tips for 4t3 converters/CAS clothing creators
3 main things:
non-recolorable presets
DDS. settings
Adult to Teen conversions
disclaimer: i'm not a CC expert, but these are things i've noticed and learned these last couple months converting cc. special thanks to thornowl and the other converters in the TS3 Creators Cave discord.
Non-recolorable presets:
we obviously know that ts4 lacks a CASt tool, so ts4 creators rely on recolors. In my conversions, I do include a couple of the item's recolors. these usually are patterns that CASt does not have.
one thing I've noticed more and more converters doing is putting such item recolors in the 'Overlay' tab in TSRW.
let me show you what that looks like for a non-recolorable preset:
it looks over-saturated, and almost crunchy. but there's another place you can import the recolor into: stencils.
stencils will be found at the bottom, under patterns. hit the plus sign next to stencils to open it.
opening it will show you this:
by default, it will be enabled as false. import your recolor into the texture tab as you would do for any other texture tab. make sure you tick the 'false' to 'true.' stencils override overlays, so if you want to use an overlay, enable stencils back to 'false.'
here's what the recolor imported into stencils looks like:
here's the two side by side:
see how different they are? let's see how they are in game:
click on the pictures to really see the difference in quality. since TS3 uses DDS. format, it compresses the texture, which results in the crunchy texture. importing the recolor into the overlay tab makes the DDS. compression more noticeable. it ultimately is up to you and whichever one you prefer, but do keep it in mind.
the overlay tab is good for small details that you want to maintain on all recolorable presets, like zippers, buttons, tags, etc. just look at EA clothes for reference, especially their shoes and male clothes.
another thing you can see from the images are the bumps on the mesh. doing normal maps can help you keep those same details on the recolorable presets without importing the recolors.
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DDS. settings:
something I also see and used to do myself is bloat package files with large file sizes, specifically normal and specular maps, as well as masks. the Sims 3 Tutorial Hub provides a link to plain maps, but the file sizes are unnecessarily big.
let's look at some of EA's maps in TSRW:
here's the specular from one of the basegame sweaters. notice the image size, DXT format, and compression size.
a lot of converters don't want the shine on regular clothes, so we use a plain, black specular map. but ask yourself, why do you need a 1024 x 1024 purely black specular map with no details?
let's try sizing it down:
notice the difference between the image and compression size. instead of bloating the package file, we can keep it down by using a 32x32 plain black specular map instead, since there aren't details we want from the specular map.
same goes for normal maps:
and masks (meant for 1 channel only):
now, notice how I underlined the info about DXT MipMaps. see how the normal map has a different number there compared to the specular map and mask.
the reason these textures use different DXT is because of the colors and alpha channel.
here's how my DDS. settings appear when saving:
DXT1 (no alpha): this keeps only the 3 color channels and has the strongest compression. it results in half the file size as DXT3/5. 3 channel masks should be saved with this, as they don't need an alpha channel.
DXT1 (1 bit alpha): this includes an alpha, but only black or white. it also results in half the file size as DXT3/5.
DXT3: this one is rarely used for TS3 textures. it really is only used for overlays. it compresses the same as DXT5, but may not be the best for images with smooth-blended alpha regions (Neely).
DXT5: multipliers and normal (bump) maps should only EVER be saved with this. it's best for colors but has a larger file size. this is why it's important to reduce the multiplier and normal map image size, especially if you don't make a normal map.
if you DO decide to do a specular and normal map, they should be regular image size, 1024x1024, and saved in the right format.
here is more information on which textures should use which compression.
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Adult to Teen Conversions:
the default for converters is obviously AF and AM. a lot of people want the items for teens too. I've seen several converters just enable it in TSRW:
please don't do this. it's honestly the lazy route. you can hardly ever get away this, specifically because of the body differences between adult and teen.
some major issues with this include gaps, seams, and unnatural body characteristics:
so please, either skip the teen mesh entirely or spend the time reshaping the mesh. @/sweetdevil-sims has a great tutorial on converting meshes from AF to TF here. the inevitable seams on TF meshes are also now fixed, thanks to @/thornowl with their new version of mesh toolkit.
@pis3update
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here are reduced file sizes and corrected settings of the plain mask, specular, and normal:
download
Sources:
Neely, G. ‘Buckaroo’. Working with DDS/DXT Files. Available at: https://www.buckarooshangar.com/flightgear/tut_dds.html (Accessed: 28 May 2024).
