Sims 4 | Hair Meshing Tutorial From Scratch | A step-by-step guide to make hair in TS4
Alt link: Google Drive (4.3 GB) | Description, Pinned Comment + Timestamps
okay so this is the meshing tutorial i was talking about!! In this video, I will be creating a hair from scratch (finished product) and bookmarks will be in the desc for the different sections of the video if you want to skip. This tutorial is mainly recommended for people who know their way around blender but I absolutely encourage beginners to do it aswell :D
Things you will need:
Blender 2.79
Sims 4 Studio
A photo-editing software (optional, if you want to edit textures)
(UPDATED LINK) CMAR's CAS tools (optional but good for checking the hair without going into the game yet)
Keep in mind that this tutorial focuses on Maxis Match-style/Clay hair.
It took me a few weeks to make this video, so I hope that I thoroughly explained! If you have any questions, send me an ask or a message.
Below the cut will be additional sources of info for cc making that helped me understand the workflow. Thank you all for the constant support!!
Consider donating to my ko-fi if you liked this tut!
Hi ky!! Every post you make about your OCs just makes me more excited for your story. Not even to mention your GORGEOUS portraits of your OCs. Could you maybe walk through a little bit of your editing process? Just like, in general, what you do for your portraits? Also, how long does it take you to do one of those portraits? (like the ones for your covens.) If you don't want to/don't have time to, that's a-okay!! I just thought I'd ask, since I very much admire your portrait editing!! <3 (also, do you take your pics in CAS or in-game?) Thanks so much, and I can't wait to read your story!! Love, Morri. <3
HI oh my gosh thank u so much ??!!! ur literally the sweetest please :,) i’ve been meaning to do an updated editing tut thing and i have some time tonight so here u go !
the main things i do are; repainting/fixing clipping, shading, highlights, extra highlights + touch ups, and hair usually in that order. it takes me between 1-3 hours for each one, depends on the complexity and what i have to fix. for the guild posts i took them in cas but either way i use srwe to get a cleaner image in game.
also i’ll link the brushes i use throughout the tut, i use procreate but im p sure u can use the brushes in photoshop too if im not mistaken.
okay tut below the cut cause this got longer than i thought lmao
repainting/fixing clipping: so for this i usually go in w a hard airbrush (linked at bottom) and well.. repaint or i’ll cover up any clipping with hair or accessories. i also usually do this when the clothes look really pixelated, i like using the smudge tool as well. here’s some examples. i just follow what shadows n highlights are already on the sim for this and color pick from the selected area
2. shading: my general shading process is the same as this post here, especially w the areas. like i said above i usually follow what shadows reshade has already laid out for me but also i’ll add my own in where i see fit.
the only things that have mostly changed from that post are; 1. i use a diff brush which i’ll link at the end, and 2. i use this color (hex code: e88d6f) on a multiply layer, gaussian blur 1-10% and layer opacity between 50-80%. just depends on what looks best to me. (oh also i shade clothes w a color pick on a multiply layer now instead of w black)
3. highlights: also pretty similar as above, i use an overlay layer, this color (hex code: ffded2) gaussian blur it, and set the opacity between 40-80%. again just depends on what looks nice. i also add a lil glow to the eyes on this layer w that color as well, makes them pop a bit.
4. extra highlights: so this one ur gonna want the highlights brush from this brush pack here (hair pack). it’s rlly snazzy, i use it on the nose, jawline, and eyes (examples below) usually using the same color as above for highlights or i’ll color pick from the sim. i set this layer to an add (linear dodge if ur in ps) layer, opacity varies, if it’s too bright i’ll just turn it down until it’s not lmao.
5. hair: oh boy. okay ur gonna want that brush pack from above, this thing actually saved my life w hair. i duplicate my base sim layer and alpha lock it. from there i’ll use the soft hair brush from that pack both as a regular brush and a smudge brush. my best advice here is to color pick when painting and follow the direction the hair goes. i’ll add a time-lapse below because i feel like showing is better than anything. i also use that highlights brush from the hair pack and add some lil stray strands. i can't tell u how many times i redo the hair, it can get annoying sometimes but just take ur time !!
last bonus tip is to have fun with it !! ur making art and it’s the process that makes it exciting, i like to always try something new when making an edit. i see it like painting (which it is actually now that i'm thinking about it lmao) but just go nuts !! i used to super rush my stuff and i never rlly liked it so w these i took it slow and found what worked for me.
here’s the brush i use for shading and repainting but any hard airbrush would work just fine too!
I recruited a tiny saviour to make flash a little bit less painful and a little bit more useful.
Just want to animate? Don’t want to make you own build? You can download this one!
Part two shows more of the why we put things where we put them in part 1. This one got a little long, I’ll try to keep the rest under 10 mins. Sorry about the fan noise.
I’ve also realized after making this that tweenspanel is a bit more irritating to get then I thought and more expensive then someone just experimenting might be willing to pay. It makes things go faster if you’re doing this all the time but it’s not needed so I stop using it in the next animation focused tutorials.
Lipper for Newer Flash Versions
Lipper for Older Flash Versions
Important Hot Keys:
f5 = add frame (extend current keyframe)
f6 = add keyframe
shift + f5 = remove frames
shift + f6 = clear keyframe
f7 = add blank keyframe
b = brush
[ (and) ] = increase/decrease brush size
ctrl + shift + z = revert symbol to original size
Hey!! I hope you don’t mind me asking but do you follow any type of tutorial or would you make one on how you shade your sims in edits? Like in this post (post/658433012079476736/the-high-priestess-is-patient-and-her)
It really makes them stand out and it all blends so smoothly! Tia!
hi! i'd be happy to, here's a lil tutorial for u!
1. for reference i use procreate (u can use ps tho it doesn't rlly matter), and a majority of the time i only use the default hard airbrush set at half opacity!
2. so i start with duplicating my screenshot (this is where i draw the hair strands but we won't get into that here lmao) and then i add a multiply layer on top. i use reshade so that usually helps me locate the shadows but i circled some areas i focus on! i color pick the skin color and then after i draw the shadows on i'll gaussian blur between 1-10% and then i lower the layer opacity between 60-80% just depending on the look i'm going for!
3. adding another multiply layer i'll go in with black and just add extra depth to shadows on the clothes/background objects. here i added some more shadows to the deer. again i'll gaussian blur between 1-10% and then i lower the layer opacity between 40-60%, reshade usually does most of the work for me here
4. final multiply layer! i add shadows to the eyes, gaussian blur between 1-5% and then the layer opacity here is usually 70-80%
5. i then add an overlay layer, and then using any lighter color (i used a more yellow-gold toned color here but it usually varies every edit) i'll paint on the highlights. i use a lighter hand here, and i lower my brush opacity a bit more. i don't gaussian blur here either since i like the highlights to look a bit more dominant, i circled some areas i focus on.
6. then finally i add another normal layer on top and using the same color i'll add extra highlights usually to the nose, upper lip, and eyes as well.
also here's a quick video process for this (under the cut cause this is already very lengthy lmao)
