Posts
New Tutorial: Replacing Textures with Sim PE
>> Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Hi all, just thought I'd let you know that I've posted this tutorial on my LJ. It can be found here.
Read more...
Setting a Sim's Height with SimPe
>> Sunday, September 13, 2009
I hate that all Sims are the same height, it drives me crazy. Back when I was first doing Sea of Moons Kerrin always looked like he was shorter than everyone else despite the fact they were all the same height. I started using the stretchskeleton cheat, but then I'd forget to use it every time and I wound up with him sometimes taller and sometimes shorter. Then I found a tutorial to change heights using SimPe somewhere I've long since forgotten, so I thought I'd pass on the how to here.
All Sims are defulted to "1". A very quick reference: 0.89=4'11" and 1.06=6'5".1. Open the neighborhood using SimPe.
2. Open the Sim Browser.
3. Open the Sim you want to permanently change.
4. Click "More" then "Open Character File."
5. In the Resource Tree click "Age Data" which opens "Age Data" in the Resource List. Click that which opens the CPF Editor. Click "Stretch" (which will say =1 on yours). Under Value type the height you want your Sim to be. In my case, Zachary is 1.03, or just under 6'3".
Commit, Save and done. :) If you want to do another Sim, you have to go back and choose the neighborhood again and go forward from there.
Clothing Conversions
>> Friday, July 3, 2009
An in depth look at converting one clothing item to another mesh, such as a fabulous Maxis made T-Shirt or outfit that you desperately want for your BodyBuilders or other bodyshape meshes.
Explains how to do a conversion using Fanseelamb @ MTS2 textures, to the Slimmer BodyBuilder mesh.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
*Uses Paint Shop Pro 7 but can be done using any paint program that can handle layers. Basic knowledge of BodyShop and creating clothing helpful but not needed.
So, you've seen an outfit you love that you'd like for another body shape? Hopefully I can teach you how, step by step! First load up BodyShop. For conversions, you will need to make several new projects but it doesn't matter the order. Select "start new project".
Now, "create clothing".
You can choose which items you want to copy in any order, I'm choosing the Slim Body Builder mesh that I'm converting Fanseelamb's textures to.
It is semi-important that you choose a mesh that is comparable to the clothing you are wanting to convert, since I am doing polo shirts with jeans, this mesh makes a pretty good match since it has the raised collar and short sleeves.
Click on "export selected textures".
Now choose a name for this project that's easy to remember and abbreviate as much as possible, they don't allow many letters here.
Once that project has been exported, close it and start another new project.
Now I am choosing the polo shirt I want to copy onto my SBB mesh. Fanseelamb does most of her clothing as separates, so I have to do 3 total projects to get the finished conversion.
Same thing here, name this project, maybe adding the word "texture" to make it less confusing when you go to locate these in your paint program.
Now since I'm not copying an entire outfit, I need the jeans. So I closed out this project and yet again, started a new one.
*Side note, I have done this as well: Maxis jeans and shoes make for good textures, follow the same process here to use theirs and you don't even need permission!
These are the jeans I am cloning (forgot to mention that I did contact Fanseelamb and she graciously allowed me to use her textures for this purpose).
Named my pants project and closed it, return to the main screen of "start new project" or "load saved project".
This time, you want to "load saved project".
You will never need to open the projects you created that contain the clothes you are copying from BodyShop, they are for texture purposes only and will not be imported into the game.
Now look at the pic above, you can see the 3 projects I made, all on the same date (looking at the date helps as well sometimes) clicked on my SBB mesh and loaded up that project.
Now, leave BodyShop open! And open up your paint program.
I know this isn't a very close up view but it is my project folder for the red striped polo shirt. All of your BodyShop projects can be found in: Your Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Projects
Inside each project folder are several different files, each with their own job. This folder above only has 3. From left to right, they are: the package file (the actual file that imports it into the game) the texture file (the one with all the color) and the alpha file (the black & white one that dictates what shows up on the mesh). The only one I need from this folder is the texture one, I am NOT editing the alpha for this shirt because it's going to be copied to my SBB mesh.
Next, I opened up the jeans project folder and chose to open just the texture as well, so I have both textures I am using to make my outfit open at the same time.
And here is my screen with both files open, I am going to do the shirt first and minimize the jeans as to not get cluttered.
The next step is to open up the files for the mesh you are converting TO. (The full body SBB one with the collar). Open up the ALPHA file in that folder, you don't need the texture one because we are going to work on top of the alpha to be able to see what goes where.
In the above pic, you can see that this particular mesh has a bump map. Well, this plaid shirt texture will not look so great showing through my red striped polo, so what I did was flood fill the bump map texture with light gray and saved it. Now it will not show up on my new clothes project. You can't delete the bump maps, this causes an error but flood filling it serves the same purpose.
Pictured what I explained above, the window on top is the bump map, flood filled with gray. And you can see it asks you to replace it. Close that out and let's work on the actual conversion.
Conversions are the simplest type of clothing to do other than adjusting a color to make a new color. Why? Because you don't have to start from scratch, all you need to do is fix what doesn't translate to your other mesh and if you pick a good one, not much work is usually needed. Let's face it, the artist you are cloning from did all the hard work already! And make sure to thank them and get permission first if you are going to upload anything.
Pictured above: The bottom layer is the alpha from the SBB mesh. All I did was copy the entire red polo shirt and paste it on top of my alpha layer. Renamed the layer to "shirt" and it is above the alpha which is the "background" layer. Simple, right? It's even the right size already since it was created for the game, this is even more simple than making clothes from pictures that you have to resize and clone a lot.
Now to see what this looks like. Save your file as the "texture" one from your SBB projects folder. And maximize BodyShop.
Pretty good, huh? Like I said, since the clothes you are copying were already made for the game, they usually translate pretty well because they are the same size. Now men to women or younger ages might be different, never tried that before!
Back to paint.
*Note: There is one tiny thing I noticed before I was completely done with this, there is a slight pink band around the bottom of his sleeves because of the blending thing she did on the texture, and I fixed that with the clone brush, as I will point out again later but I did not do it right now even though I should have.
Back in paint, I closed out the shirt texture, we don't need it anymore because anything you would need to fix you can get from the one that's on top of your alpha.
Maximized the jeans texture, cropped it to include only the front of the jeans, thinking back I probably didn't need to separate the front from the back but it's a habit. Oh well, I did it anyway! "Paste as new layer", named it, "jeans front" to avoid confusion. Always rename the layer so you don't get confused.
Save the whole thing again as the texture file from your SBB folder. Go back to BodyShop to see what you've got.
Nice! Although since these were separates, there is a gap between the shirt and jeans. The jeans were also "untucked" so that is why they were lower than normal. Easily fixed though.
Working on the "shirt" layer, so it will appear on top of the jeans, I cloned the red at the bottom in a sweeping motion to make the edge of the shirt appear lower. A straight line would have sufficed but this looks a bit more natural and is pretty easy to do. And you can always go back with the eraser since you are working with layers to get it just right.
Back to the jeans texture, I undid the cropping and cropped again to include just the back. Pasted that as a new layer, renamed it "jeans back". Moved that layer underneath the shirt layer.
Save it again, go see in BodyShop. This is where the "work" begins.
Now that I've gotten most of the texture converted (minus the shoes) I can start to fix what didn't come through all right. The jeans don't match up at the seams and the shirt is not exactly lining up at the sides either. I believe the jeans are like that because the SBB is a bit wider than regular Maxis men, could be wrong though.
Back to paint, I undid the cropping on the jeans again to copy the shoes. Now Adele did her shoes on the right side of her texture and the SBB ones are at the bottom. (FYI, Fanseelamb did her own conversion from Adele's jeans, that's why her name is on the jeans texture).
This can get tricky when the shoes are not located in the same place but can be fixed most of the time with the clone tool. What I did was cropped around Adele's shoe, copied it four times to the SBB window and rotated them sideways, each facing the opposite direction. Looks kind of weird but can't be helped with what I cloned from. The SBB shoes are actually supposed to be viewed from this angle as if you were looking at the sides of the shoes, not the tops as I have, but they still translated okay. I could have done many different things with the shoes, copied Maxis ones or left the original that was on the SBB texture to begin with.
Saved it again and this is the finished texture above. Notice changes? Yeah, that's because I am picky.
1. Sleeves are a smidge longer, fixed the pink thing by cloning the red stripe all the way across the sleeve. You can do this by changing the opacity of the layer you are on to see the alpha layer underneath, it helps to be able to see what will show up on the mesh. (Remember, white shows up, black does not).
2. Um, the bottom of the shirt was all red? Yeah, but I wasn't crazy about the big red part at the bottom, so I cloned the white stripe again at the bottom to break it up.
3. Fixed the sides of the jeans that didn't come through, just use the clone brush and clone away!
If you're wondering, that big white space in the middle of the window is the collar for the shirt, I left it white. Normally, that is where the shoes would be located but if you aren't sure what any part of your alpha is, put some color on it, save it and go to BodyShop to see what has the color.
Finished project, enter a tool tip for your game, choose what category you want the clothing in and import away!
Want to share your prized creations? After they have been imported to the game, go to: Your Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/SavedSims
Looking at the date here can help immensely! The one I just did is at the top, right click on it and...
Add it to a new zip file, I chose to create one on my desktop for easy finding. And now that it's been confirmed- thanks again guys! You CAN change the name of the packages after they have been imported, helpful to everyone for identifying what they have downloaded and if they ever wanted to remove it later.
The End! Hope you can all go out there and convert away and hope I made it simple enough to follow!
Exporting your Sims with SimPE
>> Saturday, March 14, 2009
When you've found your sim click on use Select Build or Clone Sims, Now if you'de like just go back to the main page and select Package sims...
A simple tutorial on how to export your sims using SimPE... I figured I had such a difficult time figuring this out why not 80)
Open up SimPE and select
Tools
Neighborhood
Neighborhood Browser
Choose your neighborhood and open it
Now Go back to Tools,
Select Neighborhood,
Sims Surgery
Scroll through the list of Sims, Thankfully it is in alphabetical order, 80) 
Once you've found your Sim press export next to (patient Sim)
I add their name next to the file name, for easy location at a later time and then save.
Here's the painstaking part, waiting for Bodyshop to load, LOL! 
Locate the sim you exported and press the clone sim button at the bottom, then save.
Once you have cloned your sim, go back through the list and locate the original exported sim and delete it. This eliminates duplicates and as well if you try to package the or use the exported one for some reason it doesnt work...
Photoshop Snow
>> Saturday, December 27, 2008
I actually learned how to make photoshop snow effects! Found a tutorial even I could understand, if I can do it, anyone can!
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/photoshop-snow/
Tried to copy and paste, would not let me. So click on the link above. I only followed the first two pages of the tutorial. If you want to do more with it, (like motion blur)there are 2 other pages as well.
Cheers!
Making Clothing Recolors
>> Friday, December 5, 2008
A tutorial on how to do clothing recolors using Paint Shop Pro 7, general techniques (including editing alpha layers) that can be followed for use with any paint program that can handle layers. Does NOT address making meshes or bump maps.
You will need:
-Bodyshop
-A paint program that handles multiple layers
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
First off let me explain the four main parts that make up what you see in the game.
1. The mesh: I'm sure downloading clothing or hair you've found that the item will not show up without this. This is the actual shaping of the clothing. (a shirt with a raised collar or heeled shoes)
2. The texture: This is the look of the clothing. (Jeans or a red blouse) If flood filled white, it creates a white texture on the mesh, usually used when uploading new meshes for skinners to use.
3. The alpha layer: Don't be afraid of this one, alpha editable just means you can change the shape of the clothing on the mesh. Some meshes are actually alpha editable, meaning you could shorten a skirt or change the shape of it's shoes. (This is usually noted by a color difference on the mesh where the parts can be changed, like pink) I will not be covering editing the alpha on meshes, just textures. To be put simply, the alpha layer determines what is shown on the mesh. The black areas are not shown, white is. So to change the look of a v-neck shirt to a crew neck, you would fill in the area you want with white as shown later in this tutorial.
4. Bump map: You may have heard of these also, I won't be using a bump map in this tutorial because I don't need one. They are used to create depth to your texture (crinkles or folds on clothing) Most Maxis skins have a bump map layer, they usually look best when set to overlay on top of your texture. I have never bothered making my own bump maps as I use photos of clothing which already have texture. But if you recolor a Maxis mesh, you will just have to put the layer in with your texture, I have found that deleting the bump map causes problems, so if it has one, leave it.
Note: As I continue, the direction for the image will be underneath it, not on top.
For this tutorial, I will be using these three images. That is the first thing you will need. These came from www.gojane.com, they have good images that show the front and back of the clothing which is important if you don't want a lot of cloning to do. You CAN make clothing from scratch but have to do a lot of work with folds and creases to get good looking textures. I do it this way to cut a lot of corners. Of course if you want to upload your creations anywhere, make sure the images you're using aren't copyrighted or get permission to use them and always give credit.
This is the mesh I am using from www.lianasims2.com. She has a lot of meshes that are free to use as long as you don't include them in a zip file. Of course, doing this for your own game with no plans to redistribute, you can use ANY mesh you already have in your game without permission. I chose this one because it's close to the outfit I am going for, I wanted long jeans with a short sleeved top and a sweater vest over it. It's not perfect, but we can edit the alpha layer to get what I want. (Note: to see this in the game you need to download both the mesh and the white texture)
Okay, after you have picked what you want to make and have decided on the perfect mesh, load up Bodyshop. (It came with your game and you have to load the latest one from your newest expansion pack) Once it loads, click on "Create Parts" then "Start New Project". If you want to save a project and come back later you can, but a word of warning: Make sure you save your texture in the format your paint program uses or it will be a MERGED image that you can't edit the individual layers anymore, not very fun to change "one little thing".
Okay, now click on "Create Clothing".
Now you need to find the mesh you want so you can export it's texture. I've chosen an adult female mesh, everyday, full outfit. Once you see the one you want, click on it and then "Export Selected Textures".
Now choose a name for your project, there aren't many letters given here for you, so shorten the words when possible. Make it unique also because the more you get, the harder they will be to find and if you want to get into uploading, you need to be able to find what you want. I've chosen to name mine "argylesweat_jean". Now click on "Accept Project Name".
This is the next screen you are taken to and we will be coming back here frequently until we are finished. First off, note the location of your exported texture (pointed out above). For now, we don't have to worry about anything else, we need to leave Bodyshop OPEN, never close anything until you are done and open up your paint program.
All right, go to "Open", find the location of your project and open it's folder. (Opened project folder is pictured above)
There are four icons here:
the package itself (what you get in the zip file when downloading)
the texture (is white for now)
the alpha layer (highlighted)
and the bump map (grey). Open the one that says "Alpha".
Note: The bump map for this particular mesh is blank so I don't have to worry about it, it makes no difference if I leave it out or include it.
Once you have opened the alpha image, open up the clothing pic in the same window. I am starting with the jeans but you can begin anywhere you like. Now comes the part where you may differ, depending on which program you are using. The general idea is to copy and paste the jeans on top of your alpha layer.
Here is the way I do it but it isn't the only way. I crop the jeans pic to only include one side at a time. (Here it is the front I am doing first)
Then I select the "Magic Wand" tool and click on the white background.
Go to "Selections" then "Invert" and the jeans are selected.
(This really only works when you have a white background and the colors of the clothing are different. It would not work on a white tee shirt for example because the background blends with the shirt).
You can simply crop around the jeans and paste that way but you will have more erasing and cloning to do. You DO however want to make sure you separate the front from the back, this is hard if not impossible to do in the paint program.
Okay, depending on how you select around the jeans, "Copy" then "Paste as new layer" into your program.
Now go back into the jeans pic and undo all the cropping you did, repeat to get the back side by itself and paste it as another layer.
Here is what we have, you can close the pic of the jeans if you want to keep the paint program from getting cluttered. You don't need it anymore, you will be cloning from within paint.
I know they look small but we are far from finished. Sometimes an image is not the right proportion but is easily fixed. Notice I have renamed the two separate layers "backjean" and "frontjean". Every time you paste a new layer, rename it or it will become very difficult to find.
I have also positioned the jeans about where they need to go but this entire process is trial and error. You simply have to adjust until you are happy with it.
Now we need to see what this looks like on our model to see what needs to be fixed.
Go to "Save As", your project folder should still show up, and click on the "Texture" icon this time. You want to OVERWRITE that file and make sure the format is .bmp, it should already be selected.
Now minimize your paint program, you didn't close Bodyshop did you? Click on it to bring it back up and then click on the "Refresh Preview Sim" icon. The front looks pretty good, you can spin the sim around to see the back as well like I have done. Not so great, I need to stretch the pockets a little and as you can tell, fill in the bottom and sides of the jeans. However, the waist looks good so I am leaving the top where it is.
Anytime you want to see the seams from side to side, hit "F6" and it will bring your sims arms up so you can see underneath them.
Here is where that trial and error comes into play. I am starting with the front, do one layer at a time until you are happy with it. Make sure "frontjean" is the active layer and choose the "Clone" tool. For pants I generally choose a bigger size brush because it is a large area to fill in that would take all day if you picked a small one.
Choose a spot to clone from on the same layer and fill in all the areas that are white. Remember: white is what shows up on your mesh, paint on black all day long, it will not be there.
Important: Make sure at this point you do NOT alter the background layer, we are working on top of it, that is your alpha and you don't want to create more work for yourself by having to fix it.
When you finish with the front, SAVE it as the "Texture" again (Do this each time before you go back into Bodyshop or it won't be different), maximize Bodyshop again and refresh the sim. Not terrible, the jeans are a little fuzzy but that's because my source image was a little pixelated. Still, good enough for the purpose of this tutorial.
Now go back into paint and work on the back. I stretched the jeans image first before cloning anything and then filled it in like the front. Generally, the seams on the pockets, etc. look best when cloned in a straight line to the edge.
Notice that the edges of the first layer are not clean lines, they don't need to be because of the alpha layer, so you can get a little messy outside the lines.
Here is my finished jeans texture, I cloned from the front layers edges to the back side edges so they would make a better seam.
The area indicated needs a bit more blending to look perfect but it will do for now.
Before you move on, save, go back and refresh the Bodyshop sim and make sure all the sides line up and it looks good.
Next I'll tackle the chore of shoes. I will be honest here, they are completely trial and error for me and sometimes I have resorted to copying Maxis textures because I can't get what I like. Basically on this texture, the area marked is the soles of the shoes, can't really be seen so black flood fill works fine for this.
The lower area is the sides and tops of the shoes, if you load up a Maxis texture you can see the difference better, (the shoes are on the bottom of their textures side by side) basically in this image though, you are looking down from a bird's eye view and filling in one side of the shoe and the top, it duplicates the opposite side for you to be identical. (Meaning this is ONE shoe, top and side. The other shoe gets the same texture)
To fill in the bottom, change over to the BACKGROUND layer and use the "Magic Wand" tool to select the white area. Now create a new layer and select it. Then flood fill black onto the new layer. Don't flood fill the background layer!
I did the same for the tops of the shoes, select the background, make a new layer and flood fill that one black. Now comes the preference part. You can use textures for your shoes, this is just one way I have found to work okay.
I have selected the "Retouch" tool and chosen "Lighten RGB". Notice I am also working on the "shoestop" layer. Then I simply stroke the brush along the tip and sides of the shoes to give them a sort of shiny look. It's certainly not the best shoes I've seen but it doesn't look horrible either.
Let's move on to the top part of this outfit. I opened up the argyle sweater and repeated the process to copy and paste the front and back, each to their own separate layer. Rename the layers accordingly, I got extremely lucky with the size, it is nearly perfect. It's best to position them in the middle of the texture and just clone in the sides instead of stretching the image which will distort that lovely pattern.
Back into Bodyshop, refresh the sim. There is a small gap between the pants and sweater, easily fixed. Also if I liked the look of this as a v-neck sweater I could fill in the sleeves and quit but I am going to go for an undershirt too and you wouldn't learn how to edit an alpha that way!
Went back to my paint program and cloned the gray back of the sweater to the sides around the front to fill it in, leaving out the sleeves since I want this to be a vest over the ruffled shirt.
This is the tricky part but simple once you get the general idea of it.
Editing the alpha layer:
I always zoom in two or three times when doing this to get it just right.
I have pasted the front of the ruffled shirt on it's own layer and positioned it about where I want, underneath the sweater's layer.
I also lowered the opacity of the "argylefront" layer to see the one underneath better.
Now hide ALL layers except the background and the one that needs the alpha edit. (The ruffled front in this case)
Change the layer's opacity so you can see the black background in contrast. The area pointed out that looks grey is what you need to fill in with white to see the shirt on the sim.
Select your paintbrush (Now we are working on the BACKGROUND layer) and pick a large size to do the big area and then reduce it to do the details. Mostly you want to follow the outline of the neck of the shirt, don't go past it or you will have to fix it with black. Paint all the pixels white (the brush should be set to "square" for this and "hardness" 100) underneath your shirt image that are black.
Once you are done it should look something like this. (This shows only the background layer and this particular step takes the longest to do).
A tip to get nice gradual lines on a neck: When you zoom in close, the pixels should not go in a straight line upwards, make them like a pyramid, increasing by one or two squares at a time. (In other words, don't have five squares going up at a time. Look at it like a staircase, one or two squares upwards at a time).
Let's go ahead and see if this is all right or needs more improvement.
First, make sure NO other layers are visible except the background.
Click "Save As" and choose the "alpha" icon this time. Overwrite this and go back into bodyshop but don't you dare close anything!
Refresh the sim, the neckline looks great but notice that the shirt sticks out past the back of the sweater. Also I don't like the gray coming up to the mid seam so I am going to change that part to the texture of the ruffled shirt so it looks like the back has the collar of the ruffled shirt underneath the vest.
I am going to finish the alpha before going on to fixing the texture.
Repeat the same process, hide all layers but the background and the one you are working with. Reduce it's opacity and then fill in with white paintbrush what you want. I went from the sides of the indentation at a gradual dip to the other side as shown in the next pic.
You really don't want to go above the existing alpha, stick with what's in between until you get comfortable changing things like sleeve length. (Also remember the mesh you are working with; unless the mesh is clinging to the sims body (like underwear), if you edit the alpha in certain areas it will look funny because it is raised from their skin). For instance, if this mesh had a raised collar, I would probably have left the shape instead of changing it.
Here is my finished alpha, front and back.
Save it again under the "alpha" icon in your projects folder and check in Bodyshop if you'd like.
This will probably take several tries to get everything lined up properly.
Here is my finished texture:
Copied and pasted the sleeve part from the ruffled shirt image as it's own layer. Then cloned it to the remaining sleeves, also changed the neck on the back to be the collar of the ruffled shirt.
Once you are satisfied with the end result, SAVE your images as the "Texture" icon (make sure all layers are visible!) They will be merged and no longer editable by layers unless you save it again as a paint image in the same folder. (Useful for later if you load it in game and don't like what you see)
Go back into Bodyshop, select the categories you want it in (Outerwear, etc.) Type in a "Tool Tip" this shows up when hovered over in the game. Then click "Import To Game" and you have just completed your custom clothing!
Load up the game and buy that outfit!
*If you decide to share your creation, make sure you have all necessary permissions first and to find your file go to:
My Documents/EA Games/TheSims 2/SavedSims
(Don't pull the package from your projects folder!)
You will see them listed by date, the newest one should be first. Do NOT change the name you see here, it was assigned by bodyshop. You can then click on the "package" file and add it to a zip. You can name the zip file anything you want for easy finding.
Read more...
You will need:
-Bodyshop
-A paint program that handles multiple layers
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
First off let me explain the four main parts that make up what you see in the game.
1. The mesh: I'm sure downloading clothing or hair you've found that the item will not show up without this. This is the actual shaping of the clothing. (a shirt with a raised collar or heeled shoes)
2. The texture: This is the look of the clothing. (Jeans or a red blouse) If flood filled white, it creates a white texture on the mesh, usually used when uploading new meshes for skinners to use.
3. The alpha layer: Don't be afraid of this one, alpha editable just means you can change the shape of the clothing on the mesh. Some meshes are actually alpha editable, meaning you could shorten a skirt or change the shape of it's shoes. (This is usually noted by a color difference on the mesh where the parts can be changed, like pink) I will not be covering editing the alpha on meshes, just textures. To be put simply, the alpha layer determines what is shown on the mesh. The black areas are not shown, white is. So to change the look of a v-neck shirt to a crew neck, you would fill in the area you want with white as shown later in this tutorial.
4. Bump map: You may have heard of these also, I won't be using a bump map in this tutorial because I don't need one. They are used to create depth to your texture (crinkles or folds on clothing) Most Maxis skins have a bump map layer, they usually look best when set to overlay on top of your texture. I have never bothered making my own bump maps as I use photos of clothing which already have texture. But if you recolor a Maxis mesh, you will just have to put the layer in with your texture, I have found that deleting the bump map causes problems, so if it has one, leave it.
Note: As I continue, the direction for the image will be underneath it, not on top.
For this tutorial, I will be using these three images. That is the first thing you will need. These came from www.gojane.com, they have good images that show the front and back of the clothing which is important if you don't want a lot of cloning to do. You CAN make clothing from scratch but have to do a lot of work with folds and creases to get good looking textures. I do it this way to cut a lot of corners. Of course if you want to upload your creations anywhere, make sure the images you're using aren't copyrighted or get permission to use them and always give credit.
This is the mesh I am using from www.lianasims2.com. She has a lot of meshes that are free to use as long as you don't include them in a zip file. Of course, doing this for your own game with no plans to redistribute, you can use ANY mesh you already have in your game without permission. I chose this one because it's close to the outfit I am going for, I wanted long jeans with a short sleeved top and a sweater vest over it. It's not perfect, but we can edit the alpha layer to get what I want. (Note: to see this in the game you need to download both the mesh and the white texture)
Okay, after you have picked what you want to make and have decided on the perfect mesh, load up Bodyshop. (It came with your game and you have to load the latest one from your newest expansion pack) Once it loads, click on "Create Parts" then "Start New Project". If you want to save a project and come back later you can, but a word of warning: Make sure you save your texture in the format your paint program uses or it will be a MERGED image that you can't edit the individual layers anymore, not very fun to change "one little thing".
Okay, now click on "Create Clothing".
Now you need to find the mesh you want so you can export it's texture. I've chosen an adult female mesh, everyday, full outfit. Once you see the one you want, click on it and then "Export Selected Textures".
Now choose a name for your project, there aren't many letters given here for you, so shorten the words when possible. Make it unique also because the more you get, the harder they will be to find and if you want to get into uploading, you need to be able to find what you want. I've chosen to name mine "argylesweat_jean". Now click on "Accept Project Name".
This is the next screen you are taken to and we will be coming back here frequently until we are finished. First off, note the location of your exported texture (pointed out above). For now, we don't have to worry about anything else, we need to leave Bodyshop OPEN, never close anything until you are done and open up your paint program.
All right, go to "Open", find the location of your project and open it's folder. (Opened project folder is pictured above)
There are four icons here:
the package itself (what you get in the zip file when downloading)
the texture (is white for now)
the alpha layer (highlighted)
and the bump map (grey). Open the one that says "Alpha".
Note: The bump map for this particular mesh is blank so I don't have to worry about it, it makes no difference if I leave it out or include it.
Once you have opened the alpha image, open up the clothing pic in the same window. I am starting with the jeans but you can begin anywhere you like. Now comes the part where you may differ, depending on which program you are using. The general idea is to copy and paste the jeans on top of your alpha layer.
Here is the way I do it but it isn't the only way. I crop the jeans pic to only include one side at a time. (Here it is the front I am doing first)
Then I select the "Magic Wand" tool and click on the white background.
Go to "Selections" then "Invert" and the jeans are selected.
(This really only works when you have a white background and the colors of the clothing are different. It would not work on a white tee shirt for example because the background blends with the shirt).
You can simply crop around the jeans and paste that way but you will have more erasing and cloning to do. You DO however want to make sure you separate the front from the back, this is hard if not impossible to do in the paint program.
Okay, depending on how you select around the jeans, "Copy" then "Paste as new layer" into your program.
Now go back into the jeans pic and undo all the cropping you did, repeat to get the back side by itself and paste it as another layer.
Here is what we have, you can close the pic of the jeans if you want to keep the paint program from getting cluttered. You don't need it anymore, you will be cloning from within paint.
I know they look small but we are far from finished. Sometimes an image is not the right proportion but is easily fixed. Notice I have renamed the two separate layers "backjean" and "frontjean". Every time you paste a new layer, rename it or it will become very difficult to find.
I have also positioned the jeans about where they need to go but this entire process is trial and error. You simply have to adjust until you are happy with it.
Now we need to see what this looks like on our model to see what needs to be fixed.
Go to "Save As", your project folder should still show up, and click on the "Texture" icon this time. You want to OVERWRITE that file and make sure the format is .bmp, it should already be selected.
Now minimize your paint program, you didn't close Bodyshop did you? Click on it to bring it back up and then click on the "Refresh Preview Sim" icon. The front looks pretty good, you can spin the sim around to see the back as well like I have done. Not so great, I need to stretch the pockets a little and as you can tell, fill in the bottom and sides of the jeans. However, the waist looks good so I am leaving the top where it is.
Anytime you want to see the seams from side to side, hit "F6" and it will bring your sims arms up so you can see underneath them.
Here is where that trial and error comes into play. I am starting with the front, do one layer at a time until you are happy with it. Make sure "frontjean" is the active layer and choose the "Clone" tool. For pants I generally choose a bigger size brush because it is a large area to fill in that would take all day if you picked a small one.
Choose a spot to clone from on the same layer and fill in all the areas that are white. Remember: white is what shows up on your mesh, paint on black all day long, it will not be there.
Important: Make sure at this point you do NOT alter the background layer, we are working on top of it, that is your alpha and you don't want to create more work for yourself by having to fix it.
When you finish with the front, SAVE it as the "Texture" again (Do this each time before you go back into Bodyshop or it won't be different), maximize Bodyshop again and refresh the sim. Not terrible, the jeans are a little fuzzy but that's because my source image was a little pixelated. Still, good enough for the purpose of this tutorial.
Now go back into paint and work on the back. I stretched the jeans image first before cloning anything and then filled it in like the front. Generally, the seams on the pockets, etc. look best when cloned in a straight line to the edge.
Notice that the edges of the first layer are not clean lines, they don't need to be because of the alpha layer, so you can get a little messy outside the lines.
Here is my finished jeans texture, I cloned from the front layers edges to the back side edges so they would make a better seam.
The area indicated needs a bit more blending to look perfect but it will do for now.
Before you move on, save, go back and refresh the Bodyshop sim and make sure all the sides line up and it looks good.
Next I'll tackle the chore of shoes. I will be honest here, they are completely trial and error for me and sometimes I have resorted to copying Maxis textures because I can't get what I like. Basically on this texture, the area marked is the soles of the shoes, can't really be seen so black flood fill works fine for this.
The lower area is the sides and tops of the shoes, if you load up a Maxis texture you can see the difference better, (the shoes are on the bottom of their textures side by side) basically in this image though, you are looking down from a bird's eye view and filling in one side of the shoe and the top, it duplicates the opposite side for you to be identical. (Meaning this is ONE shoe, top and side. The other shoe gets the same texture)
To fill in the bottom, change over to the BACKGROUND layer and use the "Magic Wand" tool to select the white area. Now create a new layer and select it. Then flood fill black onto the new layer. Don't flood fill the background layer!
I did the same for the tops of the shoes, select the background, make a new layer and flood fill that one black. Now comes the preference part. You can use textures for your shoes, this is just one way I have found to work okay.
I have selected the "Retouch" tool and chosen "Lighten RGB". Notice I am also working on the "shoestop" layer. Then I simply stroke the brush along the tip and sides of the shoes to give them a sort of shiny look. It's certainly not the best shoes I've seen but it doesn't look horrible either.
Let's move on to the top part of this outfit. I opened up the argyle sweater and repeated the process to copy and paste the front and back, each to their own separate layer. Rename the layers accordingly, I got extremely lucky with the size, it is nearly perfect. It's best to position them in the middle of the texture and just clone in the sides instead of stretching the image which will distort that lovely pattern.
Back into Bodyshop, refresh the sim. There is a small gap between the pants and sweater, easily fixed. Also if I liked the look of this as a v-neck sweater I could fill in the sleeves and quit but I am going to go for an undershirt too and you wouldn't learn how to edit an alpha that way!
Went back to my paint program and cloned the gray back of the sweater to the sides around the front to fill it in, leaving out the sleeves since I want this to be a vest over the ruffled shirt.
This is the tricky part but simple once you get the general idea of it.
Editing the alpha layer:
I always zoom in two or three times when doing this to get it just right.
I have pasted the front of the ruffled shirt on it's own layer and positioned it about where I want, underneath the sweater's layer.
I also lowered the opacity of the "argylefront" layer to see the one underneath better.
Now hide ALL layers except the background and the one that needs the alpha edit. (The ruffled front in this case)
Change the layer's opacity so you can see the black background in contrast. The area pointed out that looks grey is what you need to fill in with white to see the shirt on the sim.
Select your paintbrush (Now we are working on the BACKGROUND layer) and pick a large size to do the big area and then reduce it to do the details. Mostly you want to follow the outline of the neck of the shirt, don't go past it or you will have to fix it with black. Paint all the pixels white (the brush should be set to "square" for this and "hardness" 100) underneath your shirt image that are black.
Once you are done it should look something like this. (This shows only the background layer and this particular step takes the longest to do).
A tip to get nice gradual lines on a neck: When you zoom in close, the pixels should not go in a straight line upwards, make them like a pyramid, increasing by one or two squares at a time. (In other words, don't have five squares going up at a time. Look at it like a staircase, one or two squares upwards at a time).
Let's go ahead and see if this is all right or needs more improvement.
First, make sure NO other layers are visible except the background.
Click "Save As" and choose the "alpha" icon this time. Overwrite this and go back into bodyshop but don't you dare close anything!
Refresh the sim, the neckline looks great but notice that the shirt sticks out past the back of the sweater. Also I don't like the gray coming up to the mid seam so I am going to change that part to the texture of the ruffled shirt so it looks like the back has the collar of the ruffled shirt underneath the vest.
I am going to finish the alpha before going on to fixing the texture.
Repeat the same process, hide all layers but the background and the one you are working with. Reduce it's opacity and then fill in with white paintbrush what you want. I went from the sides of the indentation at a gradual dip to the other side as shown in the next pic.
You really don't want to go above the existing alpha, stick with what's in between until you get comfortable changing things like sleeve length. (Also remember the mesh you are working with; unless the mesh is clinging to the sims body (like underwear), if you edit the alpha in certain areas it will look funny because it is raised from their skin). For instance, if this mesh had a raised collar, I would probably have left the shape instead of changing it.
Here is my finished alpha, front and back.
Save it again under the "alpha" icon in your projects folder and check in Bodyshop if you'd like.
This will probably take several tries to get everything lined up properly.
Here is my finished texture:
Copied and pasted the sleeve part from the ruffled shirt image as it's own layer. Then cloned it to the remaining sleeves, also changed the neck on the back to be the collar of the ruffled shirt.
Once you are satisfied with the end result, SAVE your images as the "Texture" icon (make sure all layers are visible!) They will be merged and no longer editable by layers unless you save it again as a paint image in the same folder. (Useful for later if you load it in game and don't like what you see)
Go back into Bodyshop, select the categories you want it in (Outerwear, etc.) Type in a "Tool Tip" this shows up when hovered over in the game. Then click "Import To Game" and you have just completed your custom clothing!
Load up the game and buy that outfit!
*If you decide to share your creation, make sure you have all necessary permissions first and to find your file go to:
My Documents/EA Games/TheSims 2/SavedSims
(Don't pull the package from your projects folder!)
You will see them listed by date, the newest one should be first. Do NOT change the name you see here, it was assigned by bodyshop. You can then click on the "package" file and add it to a zip. You can name the zip file anything you want for easy finding.
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