#ts4tutorials

[bigraaga]

Hi! So I have a question regarding Qai!

I know he's mostly rendered in Blender thus the additional two arms, but I was curious - how did you manage to get them?

What I mean - are they a copy paste of his original arm mesh? Or did you model & rig them yourself?

Did you use any tutorials for this or anything?

Sorry if that's too much to ask, I'm just really curious, because any "additional arms" CC is static and you can't really... well, do much with them, unless you rig them, I guess?

Thanks in advance!

Hello !!

His arms and the bones rigged to it are copy and pasted from the original sim and rig.

Short tutorial under the cut:

There's probably a better way to do this but this is how i did it. I'm assuming you know your way around Blender. If you don't, im still gonna post this anyway for anyone else lol

First, select the upper part of the torso and both arms

2. Duplicate the arms (shift+D) & Separate them from the body/rig (P). Go into 'object mode' to select the new pair of arms then click (G + Z) to move them into position.

3. Once you find something you like, head into 'sculpt mode' to move the extra bits into the main torso of your sim and sculpt it to your liking using the 'Elastic Deform', & 'Grab' tools. You can also delete these pieces but i choose to keep them.

4. For the rig, you repeat this process with a slight change. Select the rig, go into 'edit mode', select all of the bones related to the torso, arms, Spine 2 & Spine 1 (don't forget the clavicle bones). You only need the bones relating to the arms an shoulders, you do not need any of the bones above the neck or below 'Spine 1' so don't select those.

5. Duplicate (shift + D) the bones you've selected then move them down (G + Z) and line them up to your new pair of arms. You don't need to separate the bones from the main rig.

Once everything is lined up, parent the new arms to the main rig first (Click the arms first > shift + click the main rig > CTRL + P 'Armature Deform'). Now the arms should be rigged to the main rig and sim.

6. Since the arms are completely separate now, you can edit the 'Vertex Groups'. Here you will see all of the bones your new arms are rigged to but since you only need the bones relating to the arms, you have to delete the ones that arent. Delete the vertex groups you don't need, you can use the copied rig you just created as a reference to the bones you need.

The new bones you've added will have '__.001' (ex: b__L_Clavicle__.001) added at the end of the name. Go to 'Vertex Groups' and add '__.001' to each of the vertex groups you have now.

Check the rigging and weight painting to see if everything is good (in my experience, the weight painting usually doesn't count all of the fingers so you might need to add that manually) and boom, now your sim has extra arms you can pose around. If you're good at editing, you can always edit your renders after to make the extra arms blend seamlessly into your sim.

I don't know how clear this is but hopefully it helps whoever needs it. Don't worry if you don't get it right the first time ! It took me a while to learn on my own.

[thatsimslady]

Sims 4 CC/Mod Creation Tutorial List (31+ Pages)

I have created a huge list of tutorials for people learning how to mod or create cc (Maxis Match or Alpha). If there is a tutorial that you know of that isn’t on there and should be, please let me know! 

Link: CC/Mod Creation Tutorial List

[jessisimsccfinds]

MAKE FUNCTIONAL CORPORATE OFFICES 🏢 (NO MODS NEEDED) - The Sims 4 CC Sho...

[frxsk0]

10 TIPS FOR NEW CC CREATORS! | The Sims 4 #frxsk0sims

***OPEN HERE***Don't forget to follow me on all socials to keep up with me :)Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/frxsk0simsDiscord Server: https://discord.com/i...

Some tips and advice for creators or people who want to start creating! 

[thedevilliers]

how to change facial expressions using the liquify tool!

all you need is:

photoshop version with liquify tool (im using ps cc 2020)

the tiniest base on how facial expressions work

all under the cut!

first off, a link to my other tutorials!

this is very easy! all you need to learn is how to use the liquify brush and changing it’s size to fit whatever you wanna change.

i only do this WHEN necessary and NOT for every screenie, aka when a pose is GOOD but the facial expression doesnt work with the current scene mood (happy, sad, angry, etc).

first of all, lets open our screenie. it can already be edited OR raw.

to use the liquify tool, you’ll do: filter > liquify. and the liquify tool window will pop up!

for this particular screenshot, ill change amelia’s (black hair) eyebrows and lip corners to give her a less ‘happy’ look. i know theres like, so many BUTTONS but the only thing you’ll be touchin is this, the brush tool options:

you want a brush size thats not TOO big, but also not too small. to make things easier and less obvious that you retouched them! for example, this is TOO big:

if i were to move things, itd move her hairline! you want something that fits just right between her forehead and hair. the size i ended up going for is size 48!

NOW while clicking, drag down the eyebrows. you’re gonna have to know a bit of ... anatomy i guess. just dont over do it and make her look like shes doing a cartoon expression! just by clicking and dragging down the eyebrows, this is how its looking:

if you accidentally like, drag her eye, no big deal! all you have to do is go to the ‘reconstruction tool’ and by using this brush you ‘erase’ the parts you didnt mean to move. (the second option!)

now lets do the lip corners! the one of the left is easier, since it has more skin space. the other one as you can see here, gets out of the face and into the background:

you’ll have to resize the brush! and then you can continue ‘dragging’ down the lip corner.

and this is the final result:

as you can see, its VERY very EASY!! its all practice and again, NOT overdoing it. and ALL you have to use is the brush and change the brush size depending on what you’re changing!

you only wanna change say, the eyebrows or lip corners, not the established face structure like her chin, jawline, nose, etc!!!!!!!! be careful what you drag, if you accidentally drag her eye, use the reconstruction tool on her eye to turn it back to the original! same thing if you accidentally drag her nose, or ear !! then its gonna be obvious what u you did, and YOU DONT WANT THAT!!!

another example:

here i changed all three of their expressions with just the liquify tool!

thats all!! i told u it was easy. AGAIN, do NOT over do it. make sure you didnt accidentally drag things you didnt mean to. if you’re gonna move eyebrows, make sure you only modified that. if not, ill be obvious what you did and your screenshot is NOT gonna look good AT ALL.

[jwofles-sims]

Retopologizing MD Meshes (old)

EDIT-

tutorial is deprecated, update to the newest MD version and use the remesh function, or just put your mesh straight into zbrush, do zremesh and then re-do the UV in blender.

Hey! Here’s a long tutorial on how to get great low-poly topology on meshes from Marvelous Designer WHILE keeping the original UV (the UV you get if you just use the mesh straight from MD).

For this workflow, you’ll need:

Marvelous Designer (paid)

ZBrush (paid)

Maya 2016 Extension 2 or newer (student version is free!)

Blender (free)

Before I get started with the steps, I want to make sure I give full credit to this tutorial here by Alex Mann, which is where I found the workflow. You can watch that if you prefer a video tutorial and if you’re also more proficient with Maya.

Also, this guide assumes you know how to use blender. Knowledge in Maya+ZBrush isn’t really needed, but you need to have them installed and maybe be able to use basic functions in the programs. In this tutorial, I’ve cut down on the steps in Maya, just because I find it easier to use Blender for things (personal preference).

STEP ONE

First, export your normal Marvelous Designer mesh, and name it ‘drapedMesh’. When exporting, Unified UV coordinates should be checked, and scale ‘m’ should be used. Make sure you export as tris (the default setting), exporting as quads won’t give as good as results (I think).

Then reset 2d arrangement of your clothing, so it’s flat. You can also move it to the right so it’s not in the way of the avatar but this may cause issues (or it may work). Then, export in the same way (export selected), and name it ‘flatMeshOriginal’.

STEP TWO

Next, open up Maya- I use Maya 2016. And after, import the draped and flat meshes you just exported from MD. The camera controls if you don’t know them, you have to hold alt and then use the buttons on your mouse.

With the two imported, select the ‘draped’ mesh and then the flat mesh, go to ‘Deform’ at the top, and click ‘Blend Shape’. This will pop up in the attribute editor to the right.

STEP THREE

It’s time to retopologize! Open ZBrush, and import your flat mesh, and then drag your mouse in the 3d window to place the model into view (only drag it out once). Immediately after, click edit mode (or press T), and then click the ‘scale’ button to zoom in on the mesh.

Turn polygon view on, then go to the geometry tab on the right, and click ‘ZRemesher’. Then, change the ‘Target Polygon Count’, the default is on 5, which is too high, so we need to change it.

This number is in THOUSANDS, so 1 = 1 thousand. It’s suggested to change it to 0.75, which works most of the time for tops, but sometimes you may need to set it higher (1, 1.25, 1.5 etc) for full body outfits or more detailed clothing. 

This value affects how many polygons in thousands it will have, 0.75 is 750 polygons (which will be roughly the final polygon count for the top). Anyway, once you’ve picked a value, hit the ZRemesher button.

As you can see, ZRemesher produces a really nice topology on the meshes. Finally, you want to export it and name it as ‘flatMeshRetopo’. Now, you’re done with ZBrush!

STEP FOUR (conditional/optional)

If there’s a problem in topology, you’ll have to fix it before you carry on. This may happen on more complex meshes. I don’t have any examples of this, but just keep it in mind. You might also want to clean up any tris if there are still some left over.

STEP FIVE

We have to get our new low-poly mesh set up in Maya. Import your retopo’d flat mesh, and ignore any error if one pops up. Then, go to ‘Windows’ on the top bar, and open the ‘Outliner’ window. To hide this, you can just minimise and then later open it back up/maximise it from the bottom of the screen.

Then, in the outliner, select all the meshes that were imported from ZBrush, for me there were only 3 as there are only 3 pattern pieces in my MD mesh. If you have 8 pieces, there’ll be 8 meshes. With these selected, hit the merge button at the top.

STEP SIX

Next, we have to get that clean UV layout. Select your combined mesh, then go to ‘UV’ at the top and then SHIFT-click the ‘Planar’ option. Make sure you have ‘Project from:’ on ‘Camera’ and that you have ‘Keep image width/height ratio’ checked. Next, hit apply. 

Also, when you do this step, try to have your camera looking at the mesh straight-on, as I believe this part just captures the mesh from the camera’s perspective and makes that the UV.

STEP SEVEN

Now, we will make our low poly mesh fit around the draped mesh. Select your low-poly ZBrush flat mesh, and then the high-poly MD flat mesh, go to deform and then wrap.

To make it wrap around now, go to ‘Windows’ at the top, ‘Animation Editors’ and then open the ‘Shape Editor’. Afterwards, set the Mesh Weight to ‘1’ (or move the 2nd slider all the way to the right). This will make your lowpoly (and high poly) mesh wrap around the draped mesh.

Lastly, select your low-poly ZBrush mesh that is now wrapped around, and export selection to a .obj- and save that on your desktop or somewhere (ready to be imported into blender!!). Once you’ve done this, you are done with Maya (woo!).

STEP EIGHT (conditional/optional)

If you import your new mesh into blender (which you’ve just exported), and it shows up as flat and one weird solid changing colour, you may need to put the mesh back into maya, select it and go to ‘Mesh Display’ at the top, then try unlocking the normals (‘Unlock Normals’) and then importing to blender again. If that doesn’t work, try locking the normal and importing into blender.

I’m only saying this because it’s happened to me once (not sure how), so it could happen to someone else.

STEP NINE

Lastly, you have to do the final touches. Import your new low-poly mesh into blender, and merge the vertices where the patterns meet up. Select two vertices and press alt+m to merge. 

Sometimes, you may need to merge 2 vertices on one side to one vertex on the other, this will create a tri but that’s okay.

If there is a part you need to join that obviously doesn’t have enough verticies (such as this neck strap for my top), you may need to add edge loops. You can do this by pressing ctrl+R, and then clicking in the middle of the quads. This will add another edge (and increase polys) so that you can move without losing as much detail.

Also, you may want to go to the ‘tools’ tab on the left, and change the shading to smooth, to get a better idea of what your mesh will look like ingame.

STEP TEN

Now it’s up to you to finish your clothing!

FOR SIMS 4 -

I recommend @owl-plumbob​​’s tutorial for instructions on weight transferring, UV1 transferring and vertex painting (getting your mesh ready for ingame).

And I also recommend any of @theslyd​​‘s tutorials if you want to make your cc more high quality.

EXTRA

Feel free to contact me on tumblr, or go to my ask page if you have a problem. I’m welcome to help anybody with any issues (if I know how to fix them ;p).

If you need a video tutorial of this, because you prefer that, then as I linked earlier, use this video. This is where I got the original steps from but I changed them slightly so I suggest if you follow the video, to have this tutorial opened as well.

An alternative way to this method is this. I literally found this today and I haven’t tried it, but it looks like it might be quicker, however it still requires Maya. Just keep in mind, in the video they retopologize it by hand in Maya where you may want to retopo it in ZBrush (I would). Anyway, I’m thinking of trying this and if it’s good, I may make another tutorial on that.

If you don’t like this method/it’s not working for you, you can try -

This free alternative using a program called ‘Instant Meshes’ linked by @theslyd​

This ZBrush-only workflow (however the UV maps produced aren’t perfect).

Also this thread talks about both these other methods in some more detail.

Just do anything other than exporting from MD in quads (as this is super high poly and the topology isn’t even perfect) or decimating the mesh a lot (this RUINS the topology).

Anyway, that’s the tutorial. Sorry it’s so long, I’m sure you could compress it into 100 words but I get carried away easily, and I wanted to make it totally noob-proof, for people who have no clue how to use maya or zbrush- I wanted to make the tutorial I wanted a couple months ago ;)

[jessisimsccfinds]

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[jessisimsccfinds]

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