thornowl

drawing my ocs and making sims 3 cc for them 26, he/him

[thornowl]

navigation

@thornowl — main, 2d/3d art

more art in my telegram

#thorn's cc — sims 3 downloads made by me

#for creators — resources and tutorials for creating sims 3 cc

join creators cave discord server to quickly get help with your ts3 cc

@damn-joker — persona 5

@all-units-code-219 — love nikki/shining nikki

@thornowl-rf — rune factory

@thorn-reblogs — general reblogs (other fandoms/non-fandom)

current obsessions: -

[legilimensims]

today i learned a ts3 cheat code i did not know was a thing: forcehud.

so WHAT HAPPENED: i was in buy mode recoloring a kitchen when i accidentally either "dragged a style" to the non-recolorable floor or clicked the floor with the CASt tool, i don't remember, but anyway i found myself here:

"the current style is invalid. please select a new style before continuing" + that orange arrow pulsing and pointing at the custom preset thing, i think that is. and i was like ??? i can't select a new style because there is no other preset so???? all that was clickable was of no use, i was stuck on this interface.

so i turned to google, my blood pressure through the roof surely, and i learned of the existance of the "forcehud" cheat. so with testingcheatsenabled true:

i was told this cheat would bring me back to live mode but instead

it actually takes you to edit town as if you were just starting a new save or you wanted to switch families, and that's what you have to do, simply select your household to play and jump back in.

i was worried i was gonna lose my recoloring progress (because i saved right before starting, half an hour earlier as usual smh...) but it actually was as i left it - the only thing i "lost" was the aborted CASt style...so nothing ✨

anyway, glad i didn't have to force quit.

[thornowl]

princess

[virtual-hugs]

TSR Workshop pro-tip: Find any game texture

Did you know that you can find and use any game texture for your TSRW project? This way you won't have any redundant textures inside your package. The resource key has to be in this format: key:00000000:00000000:0000000000000000

Here are some useful examples:

Black specular= key:00B2D882:00000000:F961EF123B01E579

1 channel mask= key:00b2d882:00000000:646b487723d17864

Empty normal map= key:00b2d882:00000000:972952e0d3631f66

These are universal textures referenced in a ton of EA CAS items and are safe to use in your own projects. So please, don't import a new empty texture! It'll just be another resource the game has to load.

This will also work with textures from a CC package if you put it in your game files. Check out this tutorial for more info: Link

Of course creating an actual specular or normal map will almost always look better, but a majority of you will stick with empty ones regardless.. I've been guilty of using black speculars myself.

[evannamari]

Hi Anya, thank you so much for your Anto conversions <3. I'm a converter myself and was wondering if you get transparency issues in game with Anto's meshes? Mine looks good in milkshape but not in game. Do you know how to fix this? Thanks!

Hi! Some Anto’s meshes have no transparency issues at all, but some need to be edited (like meshes of any other creator). Also, some players have transparencies on all downloaded alpha hairs. I found a description of this problem here, there is also a solution in the comments.

As far as I know from my own experience, transparency issues are usually visible immediately in Milkshape if the mesh is assigned a dark hair color. If not visible, try setting "Transparency" to "Depth Buffered with Alpha Reference" and disable "Draw Backfaces". This makes it easier for you to identify transparency issues.

Transparency issues are a result of the layers of hair being in the wrong order, where the top layer is under the bottom for some reason. Accordingly, in order to fix this problem, you need to restore the order of the layers. Usually it is required to select the problem hair strand or part of it and Regroup it into a new group with higher Opacity in the Comment. In milkshape use Select by Faces and then Regroup button. Sometimes it is enough to select several vertices and push them, depending on the case, either inward or outward of the hairstyle.

But I recommend an easier way to regroup the strand of hair using a Blender. I use 2.76 version.

Just import your mesh in Blender (I choose .obj format) and set Edit Mode (1). Next click on “Limit selection to visible” button (2) - this will allow you to select backfaces too.

Press “A” to unselect all and start select hair strand with issue. Use the left mouse button + “B” to select one or a couple of vertices of this strand. Next press Ctrl + L and voila! - full strand selected. It remains only to press “P” and choose separate by Selection, this regroup selected hair strand.

Now you can export the modified mesh and enjoy the result. I recommend these settings for meshes with a lot of groups (don’t forget to select the necessary groups).

I hope my answer will help you and I’m ready to answer clarifying questions.

[redsimmer-blog]

just a little thing to add:

you can see the transparency issues directly in Blender, to see the hair with the textures properly you just have to make sure to have this configuration in “Shading”

and then follow what I did on this video (minute 2:27 to 3:10)

after that, you can fix the transparencies like Anya explained and when you’re finish with it you can put all the parts in one piece again by just selecting every group one by one ALWAYS following this order: from the “exterior” pieces to the “interior” pieces. That way you tell the program wich pieces should be on top of the others. When you have all of them selected, join the parts by pressing CTRL+J

and that’s it! you can always separate them again with CTRL+Z in case you made a mistake or want to re-do the order :)

[thornowl]

it's 2 am and i felt like rambling on a personal topic

a lot of you know me more as a guy who likes helping others learn how to make cc and 3d art in general. some people passionately thank me for it as if i just saved their life, and while it's nice for my efforts to be appreciated.. i enjoy doing it so much that sometimes i wanna thank them for the opportunity to fix a broken skirt or explain a cool technique

but most of you probably also know that i'm very blunt and sometimes unnecessarily mean. not just when it comes to 3d art – most of my pals (including my girlfriend) have mentioned that they used to be scared of me and thought i hated them. i don't like that about myself. i look up to kind people who can make you feel relaxed and safe, and i want to be more like them, but it's easier said than done because what comes naturally to me is being toxic and rude. still, i'm going to keep trying, because it's genuinely distressing to me to think that i might've made someone feel bad about themselves or even lose interest in this hobby

point is.. i'm not sure if there is one, since if you're reading this then you probably don't mind my attitude anyway. so i guess instead of asking to tolerate me i'll thank you for sticking around. just know that, however rude i may appear, i really enjoy helping others and want people to have fun with their creativity, so don't be afraid to approach me

[bellakenobi]

Tutorial: Renumbering Shoes/Necklaces Meshes to avoid conflicts and explosions

First of all, a huge thanks to people at MTS and to @virtual-hugs who taught me how to do it at the Creators Cave!

Also sorry for taking so long to write this! It's because I kinda struggle to write in english 😬

What will you need:

S3PE

Mesh Toolkit

Your shoe/necklace/accessory package ready, so you won't need to go back to TSRW to tweak something. This should be the last step on your CC creation workflow!

First, why does this happen?

Each CAS part has a vertices ID range, and when two parts with morphs have vertices containing the same ID, conflict happens and this is what make some meshes to explode. And this tends to happen when we put high poly shoes with morphed high poly necklaces because the shoes verts ID range is too low. Shoes verts ID starts at 30000, and accessories starts at 31500. In the pícture below there's the information provided by the Hint button at Mesh Toolkit with all the verts IDs, but it erroneusly says that accessories start a 0.

With all that said, we can try to renumber these parts verts to a different IDs to try to bypass that.

But let's go to the tutorial!

Again, your shoe/necklace package should be ready to do this, so you won't need to go back to your project in TSRW!

For this tutorial, I'll be using Arltos 109, converted by @rollo-rolls. You can do this tutorial with any CC high poly shoes/necklace, just please respect the creators TOU and do not upload it.

Note how there are tiny gaps showing when the shoes are worn with necklace! In this picture they quite imperceptible, but with some shoes/necklaces more distracting distortions might occur.

👠Step 1:

Open Mesh Toolkit, click on Package Tools tab, and in the Name Those Files tab open your package. Click on Add names, and then type a unique name for the CC part you're working on and save it. Here's what I named mine:

👠Step 2:

Open your package on S3PE, and select the LOD1 (or the LOD0, if you're working with some accessory that might have it) GEOM plus the four BGEOs (they're the morphs) and export them to a folder (just click on it with the right button, and select Export > To file...)

(see? this is why we added the names ^^)

👠Step 3:

Back in Mesh Toolkit, go to the GEOM Tools tab, then to [Re]Number Meshes tab. There, open your base GEOM mesh and BGEOs morphs accordingly.

In the "Number to start with" box, type the number which you want to start the verts ID. I'm usually going with 57000 for shoes, and with around 40000 for necklaces (so they won't conflict with old shoes that aren't renumbered).

Click on Renumber and Save. When asked, select the according number for the LOD you're working with (in this case is 1, but again, if you're working with LOD0, then select 0), and click in Continue.

Then the program will prompt you to save the renumbered mesh and morphs. It's good to create a new sub-folder for them to avoid any confusion.

These are the files we get. LOD1 is my base mesh, and the others are the morphs.

👠Step 4:

Go back to your package on S3PE. Right click on the GEOM mesh you exported before, then click on Replace, and select your new base mesh. Save and close your package.

👠Step 5:

Go back to Mesh Toolkit. Go to the Package Tools tab, and then to the Add Morphs to Clothing/Hair tab, and open your package.

Tick "Use GEOM morph meshes", untick "Change morph blend TGI".

Then tick the morph you will add to the package, and then in the according box (in my case,LOD1 box, but again, if you're working with a LOD0, put it in the LOD0 box) open your new morph.

Then click on "Add morph to package". A box confirming the action will pop-up.

Repeat this step with the other morphs, reminding always to tick the according morph or otherwise you might make some mistake (as adding a fit morph in the place of the fat one).

After you finished, save your package (either the current one, or save as new package).

👠Step 6:

Now test it in game! If everything was done right, you should see no distortion in the shoes and necklaces. Also check if the morphs are working as intended, because sometimes we can make mistakes!

Remember that you'll won't be able to have both the old and the new altered package since they're still the same, we just replaced the meshes and morphs.

[thornowl]

Hello, i hope you're doing great!

I just watched your most recent tutorial on youtube. I just can't install the pugglin on Blender 3.5. Everytime i try to install it this error just happen, is there a way to fix it? Am i doing something wrong?

This addon is a lafi saver and i have many plans to work with my projects with this.

not entirely sure, i never had this issue to install a blender addon, go to edit - preferences - add-ons - install and select the .zip file (do not unzip it yourself!)

ModTheSims - Blender GEOM Tools v2.1.4 (Blender 2.8x-3.x)

Blender GEOM Tools Version 2.0.0 It's been quite a while since I released the original version of my GEOM Tools for

[thornowl]

How to edit bone weights in Blender (Sims 3 accessory CC)

[thornowl]

behold the best cc piece i've ever made

[elvgreen]

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.

-----------------

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.

-----------------

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

---------------

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).

[thornowl]

"thornowl and other converters" implies i have ever converted a single piece of cc. lol

I wanted to add an explanation of what mipmaps are and why texture sizes matter:

If you've messed with graphics rules for SimDetail, you might've noticed that texture settings are defined like (2048, 1024, 512, 128). The four values are for 4 LODs: LOD0 (the most detailed), LOD1, LOD2, LOD3. As you zoom out, the game loads a mesh with less details and a smaller size mipmap. Each value is the maximum allowed size for a composite texture for the entire sim, including their face, body, clothes, hair and accessories. Clothes (combines with skintones and overlay accessories like socks) get half of that texture, so at 2048px total (Very High Sim Detail) that would mean that the game is using the full 1024px clothing texture (to see 2048px clothing textures that are only found in CC, you have to edit GraphicsRules to make the maximum composite size 4096px). Meshed accessories get even less texture space real estate, so it's pointless to give them more than 512px.

How many mipmaps are in a texture file depends on its original size. For 32x32px textures, it's 6: 32px, 16px, 8px, 4px, 2px, 1px. For 1024px, it's 11: 1024px, 512px, 256px, 128px, 64px, 32px.. etc

A rendering engine typically keeps all mipmaps stored in memory for quick access whenever it needs to swap LODs. In a normal game, that would be your GPU's memory, specifically meant for graphics, but Sims 3 actually keeps a lot of its graphics data in regular RAM. If you've been playing the game for a while, you probably just cringed because you know how many issues are caused by the 4 gb RAM limit, from crashes to save corruption, and, yeah, larger textures contribute to those problems by taking up more memory. It also affects loading times in general, of course: from launching the game to changing outfits in live mode (if you've noticed lag whenever a sim changes outfits, it's because the game is generating a new composite texture out of, idk, 50 multipliers, patterns, overlays etc)

So if you can reduce file size of your CC without hurting quality, you should absolutely do that, and that includes using smaller textures when possible. If you aren't even using a normal map (skill issue btw), use a blank 32px (1kb) texture instead of a blank 1024px (5mb) texture that keeps the same amount of information at 5000x larger file size. And no matter what kind of CC you make, use as much UV space as possible to avoid using higher texture resolutions.

[thornowl]

UV Map References for TS3 (all ages/genders)

The archive includes maps for toddlers (pu), children (cu), teen-elder female sims (af) and teen-elder male sims (am).

With nicer colors than the other ones floating around the Internet :)

[ktarsims]

Tutorial: Changing in-Game Categories for Accessories

First a few notes:

This will only work on .package files, not .sims3pack files.

This is for ACCESSORIES in CAS. See tutorial for CLOTHING HERE and BUY MODE OBJECTS HERE - Build items not covered.

You will need the s3pe program installed to edit .package files.

Changing the category of your accessories will only change their display order the in-game accessory tab. They’ll still all be in the accessory tab.

Some accessory categories may only show up in-game if you have certain EP’s. I have all EP’s, so this wasn’t something I was able to easily figure out. According to @kreativeplumbob - -Dental and Garter category require the Late Night EP -Armband category requires the World Adventures EP

You can also use the CLOTHING TUTORIAL to change which clothing categories (casual/formal/etc.) your accessories will show up for.

Putting the rest below a read-more, since it’s a bit long.

Keep reading

[thornowl]

Reading the fifth point made me panic a little bit because I claimed that my halo accessories (dental/left garter category) are base game compatible, so I had to test it myself.

I know this post is 6 years old, but in case someone still believes that: it's not true. Armband, garter and dental categories are base game compatible.

I loaded the game with only 70/80/90's (SimGameSelect refuses to disable it for some reason), and you can still see and use dental accessories:

And armbands:

While you won't see the specific accessories included in Late Night/World Adventures (for obvious reasons), the categories themselves were likely added to base game with a patch when those expansions came out. As long as you clone a base game accessory (or remove pack restrictions from the CC item), it will be base game compatible.

By the way, the halos are using the plumbot shader, and the lack of Into the Future doesn't seem to bother them either.

[thornowl]

Mesh ToolKit Seam Fixer for all ages

Mesh ToolKit's Seam Fixer was never properly finished and didn't work for toddlers, elders or female teens. I have added the missing data, making it work for all age/gender combinations.

Download:

[thornowl]

Fixed a typo causing a tiny gap on the back of TF meshes. Redownload using the same link

[thornowl]

Fixed a bug that would crash the app if a mesh has less than 100 polygons. Redownload using the same link

Explanation of the bug under the cut

If you tried to work with a mesh that had less than 100 verts/tris (converting an OBJ to WSO, for example), the app would throw this exception. It's a default warning, not one made by Cmar; seems like she wasn't aware of that issue (if she were, she definitely would've fixed that, it's really simple lol)

It says that a parameter "Value" can't be equal to 1, because it has to be between parameters "minimum" and "maximum". I checked the code that caused this, and...

It's how MTK draws the progress bar (using default Windows components). It sets a range from minimum (0) to maximum (polycount divided by 100), a starting value of 1, then increases that value until it reaches the maximum.

So if a mesh had, say, 77 polygons, and we divided that by 100, that sets the maximum of 0.77.. And we're starting from 1.. You can see why it broke lol

Anyway, I just made the app set the maximum to 1 if it's below that, and now it works perfectly fine. Enjoy

[thornowl]

Halo Pack (4 accessories, T-EU)

Unfortunately, they have nothing to do with the hit FPS game by Bungie.

Unisex, teen-elder (might convert for toddlers and children if there's demand for it).

All 4 accessories include proper handmade (not decimated) LODs (halo4 LOD3 is 272 tris, for example).

Original meshes. 32px textures. Technically CASTable, but they weren't meant to be, so patterns appear tiny.

The glowing effect is thanks to basic Sims 3 bloom. If you have disabled it, the accessory will appear as a silhouette.

Custom CAS thumbnails.

Download (SFS):

Install only one version!

Dental category — get this one if you're unsure.

Left garter category — alternative version for sims who are already using a dental accessory. Camera zooms in to a sim's thighs when CASTing the accessory.

[thornowl]

undiagnosed

delta (D6) is one of the few experimental fusions of humanity and technology, manufactured to explore the inhospitable earth long after the last biological human body has perished. determined to find a cure for the planet, he neglects his own health until his body starts breaking down for seemingly no reason, forcing him to abandon his goal and find a new meaning in life

delta's story is based on my own struggles with chronic pain and fatigue: fruitless attempts to fix it, giving up parts of your life, dealing with internalized ableism, trying to accept your new "normal" as it keeps getting worse.. all while other people don't believe there's anything wrong with you and expect you to keep up

haven't drawn anything personal in a while; fanart gets more likes, after all. i really like how it turned out though

timelapse (flashing warning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-f_Ij035-Q

[thornowl]

p*rn install