TSS Insider Issue 8

Issue 8

May 31 2011

Picture Perfect photos and winnersTop Picks galoreGet the know how on skins

Everyone worried about Tweek but it wasjust a body getting ready creak or two. Notlong now Tweek!

Stephs cat got locked in the shed. Of courseshe did. Open a cupboard and the cat creepsin. Or was that a crypt?

Stu’s puter is labouring under the strain ofa huge guest list for the upcomingnuptials....... all that cc will make oo sickickle puter.

This weeks craze is the Pose Player, will itfade away like hula hoops and the rubixcube?

Jisgr8 uploaded Waddesdon. Whichdepressed every other builder in the simsworld.

Bulfrog needs lots of positive vibes..... readysteady vibrate! (note to self: Could ofphrased that better.)

Mene admits to never have seen TrueBlood. Where has she been?

Wicked had to get up very very very early.8.00am. Welcome to the real world hun.

Smoky mended her dvd player. Sheplugged it in.

Kate made a simmie Kate....... can we copewith two?

ea has decided in its wisdom that gnomescan breed.

Have you seen Kims Sims???? Lush.

Scorpio is the first with Generations. Whodid he bribe to get a copy so early, and he gotthree!!

Much discussion about diet etc......... justeat less and walk more.

Just some of the wedding guests, chosen notfor their beauty but for the ‘easy to remove’backgrounds!! All the guests are lovely!

http://www.ladyfrontbum.com/?page_id=2

As well as having the nicest skins on the net,this site is full of fairly general sims info,how to's and guides. Sim makers should havethis site bookmarked!

I have copy pasted her photoshop tutorialhere as I found it really interesting, sorryabout the editing and the huge white spacesbut its the best I could do.........

Tutor ial ~ Neat Sim Shots using PhotoshopWhile I am sitting on the couch coughing up what is left of my lungs, I thought I would make a tutorial for you guys. This is just a simple one to show you how I make my sim photos nice and clean. It’s long but it’s easy.

Before we proceed, a word about screenshot-taking

You must take your screenshots in a very well lit room (see my photo studio guide for help if you need it). The walls need to be a flat colour, no patterns. It doesn’t matter what colour you use. I use white because I like it, it looks clean and bright. The main thing is that it’s flat, and that the lighting

is good; this will make selecting bits from your screenies in photoshop a lot easier.

STEP 1

Cut a hole in a box…Wait… wrong tutorial *cough* Ok so, assuming you have your screenshots all ready to go and

Photoshop is open, open up your first screenshot. Make sure the layer tab is open and visible. My screenshot is below:

You can click on it to enlarge it. Those poles are just the light stands I use in my photo studio home.

Right-click on the Background layer and select “Layer from Background” (see image below)

Then click on the New Layer button. You can see in the image below that your old background layer has become Layer 0 and the new layer you just created is called Layer 1.

Then, lastly, drag the empty Layer 1 down to the bottom so it’s underneath Layer 0.

STEP 2 – Selecting Unwanted Areas

Click on Layer 0 – your screenshot layer – making sure it’s selected. Using the Magic Selection Tool (or whatever the eff it’s called) I want you to select all of the area directly surrounding your

sim. You do this by holding the shift button on your keyboard as you click on areas with the wand. You don’t have to get pedantic about the outer areas of the screenshot, just make sure that the area

touching your sim is selected. You can see below that I haven’t bothered with the light stands. Once your selection is nice and neat you can proceed to step 4.

Step 3 – Contracting Your Selection

Don’t deselect anything!With the area still selected, Click on the Select menu up the top. Then click on Modify, then on Contract. A little box will pop up and ask you to enter a number. Enter the number 2. This will

contract the selection by 2 pixels. By contract I mean it will move the selection away from the sims body by 2 pixels. You can play around and try 1 pixel if you want. It’s up to you.

Below you can see how it ends up looking once the selection has been contracted.

Step 4 – Feather ing Your Selection and Deleting Unwanted Areas

If you screw up and accidentally deselect your area just remember you can Edit > Undo at any time. Now, with your area still selected and contracted I want you to go up the top and click on the Select menu again but this time I want you to click on Feather. Once again a box will pop up asking for a

number. Type in 1. This will feather (blur) the edges of your selection by 1 pixel.

Once you have feathered your selection I want you to hit the Delete key on your keyboard. The area remains selected but you’ve deleted the coloured area around your sim! You can see your

transparent Layer 1 underneath. You can also see that there is a tiny outline around your sim. That’s the 2 pixels of colour that you left, the edges of which will be blurred nicely. Hard to see with a

transparent lower layer so you’ ll have to take my word for it.

Step 5 – Cleanup

Ok it’s cleanup time. Click on the Select menu and hit Deselect so that the area you were working on is no longer selected. Choose the Eraser tool. Make the eraser quite large so it doesn’t take too long to erase everything and make sure it’s a hard brush. If the brush is soft you may inadvertently

erase a bit of your sim.Now erase everything else apart from your sim!

You will be left with a nice, clean transparent background. The only thing on your Layer 0 now will be your sim.

If you choose the Selector arrow tool and grab your sim , you can move it around the page. You can also resize your sim using the corner squares. Just remember to maintain the aspect ratio as you

resize the sim (more on that in the image below)

Step 6 – Dragging From One Document to Another

If you only plan on using the single screenshot of your sim you can skip to step 15, otherwise continue.

If you plan on using multiple shots of your sim in the one picture then you need to repeat the above steps on all the screenshots you want to use. So, edit the layers, select, contract, feather, delete,

cleanup all your screenies.

Then you will be left with multiple edited sim shots you can play with. I have an example below. I have another shot of my sim boy that I want to move to the document we are working on. So I just grab him with the selector arrow, and drag him next to the boy on the document we were playing

with earlier:

Once he’s dragged over you end up with something like this:

So, as you can see, once your screenshots are cleaned up it’s as simple as grabbing and dragging your sims onto the document you are working with. Then you can arrange them however you like.

Step 7 – Bottom Layer

Now we go back to that first empty layer we created. Layer 1. It’s been sitting there having an existential crisis.

Why am I here? What is my purpose? I feel empty inside.Poor thing. Anyway… Now I want you to select that empty layer. Once it’s selected use the bucket

fill tool and fill it with white by using the tool to click anywhere on the document.

Step 8 – Placement of Your Sims

Now you can move the sims around and put them wherever you want. There are two ways of doing this. One way is to right-click using the arrow tool on the sim you want to move then select his

layer when the little window pops up. Once his layer is selected you can move him about. The other way is to click on the appropriate layer in the layer window then grab and move the sim using the

arrow tool.

If you want to add some text, move to the next step. Otherwise you can end here.

Step 9 – Adding And Styling Text

So I usually have some text on my pictures. Text is pretty easy, all you have to do is select the Text tool then click on the document and type. The text can be edited once it’s on the page. I’m going to

type “Yeah, Bitches” and move it so it’s in front of the boys.

When you click on your text using the text tool and select it, you can edit it using the options that appear in the top menu. Things such as font/colour/size/style.

Ok now my “Yeah, Bitches” is kinda hard to read because it’s in front of my sims. There’s an easy way to fix that. Make sure your text layer is selected. Then go to the Layer menu up the top and

select Layer Style. Then select Outer Glow.

A box will pop up. Now you can play around in here, I’m just going to tell you what I usually do with my white screenies. Change Blend Mode to Normal. Opacity to 100%. Make the little colour

square White. Take the Spread slider to just under 50% anywhere in the 40′s will do. Check the anti-aliased box. If you have the preview box checked you will be able to see how every step changes

the text in your document.

TIPS

•If you have multiple text layers and want them all to have the same layer style such as the Outer Glow I showed above, you can add the layer style to one of the text layers then go to the Layer menu, Layer Style, then click on Copy Layer Style. Then all you have to do is select each text layer the go back to the Layer Style menu and click Paste Layer Style.

• Your layer window is quite handy. You can double-click on the layer name and change it to whatever you want. This is very useful for big jobs that require a lot of layers.

• Layer Arrangement is important. If a layer is at the top of the layer list then it will be in front of every other layer on your picture. If it’s on the bottom of the layer list then it will be underneath every other layer on your picture. You can drag the layers around to order them in the layer window.

• This tutorial can be done in different colours. If your photo studio walls are black, then you would just replace any instance of white in the tutorial with black. The same goes for any colour walls.

• Remember to crop your images and resize them so they aren’t too massive. When you resize your images make sure the quality is still decent, try not to make them crunchy and pixellated.

• If you are uploading sims to a website or somewhere like MTS remember to be consistent with the size of your images. Posts and submissions look a hell of a lot better if the layout is neat and the images are all the same size.

• If you are making a collage, keep all the images the same size and try placing them onto a larger layer so they have a nice border. You can also play around with Outer Glow and Inner Glow, they will give your pictures a nice border or edge.

I hope this helps someone out there!

Ppicture Perfect Week 29

Bollywood!This week tempted those bright beautiful silks and satins found in Indian decor! And by golly we got them!

A new client saw your work and wants you to design a room for her. She has just been to India. She wants silks, satins, brocades, reds and golds and everything that reminds her of that vacation. No no not her bedroom silly, her recieving room. Or living room as we lesser mortals call it.

If decorators can pull off an uninhibited style and have a flare for the exotic, they might be perfect candidates for designing an Indian theme room. Here are tips for exploring the trendy look that is looking less and less foreign with its newfound popularity.

Colours for an East Indian Theme Room

Bright color is key to an authentic Indian look. Bold reds, brilliant turquoise, and vibrant orange are set off with the glitter of gold embroidery and lacquer. Because the color array is so broad, decorators might consider settling on their focal point first. A color scheme will fall into place easily once tapestries have been chosen for the windows, or an Indian area rug for the center of the room.

Layered colors work well in an Indian theme room. For example, decorators can choose one shade of turquoise for the curtains, another for the throw pillows, and a third for the walls.'

One of the inspiration pictures.

Love those cushions should a great week for cc!

First up we see Bergcrys went for bright pink, love this bright and delicious colour.

Bylose went for an aqua colour scheme.

Flobos entry, love those cushions Flobo!

Haze, surprisingly scorned cc and went more muted

Jaylf turned to the sun burned earthy tones of the Indian landscape

And excitingly we have an entry from Yanti, more sunshine colours here

And after computer woes, and the discovery that Sims2 cc does not work in Sims3, Stu entered this beauty.

What the judges said

Haze

Cera says - Great furniture choices and patterns. I love the red! The layout is great and the window aquarium is awesome!

Tweek says - I like the decorations. The colors are calming too. I like the layout of the room. Great job!

Flobo

Cera says -I love the colors you chose! They look great with the gold accents! I love your layout and all the pillows!

Tweek says - Those cushions make me feel like I'm looking inside a genie bottle. I love the colors and the layout. Looks great!

Jaylf

Cera says -I love the colors, the patterns and all the wood! I really like that you used the platform as a low table! It looks great!

Tweek says - Those great colors make it very cozy. I like all the decorations. Love all the plants. Nice room!

Crys

Cera says - Oooo, pink!! Its bright and cheery! I love the screens and pillows! The floor is really cool, so shiny! Very pretty sim!

Tweek says - Wow what bright colors! Great decorations. I love the pillow corner. Good job!

Bylos

Cera says - That blue is incredible, love the patterns and clutter you chose! Great layout too!

Tweek says - I like that blue! Great layout and decorations. I like it!

Yanti

Cera says - That set is perfect for this room! I love the yellow! Great clutter and pattern choices, fabulous layout!

Tweek says - I like the placement of the furniture and decorations. I like the colors! Your room looks great!

Stu

Cera says - Wow! The colors, the fountain, the everything! This was totally worth the wait! I love it! *waves to Stu-ghost and Eric*

Tweek says - I wouldn’t expect anything less than spectacular from you Stu! I love the colors and different levels overlooking the fountain and sitting area. I like it…lots!!

Your Non CC winner is Yanti!

Non CC Honorable Mention goes to Haze!

Your CC winner is Stu!

CC Honorable Mention is Flobo!

Now the whole Bollywood creative fever has had an overflow into another area of Simming, but more of that later!!

Well confusion was rife on this thisweeks so here we go.

An Explanation from LFB

DEFAULT

Ok so in order to understand defaultcustom skins I need to explain whythey are called ‘defaults’ in the firstplace.

This is the definition of the worddefault:

Computers – A value that a program oroperating system assumes, or a courseof action that a program or operatingsystem will take,when the user specifiesno overriding value or action.

Okay, so when we are using the term‘Default Skin’ in regards to the sims,what we mean is it’s the skin that yourgame will apply to all sims – unlesstold to apply another (by “another” Imean a non-default skin but we willcover those later).

So, when you open up your brand-spanking new sims game your simsstart out with the boring, ugly EA skins.Any sim you create will automaticallyhave that skin applied to their body.This is your current default skin. Now,thanks to the brilliant minds out there,

we are able to create custom skins thatwill overwrite those EA skins. Theseare referred to as “Default Skins” butwhat we really mean is “DefaultREPLACEMENT Skins”. Once youoverwrite your ea skin files the ea skindisappears and is replaced by your newcustom ones – the custom ones becomeyour new ‘Default’ Skin.

Any sim that was made using your olddefault – in this case the EA skins –will automatically be using the newcustom Defaults you installed. It’s likeyou just removed the EA skins from thegame and replaced them with fancyones.

Now you’ve probably heard me, andothers, say a million times “You canonly have one set of default skins”.This is because there is only one set ofEA skin files in the game. You can onlyoverwrite it once. If you install morethan one your game won’t like itbecause you will have conflicting files.Basically you’ll have multiple fileswanting to overwrite the same files inthe game. Which one takes precedence?The game doesn’t know so it has a sad.

One thing to note is that when we sayyou can only have one set of defaultskins, we mean just that… one full set.

Basically this means you can downloadvarious default skin packages fromvarious creators as long as none of

What does Default/Non Defaultmean?

them overlap or conflict with oneanother.

Just remember that in game there areskins for:

Male & Female Toddlers

Male & Female Children

Females – Teen to Elder

Males – Teen to Elder

So, you can install my toddler skins andaikea’s male skins and there will be noproblem. You can even installsomeone’s male elder skins andsomeone else’s male teen – adult skinsand there will be no problem orsomeone’s heads and another person’sbodies for different ages/genders. It’sonly if you overlap any of the skin filesthat there will be an issue.

Hopefully you understand Defaultsnow.

NON-DEFAULT

Obviously Non-Default means ‘notdefault’. Which, of course, means thatnon-default skins are not standard.They will not overwrite anything in thegame. They are ‘extras’ and you canhave as many installed as you like.

So… basically non-default skins areskin files that are their own entity. Theyare entirely separate from your defaultskin… an optional extra. installed. You

can have one default set installed ANDa gazillion non-defaults.

As an example, this is my current setup:

DEFAULT:

Naughty and Nice – All Genders/Ages

NON-DEFAULTS:

Silk Full Package

Velvet Full Package

Aikea’s Faces

Subaxi’s Males

Peggy’s Females/Males YA-Adult etc

Hopefully you understand Non-Defaults now.

Thanks for this very clear explanationLFB.

Picture Perfect Week 30 -Time for a relaxing drink

This week we got new sets, and there were much mutterings about how 'they' always meant to make one... so here’s your chance.

Your client has a beautiful pool (which you can build if you like) but what they want is an area for a party.

They want a Tiki Bar. Now after you have googled that, can you make one? Can you find a cas pattern for bamboo? Can you do this? Of course you can so you accept the clients brief....…

So what did they do? We had four entries this week, so we have double pictures!

Scorpio up first with this interpretation of a tropical paradise.

And this is the promised second view, again Scorpio

Bylos entered these, that fireplace is nearly scary

Bylos again

Flobo, entered this one, love the roof”

Flobos second picture….cuse me while I throw a towel on one of those loungers

Haze built the whole thing, theres a link somewhere!

Hazes second view, apparently a peeping tom view.

What the judges said

Scorp

Cera - Nice! I really like the wicker pattern you used behind the bar and the zebra print of the seating. Fantastic fountains!

Tweek - I like your bar a lot. The pattern on the chairs looks great and I like the fountains flowing into the pool. Great job!

Haze

Cera - It looks really good. I really like the view from the top of the restrooms. Do I see a hot tub and a pool, maybe an arcade?

Tweek - Very spacious bar. I like the roof top with the shrub. Plenty of thing to do here...like a mini vacation spot. I like it!

Flobo

Cera - Love the little huts and the pool, wonderful layout! I really like your use of terrain paints too!

Tweek - WOW flobo!! I really like the pool and that stone walkway. The tiki huts look great! Look great!

Bylos

Cera - I love the pool, with it's tiki design! I would also love to lounge by that fire with cocktails in hand any evening!

Tweek - I like the colors you chose for the pool and the fountains are a great addition. The hot tub area is really inviting as well as the fireplace lounging area. I think you did a great job!

The winners of week 30 are:

CC:

Honorable Mention and Winner: flobo

Non CC

Honorable Mention: Scorp

Winner: bylos

In order to allow more people more time to enter Picture Perfect is to become a fortnighly challenge, so get your creations ready!

GREEN DREAMSA landscaping article by Yanti

Most of us builders love to create a pretty garden for our simmies. An outside space where they can be one with nature and enjoy some outdoor activities with their family and friends. The question is how do we go about it and where do we start? The first thing you must decide is what style of garden are you hoping to create. The style depends obviously on the style of your build. So the landscaping style will vary according to the style of architecture of your house. For example, if you are building a country home for your sims then you should go for the rustic look or the cottage garden or a farm house style garden. To illustrate my point here is a picture of a cottage garden:

As you can see from the picture I have chosen stone pathway and the planting consists of flowers, ferns, climbing plants and trees including fruit trees to emphasize the cottage/farm house theme. While choosing the flowers for the garden it is very important to choose the right colour. If your house has got a yellow/brown/beige exterior wall it is better to choose red, yellow and white flowers for the garden. The terrain paint tool also comes in handy in creating the right colour scheme. Make it look as realistic as possible. So use the terrain paint to create patches of weeds or a ground full of fallen leaves or flowers. Also, suitable garden decorative objects like the scarecrow and the wheel barrow helps to create the right ambiance.

To illustrate my point further let’s consider another style of garden. Here is the picture of a French chateau garden:

Since this is a garden for a chateau we are going for a regal, well-manicured garden look. So it is best to create maze of hedges with ferns, bushes, trees and flowers in between. The path between the hedges is brick which is more suitable to the build. Notice the colours chosen for the flowering plants and trees. It is red and yellow which goes very well with the peach brick exterior wall of the chateau.

So now you have chosen the style of garden you are hoping to create. How do you start with the landscaping? It is simpler to first create a path stretching from the street to the front door to all the way around the house to the back door leading to the garden. Again the colour of the path and the type of path depends on the house you have built. If you want to fence your garden to allow your simmies some privacy it is better to do it first before we begin planning where the planting beds are going to be. To avoid repeating the same planting pattern we must alternate bushes/ferns with flowers and trees. You can also use potted plants here and there to break the monotony of the planting pattern. Potted plants certainly enhance the beauty of a terrace or a courtyard garden too. Gazebos, arches, ponds, swimming pools, fountains, bridges also help to beautify your garden. Also do not forget to put a bench for your simmies to sit outside and enjoy their garden. Here are some examples:

The arched walkway which is suitable for a Victorian garden

Adding a pond always helps to create the charming rustic garden

Fountains with beautiful statues always adds grandeur to a garden

Be creative with your garden and let your imagination free reign. Welcome the summer in your simmies garden by introducing a riot of colours in the planting or maybe give your simmies the feeling that they are on a vacation on an exotic island by adding an outside kitchen or a bar with a swimming pool! The sky is your limit because in simmie world there is always the ever helpful motherlode cheat.

The ByrdsByGargantua

A taster from Gargantua'slegacy tale. Its got humoursuspence and a good balanceof words to pictures.

All the links are in this TSS thread

http://www.simmerssociety.net/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=12&id=146060&Itemid=56

Blog here:-

http://lucentdusk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=243:10-the-

Off you go to her thread and pick upthis entertaining read!

Sim Top Pick went to Kaleeko for

her stunning Bollywood Kaleeko!

World Top Pick went to Tweek for

BrandyWine!

Amateur Lot Top Pick went to

KateSterling for Lily Pond Lane!

Pro Top Lot Pick went to

socalkdl for Tudorbethan!

Community Top Lot Pick went

to SmokyTopaz for

Mercadillo Majorca!

TSS Insider Top Pick Review

Sim Top Pick went to

Bergcrys for her version of

Pam (of True Blood)!

Amateur Lot Top Pick went

to Paogae for Orange Juice!

Pro Top Pick went to

Bluebellflora for Cabbage

Patch Cottage!