Importing models from another game to use as a Custom Race?

[lljELLyFiSHll]

{Repost, due to posting in the wrong section/Forgetting to Specify} 

 

I've got quite a bit of free time on my hands at the moment, and I kinda of wanted to get started in modding. Now, my predicament is this~ First thing I want to try is to import a model from another game into skyrim as a custom race. But I hardly know where to begin   I've downloaded the necessary programs I think I'd need such as Nifskope, CreationKit, Blender, Milkshape3D etc etc, and I've already got the 3D model of the character I'd like to import and the file-types are as followed; .FBX, .DAE, and .SMD . And as far as I know, Skyrim uses the .nif files if I'm not mistaken. How would I go about converting them to something Skyrim can use, preferably as a custom race? Also, is there a way to seperate the clothing and hair from the character that's being imported, that way I can switch-out hair/armors as I see fit? (If there are any tutorials regarding this on the website already, please do post them. Any help is greatly appreciated    )

[blabba]

Can't help you much with blender know-how (I use 3dsmax)

 

But basically take your model import it, import the skyrim skeleton.

Skin the mesh to the skeleton and export.

 

Then you need to build the race in creation kit which if you google you will find multiple detailed guides on the first page of results.

 

Edit: Forgot to mention that structuring face models will be tricky and that you should probably skip over that part for now or just use a "mask" instead of making it a proper head thing.

[lljELLyFiSHll]

Thank you lots. I've gotten started downloading 3DS Max, and it looks like it might be a while(A long while) before it's complete.  I've been checking out a few tutorials online, and found one that suits my exact needs.