after a while you'll get used to the interface and workflow.

Blender is not that hard as they say. There are plenty tutorials available, just pick one and follow it.
This program looks very cool and it's free and all, but like Phitt said it's for making high poly models. It looks like zbrush I think.

Yeah I am a digital artist so I have a pressure sensitive pen tablet. But yeah. You're right about the high poly problem, Im wondering if there is a way to optimize the mesh and reduce the polygons. Oh well. I'll see if I can learn blender.

After testing it out, I agree with this. I looked at the wireframe on a model I quickly created and it had WAY too many polys. It's a fun and neat program, but I wouldn't recommend it for Oblivion.

Is there any program or operation that you could use to strip down the polygon count to a game friendly level?

blender should have a function for that, and max and maya certainly do. however, its never as precise and reliable as modeling low-poly from the beginning. a lot of thought goes into making a low-poly model look good, and a function can never mimic that.

@ Lady Nerevar: Very true.

I think I will experiment with both programs and see what happens.

On a side note, I do have a question that is a bit off topic, but I just don't see the need in creating an entirely new topic to ask it.

I have this character here: http://aeolianmode.deviantart.com/art/Kaikuro-Reference-150453745 The drawings are a bit old, but that's irrelevant. The question is: will it be possible for me to sculpt a mask and eyepatch similar to what's in the drawing to fit seamlessly on my character in Oblivion? (I am roleplaying as him, but the "experience" is kind of hindered by the fact that he's lacking significant character elements). An eyepatch doesn't seem too hard, but... A mask? See, I'm not entirely certain how it would be possible to fit a mask that tight, perfectly conforming to his face since the shape is modified in game via the chargen. I COULD create a texture for him instead, but the thing is, I want to be able to remove the mask via inventory... and I don't think that can be achieved with a static texture, unless there's some odd way to swap facial textures in game. If I'm making any sense whatsoever.

Here's another question that's MUCH more off-topic but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask: I have a mod called "Personality Idles", but the single idle that I wanted the most isn't present in the mod because it probably requires some non-vanilla animating. I just want a 'slouch' idle, or some form of bad posture. I can probably animate it myself if I learn blender. I just want to know if it's possible to apply this idle to my PC by perhaps integrating it into Personality Idles myself somehow.

I believe masks similar to that exist, not sure which mod though. You could texture them for your own use likely. However, to go about making one would likely need you to import the head model, then duplicate it. Then you make the duplicate slightly bigger, delete unnecessary parts, then edit so it looks like a mask instead of a face. That is of course more complicated than just finding one, because I am sure I had one similar when I roleplayed a ninja-type character.

Hm... Would the head model that is imported retain the appearance that he was given in-game? I'm just thinking about how to go about this...

I doubt that anyone's thought of a crescent shape mask like the one I've drawn there, it's a bit odd but intentionally so, as it's symbolic. The crescent shape is kind of important and me being a very picky roleplayer, I think I'll end up making one myself sometime given the fact that it's possible...

Excuse me, I wasn't clear enough with my instructions in my last post, nor did I look at the picture very well. I see what you mean by crescent shape, so yes, you likely would have to create one or edit an existing one. Once you have duplicated the original head model and conformed the mask you would want to delete the head model. It was only for reference. once you get the model in game you might have to make some adjustments for clipping issues. In the Construction Set you might want the Mask to take up the tail slot, since that character does not appear to have a tail.

Thanks for the thoughts. If this can be achieved in Blender, I'd gladly give it a shot. I'll figure things out.

Best of luck to you. Nothing I ever modeled I could get to work in game correctly. Never figured out why either. But then again, i was trying something way too advanced at the time. While I can model very well, I am stumped on what to do after that. UV mapping, and all of that (nifskope editing) goes over my head.

Just a heads up, it is very possible to do such masks.

As you were told already, just take a Vanilla head mesh (or whichever your race uses) and create the mask (in whichever way you choose) so it's fitting this particular shape.
When it's done use Scanti's Conformulator to create EGM and TRI files for you and it will deform along with your head to the settings done in CharGen as well as to facial animations.

I don't know how accurate this conformulation process really is, maybe there will be some clipping left with extreme head shapes on first try, but the Conformulator is quite a mighty tool even for other things than hairs.

Wow. I had no idea about this Conformulator and you told me exactly what I was curious about- the mask shape conforming to my character's face. I'll definitely give this a shot, maybe in Blender, but I wonder if it would be easier in this sculpting program- aside from the high number of polygons that also might be able to be reduced... Thanks for directing me to these resources. I'll post again here if I run into trouble I guess.

peh, so confusing. I hope I get things worked out.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

Aeolian Mode, I would agree that the sculpting program creates objects with so many polys that you would need to learn another program to decrease the poly count.

Blender is a good choice but can be a bit difficult to learn, partly because it has so many capabilities besides 3D modeling that the button panels include many options that are irrelevant to your task. Although there are many tutorials for Blender, AFAIK the only ones specific to creating content for Oblivion are those at: http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/forum/19-modeling/.

If you find Blender more that you are ready for right now, Wings3D is an easy to learn 3D modeling program that you may want to try. If you do, there is a set of tutorials that you may find helpful. They are specific to creating content for Oblivion and include creating collision meshes. You can find them at: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16305.

Good luck.

I also recommend Vince's tutorials and Mr. Siika's tutorial found here: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18979
I have learned from those two.

Use Blender, then go to youtube and view one by one the basics tutorials. You wont regret it. Steep learning curve but so much easier once mastered.

Alright. I'm going to need a bit of help here, so I hope people will still check out this topic.

I created the mask mesh in Blender by importing the headhuman model and then deleting everything that I didn't need, getting the shape of my character's mask.

Now I'm at a loss of what to do next. I know it needs to be textured into the forest-green color. I also messed up on the eye area, but that doesn't matter because when the mask is done I'm creating the eyepatch that is going to be covering up that area.

Anyway, I exported the mask as a .nif file and now I'm not sure how to texture it and then get it into this Skanti's Conformulator to get it to... conform? I'm just pretty much at a loss. I learned how to model it and all but now I'm not sure what to do next.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

for the texture, you'll need to first UV map your mask. since its a solid color the map doesn't have to be very good (though if you want stitching or a cloth texture you'll have to put some more effort into it). you then need to create a texture based on the map. again, if its just a solid color you can have a small (like 4x4) dds of just the color. if you want anything more elaborate, like the aforementioned stitching, i'd go with a 512x512. afterwards you just go into nifskope and add the texture in there (might have to attach the NiTexturingProperty block first)

I'm trying to learn how to UV map it but it's going really over my head. I can easily create a texture using Photoshop but applying it to the mask is really daunting me. I tried to follow a video tutorial on UV mapping but it's not helping much. I do want to create a simple color with stitching and giving it a realistic 'texture', but I simply can't figure out how to get it on the mask right now.

This is probably hugely off-topic by now, but I dont' see how this kind of thing could belong in the construction set forum... It pretty much IS a 'mod' that I'm working on for myself. >.< Hope the moderators don't find this too off topic.

Instead of creating a texture, load an existing texture from oblivion and just tailor your UV map to fit it.

As I said, creating a texture isn't a problem for me. The UV mapping itself is going over my head. But I'll keep trying to learn it and figure out what I need to do.