CS Henrich's Tutorial for Making Custom Content Clothing : Introduction and Lesson 1

INTRODUCTION

Hello, dear friends:

Here is a tutorial which explains how to make custom clothing.

What you need:

1. The TSR Workshop. You may download it from TSR.

2. Gimp, version 2.6 or above. You may download at no cost at www.gimp.org/ .

3. The GimpDDS-Plugin. Please follow the instructions in the readme file to install it. Download it at

32bit version: http://gimp-dds.googlecode.com/files/gimp-dds-win32-2.0.9.zip

64bit version: http://www.aljacom.com/~gimp/gimp-dds-2.0.9-64bits.zip

Here is a site where you can get information about the .dds plugin:

http://registry.gimp.org/node/70

4. The Gimp normalmap plugin. Please review the readme file for the installation instructions. You may download this plugin at: http://code.google.com/p/gimp-normalmap/downloads/detail?name=gimp-normalmap-win32-1.2.2.zip&can=2&q=

Once you have installed these applications, we can begin our lesson.

LESSON 1

Note: If you are having difficulty seeing the pictures, I have uploaded copies of them. Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?c17cobg8bs6a1nd

Open the TSR Workshop. Click on "File", and then click on "New."

Click on "Clothing," then press "Next."

Select "Human." It may take several minutes for the screen to load. Then, scroll down until you see the category: "Young Adult-Female-Swimwear," Click on the icon with the title: "afBottomBrief_boyShorts." Click on "Next."

Type in the name of your project, then press "Next."

Press "OK."

Now the screen will load a model wearing the boyshorts. Click on the second tab to the right, "Texture."

Click in the white field entitled "Multiplier." Then click on "Edit." A popup window will appear.

Click on "Export."

Type in a name for the exported file, for example: "Boyshorts." Select a place to save the file, for example, the desktop. Press "Save." Close the little window and minimize the Workshop.

Open Gimp. Click on "File" and then select "Open" from the dropdown menu.

If it is not already highlighted, click on "Desktop" in the popup window. Select "boyshorts.dds," and then press "Open."

You should get another popup window. Remove the checkmark from "Load mipmaps." Then press "OK."

Now you should see a flattened version of the boyshorts. Click on "View" and then "Zoom." Select 200%.

Here is the original texture from Sims 3 in grayscales. Please note that if you want to make your clothes recolorable, you must "Gray" as the color.

Towards one side, or perhaps on either side, are columns with important tools. The columns are called "docks." You can move them around as you work on the texture. If you accidentally close one of them, go to "Windows" at the upper left and click on "Recently closed docks."

OK, let's begin to manipulate the texture. First, you need to place some helplines or guidelines. To start, make sure you have clicked on the Move Tool. Then, click and drag from the left hand side ruler, to the middle of the texture.

Place the helplines as shown below. To create horizontal lines, click and drag from the ruler on top.

Next, click on the "free select" tool. It looks like a lasso. You will use this tool to define an area which will be deleted.

Using the tool, make a shape as shown below. Be sure to click on each corner until a yellow circle appears, and then you will be able to change directions. Follow the shape around until you click on the beginning point. Now, you should see flashing broken lines.

Now press "delete" on your keyboard.

Click on the "Move Tool" and add more helplines as shown below. Then, click on the "Free Select Tool" again and mark the area shown below. Press "Delete."

Continue to use the Free Select Tool and the Delete key to remove unwanted texture, as shown in the pictures below.

 

Next, click on the rectangle icon in the tool window. Draw a rectangle as shown, although it does not have to be as high as the one that has been drawn.

Press "Delete" again.

Congratulations! You are finished editing the texture for the time being. Go back to the upper left of your sceen. Click on "File" and then click on "Export." (If you have a version of Gimp prior to 2.8, you have to "Save" the file.) Be sure you export it as ".dds". If the program asks you if you want to overwrite the .dds file, select "Yes." A popup window should appear.

For "Compression," select "BC3/DXT5," from the dropdown menu. Next, check "Generate mipmaps." Then press OK. Now, minimize Gimp and open the TSR Workshop again.

Click on the Texture tab again. Click in the white field next to the "Multiplier" and then click on "Edit."

When the popup window appears, click on "Import."

Next, click on your .dds file and click on "Open." Then, click on"Done" to close the popup window.

Now you can see your manipulated texture!

To see your work better, go to the top of the window. Click on the button "View". Select "Zoom" and "Pan.Then select "View" again. Now you can turn the model in every direction.

What you see is the base texture for creating new Custom Content.

To end the lesson, save your projects in Gimp and in the Workshop. Gimp may require you to save the file as .xcf. This is OK. Save the project in the Workshop as a Workshop Project.

Note: If you need larger pictures, I uploaded them on Mediafire. The filenames are the same as here in the Topic. Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?c17cobg8bs6a1nd