The unabridged guide to Simming with Style @the-simmers-compendium - Tumblr Blog

Trees, the final frontier! This tutorial is very rough and nebulous as there’s multiple paths and I barely know the software myself, but it should give you a base to work off of and experiment. Also included is a set of test files that I made to experiment with the workflow.

You will need:

TSRW (I was using 2.0.88)

Speedtree

Photoediting program with DDS importer/exporter (i.e. Photoshop with Nvidia DDS Plugin)

Delphy’s MultiExtractor

S3PE

Speedtree can be found in the test files link below, or here:

Speedtree 4.2

Speedtree Tree Library

Tutorial & Test Files

Simple Edit

This deals with simple shape edits to a cloned speedtree file. It should work for both evergreen and deciduous trees.The yellow highlighted areas are the areas that you most typically work with.

1. Cloning & Exporting in TSRW- find an tree that you wish to edit and clone it (Trees are found under Buildtype), and under the ’Mesh’ tab, you can export the model along with all necessary texture maps. If you have a .package file, just export the _SPT file & the textures.

Rename the file from .bin to .spt (exporting from TSRW), or from .tree to .spt (exporting from S3PE).

2. Importing into SpeedTree- Open the .spt file and in the menu on the right, relink the texture files (under Maps > Preferences, disable composite maps to gain access first). From there on, you can make whatever tweaks you want to the file in the menu on the right, from tree shapes to tree textures.

3. SpeedTree Texture Generation- On the toolbar on the left, click Composite Map and generate a set of LOD billboards and composite maps TGA files using the ’OK’ button on the lower right. This will generate a new .spt file with new LOD billboards.

4. TGA to DDS- When you’re done, save the file again. Outside the program, we’re now essentially working backwards to bring the edited files back into the game. Save the TGA files as .dds files in your photoediting program of choice, so that you’ll be able to import them into TSRW or S3PE.

From here, there’s two ways of working depending on whether or not one works- you can either import the file into TSRW, or import the file into the .package file with S3PE.

5A. Importing into TSRW- Under the ’Mesh’ Tab, you can import the .spt file into the game. Make any final tweaks in TSRW and export. You can then use MultiExtractor to turn your .Sims3Pack file into .package file.

5B. Importing into S3PE- If you have a .package, you can rename the files to match the ones in the package, and replace them via S3PE.

6. Testing- To test it out, I usually suggest CAW since the program loads faster. You can find out how to set up the framework here. From here onwards, you can work back and forth tweaking the .spt file and the textures until you’re satisfied. I found that in some cases, the LOD billboards needed to be lightened in color.

Tree Replacement

These tips deal with evergreen trees, as seasons-enabled trees require an additional workflow that I need to figure out (which may come in a future tutorial). In the case you find a premade tree more attractive than EA ones, here’s how to import those trees.

In TSRW, find an tree that you wish to edit and clone it- making sure that it matches up best with the premade tree and contains the same number of textures and style of leaves (leaves or fronds). Make sure that your Speedtree tree also matches up as best as possible. When you’re done, follow steps 3 onwards in importing the new tree into TSRW.

Things to Figure Out

Let me know if you can help me figure these out!

Seasons-enabled trees

r0ach3z-deactivated20200806

Little tidbit

Hey, guys. Recently in my reach of trying better my cc and converting skills, I noticed a lot of the time cc I convert has seams (a lot peoples cc has seams.) so I tried to fix it by hand but it just made the seams worse (cause I’m not all that savvy) but today I downloaded the newest mesh-tool-kit on accident and found that it has an automatic seam fixer and it works! I really recommend to everybody to implement into their workflow! It works on shoes too.

Before on my slayclassy shirt conversion it had this seam on the right side:

After; When I fixed it:

I know I’m probably really slow on the uptake but I thought I’d make an announcement or something about it cause I know seams really bother me as a creator and consumer of cc.

sims3tutorialhub

GEOM Importer for Blender

A GEOM imported for Blender 2.8:

http://www.modthesims.info/d/627962/blender-2-8-geom-tools-updated-14-12-2019.html

sims3tutorialhub

This tutorial covers how you can make a ts3 clothing piece transparent. Knowledge on how ts3 meshing works is required.

What you’ll need for this is: - TSRW - S3PE - TSRW S3PE Plugin - Blender - Milkshape 3d - Geom Editor

Note: I’m not a native English speaker, so apologies in advance!

sims3tutorialhub

Updated Face Slider Tutorial

This tutorial is an update of my old GEOM slider tutorial and now includes:

Making a slider

Making a slider for all ages

Fixing a bug

Updating old sliders to be for teen-elder AND male/female easily

Making a symmetric slider

You will need:

Morph Maker

GEOM Plugin

Face EA GEOMS

Face EA OBJs

FVFItems: 3 TableType: 0 References: 1 TGIRef00: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

sims3tutorialhub

Tutorial: GEOM (face) Sliders

A quick tutorial on how to make GEOM (face) sliders (probably not perfect as i have only ever made 1 slider!). The issue I encounter at the end is due to me trying to make a slider that affects both face and scalp. If you wish to do this you will need to make 2 sliders (one with the face, one with the scalp) and in game just set them to the same value. The ID numbers for scalp (120,000) and face (38) are too far apart for the program to handle, but as any numbers between those are taken by clothing or other meshes this cannot be helped!

Needed text:

FVFItems: 3 TableType: 0 References: 1 TGIRef00: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

potato-ballad-sims

This was an amazingly simple tutorial and I was able to make a slider in an hour or two! This below is the same tutorial but in word form- I would still suggest watching the video first.

To clarify- there are two types of sliders in The Sims 3- Bone-based and GEOM (Geometry)-based. Bone-based sliders alter the ‘skeleton’ in your sims, while GEOM-based sliders alter the visible mesh itself. This second type of slider is very useful for smaller, more subtle changes.

To start, you’ll need:

A modelling software of some form (Blender, Rhino, 3dsMax, etc.)

Milkshape with Wes Howe’s GEOM importer/exporter

Mesh Toolkit

Morph Maker

S3PE, for mesh extraction

Some sim body/face meshes extracted. In your The Sims 3\GameData\Shared \Packages\FullBuild0.package file, find and extract the appropriate meshes, such as amFace_lod0_2 GEOM. You can import the .simgeom via Milkshake and export as an .obj for your editing program of choice.

You can find the ID-ed scalp mesh here.

Now, onto the main workflow:

GEOM Slider Tutorial

1. Edit your mesh in your chosen modelling software to its desired approximate appearance (this takes the longest, take your time). Note that if you edit the edge of a mesh, you will need to also edit the other mesh it connects to (body, scalp) or else you’ll have gaps.

Export as a .obj

Name it like MESHEDIT.obj

2. Milkshape (Round 1)

Import .obj > MESHEDIT.obj

Export as .simgeom

Name it like MESHEDIT.simgeom

3. Mesh Toolkit

Replace Values Tab

Mesh to copy FROM field > MESHEDIT.simgeom

Mesh to copy TO field > Original mesh from game

Data to replace > Select only the Position button

Copy Values and Save Button

Name it like MESHID.simgeom

4. Milkshape (Round 2)

Import .simgeom > Original mesh from game

Import .simgeom > MESHID.simgeom

Groups Tab > Comment Button

Replace all existing comment information with: FVFItems: 3 TableType: 0 References: 1 TGIRef00: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

Export as .simgeom > Export only edited mesh

Name it like MESHSLIDER.simgeom

5. Morph Maker

Name your project, assign it a unique Instance ID

Import Meshes Section, find your ages and genders

Link to MESHSLIDER.simgeom

Make Morphs Section

Slider Location> Label & Assign your slider panels

Create BGEO Button

Create Package Button, will automatically link to the BGEO

6. Toss this into your Mods folder and you’re DONE! Load it up in game to see how your pasta turned out. Of course, you may want to repeat this a few times, refining the mesh until it looks like what you want. All steps beyond the first one do not alter the slider itself.

* Note - due to high scalp ID number that was added in, any sliders that edit both scalp and head meshes both have to be separate because Morph Maker cannot reconcile the differences and will throw an error.

I wanted to fix the strange neck discrepancy (body section thicker than face section) that came with thicker necks, and this helped me make a simple slider that could fix it.

Fixed! I’ll upload this slider later on when I get the time. Anyways, thanks again to the @sims3tutorialhub for this great workflow! I hope y’all will make more sliders and make it a slider renaissance!

gruesim

Tutorial: Creating Clothes for Sims 3 from Start to Finish - Part 7 Fixing Bones

This part shows you how to fix clipping and bone issues.

Normal and Vertex Merge Plugins: http://modthesims.info/t/139859

Further Written Tutorials:

Fixing Bone Assignments (Clipping Issues and Stretched Clothing when Moving)

Neck seams and gaps, arm seams/lines and shadows that will not go away

Fixing Black Holes

General Fixes (Weird hands, weird shadows)

gruesim

Tutorial: Quick Fixes

Just three quick fixes to general issues.

A) The fingers on my mesh look wonky in game?

Fingers love to screw themselves up, especially with kids clothes. This is REALLY easy to fix. Please check for this issue, as it is not always visible so rotate your mesh in TSRW.

1) Import your .wso into Milkshape and turn on “draw vertices with bone colors”. If you have an already morphed .wso just make sure all groups are visible and do the same.

2) Select the area around the one hand. And press “Clear”. It should become grey.

3) repeat for the other side then export as a .wso

4) Open MeshToolKit and go to Auto tools for WSO > Auto-assign Bones. Import your mesh into WSO Mesh to modify and as a reference, import anything that has normal hands. I have export the child nude top and bottom from the game and use that. Make sure you select “Replace only empty bone assignments”.

5) Save the result and import it into TSRW. Your hands should be fixed! Do this as a last step, as any further fiddling with bones etc in Milkshape will screw up your hands again!

B) There are some weird shadows on my mesh?

These are due to wonky normals. Normals are vectors that point away orthogonal from your mesh and produce shading. This also fixes weird seams along the arms/legs of the EA mesh.

1) Download this and put the files into your root Milkshape folder (under C:/Programs)

2) Open Milkshape and import your file (doesn’t matter if .wso or .obj) and select your entire mesh (or just the part that has issues, up to you).

3) Go to Vertex > Align Normals

4) I usually do this for every mesh after I have added the EA body and assigned bones correct. Like a last step.

C) Just something that may fix some issues

1) In Milkshape go to Tools > Model Cleaner, press “no” if a popup comes up, and remember to delete all materials under the materials tab after

gruesim

Tutorial: Bigger and correct UV Maps in Blender

In the last couple of months a lot more people have started creating CC, which is really really awesome. However, I have seen so many issues with bone assignments (you can see my tutorial on how to fix this) and the second issue is people making their UV maps so tiny, that putting patterns on their clothes looks ridiculous. @chisimi has done a tutorial on UV mapping, and this is based off of hers, just is more detail as some people have asked. PLEASE fix your bone assignments and make larger UVs!! :D

THIS IS BAD! Not only do patterns look silly, but as your UV will have a set resolution, just think how tiny the resolution in that area will be!

1) Open Milkshape and import the body mesh you use to make your clothes, it should have 2 or 3 groups: top, bottom and feet

2) Combine these groups into 1 (feet is not that important) and export as a .obj naming is something with UV

3) Open Blender and import both the naked body you just made and your clothing mesh, open the UV editor by clicking the button highlighted (I am going to assume some general UV mapping knowledge here).

4) Click the group that is your body mesh and go into edit mode, you should see the body UV on the right

5) Open a new blank black image and bake (ambient occlusion, margin 1), it should look like the second image

6) Click the group with your mesh and also go into edit mode, then open the image you just baked by clicking the button highlighted in the image

7) Now move your UV into the areas that are black (not slightly grey!!) or are clear (the checkered area). Avoid turning pieces to fit, as this will make the pattern look weird. It should look something like this:

You have to think a little here too, so if you have say a very loose top where in game you can see under it, maybe loose cap sleeves, then avoid putting part of the UV in that area. Where you place your UV will color the base body underneath it, only place in areas you know are covered from sight by your mesh.

8) Open the general UV placing map and make sure your UV stays in the designated area! If you do not do this it will overlap with other clothing!

It takes a bit of going to and fro with the two images, but the result is worth it!

9) Bake using THIS tutorial (will make editing in photoshop easier.

10) Delete the UV body before exporting your mesh and don’t forget to save your multiplier image!

THE SIZE OF THE UV IS HOW BIG A PATTERN WILL BE; YOU MAKE IT TINY THE PATTERN WILL LOOK HUGE IN GAME.

gruesim

Tutorial: Manual Bone Reassignment

Now that I have figured out how this works, here is a tutorial on fixing bone assignments to fix holes and pieces that stick out on your mesh :D

You will need: Milkshape with TSRW plugin, MeshToolKit and TSRW (1.72) and of course your mesh!

0. Make a mesh, use MeshToolKit to assign bones etc…

1. When I make a mesh, I always test it in TSRW for issues, press tools > load animation > extinguish. Play the animation through from a couple of angles and see where the issues are.

2. Open the mesh in Milkshape. Click on the “Model” tab and make sure “Select” is highlighted. Go to the “Joints” tab and click “Draw vertices with bone colors”. Your mesh should now look very colorful.

3. Zoom into the problem area. Sometimes the issue is very obvious, you can see a spot of color that doesn’t match the surrounding, or matches the color of a different body part.

4. Select the vert closest to the one that has an issue. If you select in the left windows, make sure you draw a tiny box around ONLY that vertice, otherwise you will select those on the backside of mesh too. Click “Show”. The bars above should change and show you the bone assignments.

TIPP: You can select in the 3D window using “Alt” and “Shift + Alt” for more than one. This takes some practice as the mesh sometimes leaps out of the picture, but is good for some hard to reach vertices, or those in the layer under clothes (rarely wrong though).

5. Select the issue vert, again make sure you ONLY select that vert. I usually turn off “draw vertices with bone colors” so I can see if only that vert is red.

6. Click “Assign” (the lower one), if you turn on “draw vertices with bone colors” it should now have the same color as those around it.

7. Do these for all issue verts.

8. Save your work as a .wso.

9. Import the fixed mesh into TSRW and replay the animation, it should now look better! HOWEVER, you may realise the hands are screwed up.

(Ignore the black holes, this is due to the arms having backfaces)

10. If your mesh has no other issues except weird fingers, go into Milkshape, open the mesh and select the whole lower arm and hand area.

11. Press “Clear” in the Joint tab.

12. Export as .wso and use MeshToolKit to assign ONLY the missing bones with some sleevless mesh as the reference. And then also assign morphs.

13. Reimport the fixed mesh into TSRW and voila! This may sound pretty easy and it is mostly. But some meshes may have a lot of issues, where it is unclear what the problem is. Just keep fiddling!

sims3tutorialhub

Resource AM Body

Just something I put together, this is a BONE and MORPH reference for Adult Male:

http://simfileshare.net/download/356056/

It can be used for any piece of clothing (top, bottom, shoes, full body). It is literally just the male body with all bones and morphs and saves you the time making it yourself ;) but NO preg morph!

shokoninio

How to fix hand's bone assignments

First of all, you import your mesh, and hide the morphs.

Next, you select the hand’s vertices (the vertices that are inside red circle) (it’s advisable to select the neck’s top vertices)

After that, you go to the joints tab

The next step is to you select “Clear” button (in this step we delete the bone assignment that have these vertices)

Next, you Check the box “Draw vertices with bone colors”, if the vertices that you had selected are now white, it means you did it right.

Now you can export your mesh

The next step to do is to open Mesh Toolkit

In this step, Mesh Toolkit is explained by itself, it’s very very very important that you check thebox “Replace only empty bone assignments”

Finally, you click “Do Assignments and Save” button.

___________________________________________________

If you have questions feel free to ask me. C;

IMPORTANT NOTE: if you go back to import the mesh in MilkShape, you must repeat these steps when you go to export it again, because the program has this bug! -_____-”

simlicious

Very nice tutorial! I reassign bones like that very often. Sometimes the bone assignments screw up after editing a mesh multiple times - this method always works :)