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Sims 3 Custom Paintings with EA Meshes

With the public release of the TSR Workshop everyone is anxious to get busy making all sorts

of custom content. But, if you’re like me and can’t mesh yet! But, still have that itch to

contribute to the community with something wonderful then this tutorial might be for you.

Sims 3 Custom Paintings with EA Meshes

I will show you how easy it is to make your very own custom painting by your favorite artist

using one of the very lovely frames that already exists in your game.

What You will Need:

• TSR Workshop (8.7 or latest release)

• Graphics editing program (I will be using Photoshop CS3 (a good working knowledge is a

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plus) or the program of your choice.

• DDS plug-ins for Photoshop, current version (installed)

(http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.htm). Gimp and Paint Shop Pro

also have plug-ins available on the internet.

• Good quality image of your choice or you can use mine. Just right click and save it. But, I

do ask that you only use it for tutorial purposes as I’ve already uploaded it for publication on

TSR.

I’ll be using one of my favorites, The Waterlily Pond with the Japanese Bridge, 1899 by

Claude Monet.

Section 1 - Creating a New Project

We’ll start by opening Workshop (WS) and clicking on Create New Project

In the Create a new project screen select Object and then click Next

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You will now find yourself on the Object Clone screen. In the Object By Category section

on the left, select Décor/Wall Art. You will see workshop display all the paintings in the

game. Remember the only paintings available to clone are the ones with a frame. I’ve selected

the Painting still life for my painting. Click Next and you’re on your way.

At this point the Project details screen will pop up. Here you will type in your Project

Name, Title and Description. When you are finished with all of your information go ahead

and click Next

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Your project has now been created and we are ready to customize it. As you can see from the

screenshot, your project is opened on the Project tab. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself

with all the sections. It’s in this tab where you can change your project name and description

if you find any mistakes and in game categories.

When you’re finished with the Project tab go ahead and click on the Textures tab. You will

see a dropdown box called Variation. If you click on it you will see exactly that, how many

frame variations (colors) this particular mesh has. There are 3 for the Painting Still Life.

Make sure the first one is selected and move on to the next section.

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Section 2 - Preparing your images

Click on the overlay section and an Edit button will pop up. Click it!

The Image Editor will then be displayed. Click on the Export button. This will export the

original file of the painting.

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The Export Texture box will pop up. Save this to either your desktop or somewhere that you

will remember. It will save as a .dds file.

Now go to Photoshop or your graphics editing program and open the file you just saved.

Hopefully you remember where you put it. It will open the NVIDIA DDS Read Properties

box.

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You will want to make sure the Load Using Default Sizes radio button is clicked. Click OK

It will open with a black background but that’s ok, it’s supposed to. Now go ahead at this time

and open the image of the painting you are using for your custom painting.

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You will need to rotate your image so it is facing in the same direction as the original. So go

to Image/Rotate Canvas/90° CCW

Click on the Rectangular Marquee Tool and select the original painting as I have in the

screenshot. We will be checking the size in order to resize your painting image so it will fit

perfectly.

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After you have it selected perfectly hold down your ctrl key and hit c (ctrl + c), then (ctrl + n)

and the New box will pop up. Write down the Width and Height you will be using them

again in just a minute. Cancel the New box you will not be using it.

At this time go back to your custom image. We will be preparing it for placement. Go to

Layer/Flatten Image and click. This helps to keep your edges smooth when reducing the

image size

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Go to Image/Image Size and click. The image size box will pop up.

You will want to make sure the Scale Styles and Constrain Proportions are unchecked.

Input the Width and Height that we wrote down earlier. (152 x 195)

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Your image is now the same size as the original painting. Use the Move Tool to drag it over

and place it directly on top of the original.

I like to add a little bevel to the painting. It adds a bit of shape and shadow to the edges. Click

on the little fx (add a layer style) on the bottom of your layer window on the right side of your

screen, then click Bevel and Emboss

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The Layer Style box will pop up. Make sure the Bevel and Emboss box is checked and

highlighted. Leave everything as is except the Highlight mode. Click the box and make it

black. You will be able to see the change on your painting. It’s very subtle but noticeable in

the final product. Click OK and you are done. Your file is ready to save

Go to the toolbar and click File/Save As

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When the Save As box pops up make sure the Format says D3D/DDS (*.DDS). You can also

change the File Name at this time so you can reuse the original image later if you want to

make another painting. Click Save at which time the NVIDIA dds Format box will pop up

Click the drop down box and select DXT5 ARGB 8pp | Interpolated alpha. Then click

Save. Again, save this to your desktop or somewhere you will be able to find it.

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Section 3 - Importing to back to Workshop

Go back to WS. You should still have theImage Editor visible. But, if you don’t, just click

the overlay again and the edit button it will pop back up. Now you are going to Import your

edited file into WS.

So go ahead and click on Import and the Import texture box pops up. Find your edited .dds

file and open.

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It will replace the original .dds with yours. Click Done

Voila you did it!!! YAY! You will see your painting in the first frame variation.

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Section 4 - Editing Variations

Now we are going to do the other two variations. Don’t jump ahead as we are going to do this

in a different way.

Instead of importing the .dds file again we are going to use the Browse.

First though go back to the variation drop down box and select the second variation. You will

see your painting revert back to the original but with a different frame color. Click the overlay

again and the Edit button. Now click Browse and the Project Contents box pops up.

You should see 4 columns Type, GroupID, InstanceID, Second Instance ID. There will be

only one item listed. Click on it and it will show your edited .dds file on the right side. Click

OK

You will then be back at the Image Editor window that will be showing your file once again.

Click Done

We do it this way instead of importing because it keeps the size of the package file down.

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Now go back and do this section again for the 3rd variation.

After the 3rd is completed click back on the first variation.

Section 5 - Creating your Sims3Pack

Your custom painting is now ready to be exported to a Sims3Pack. Click on File at the top

left and scroll down to Export and make sure you click To Sims3Pack.

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The Save As box will pop up and you will need to find your way to the games downloads

folder.

With a normal game installation on Vista it will be here: Documents/Electronic

Arts/TheSims3/Downloads

Make sure you type the name of your file in th File Name box and click Save When it has

finished, an Export done! box will pop up and click OK

If you plan on uploading your finished project to TSR you can do this step again but click on

To TheSimsResource and will upload it directly to your File Storage on TSR if you have

your Subscription info logged in.

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Section 6 - Saving your .wrk file

This section is an easy one. It’s just showing you how to save your work. It’s always a good

idea to have a folder with each project in it in case you need to edit it or update it at a later

time. I move everything from my desktop to a folder for safe keeping.

You can do this at any point during this process but I saved it for last as I hope you made it all

the way through my tutorial.

Go to the File at the top left corner of WS and scroll down to Save As the Save As box pops

up

As you can see in the Save as type box it will have workshop project (*.wrk) written. This

is correct. Once again pick a place where you will remember or again save to your desktop.

Later if you want to edit your project or if you didn’t finish it, this is the file you will re-open

in WS.

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So you made it. This is the end!! You can now open The Sims Game Launcher and click on

the downloads button and there you will find your painting just waiting to be installed into

your game.

After you have installed it and opened your game you will find it in the decorative section. A

good way to find it is to find the original Painting Still Life and it should be right next to it.

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So I hope you enjoyed learning how to make your own Custom Paintings using EA meshes. I

thoroughly enjoyed making this tutorial for you.

I'm working on a Second Edition - Multiple Paintings in 1 Sims3Pack using Stencils to

include changing Frame colors. So Please keep a look out for it.

If you have any problems or questions I can always be contacted by PM right here at TSR.

Good Luck! and most of Have Fun!!

Vanilla_Sim

Credits

I would first like to say Thank You! to a wonderful artist and friend Cemre for being so

patient with me while teaching me this process.

Second to Tdyannd for her wonderful preview making and proofreading talent. She was there

with me every second of the way. I appreciate all your support.

Third my beautiful daughterKelly also for her wonderful proofreading skills..if there are any

mistakes it's all her fault. LOL! She didn't know what she was reading but still worked hard to

help me the minute I asked.