Revision as of 02:29, 30 July 2009

This page is under construction :) - daluved1

Delphy's CAS Texture Unitool v1.8

The following is simply a guide/handbook/manual (however you want to look at it) for the CAS Texture Unitool (CTU). This is not a creation tutorial, so do not expect to specifically learn how to edit, modify or design textures from reading this.

Refer to CTU Tutorials for a list of tutorials. Or, poke around the MTS Sims 3 Creation Forum.

What does this tool do?

The CAS Texture Unitool (CTU), is a tool that allows for editing and creation of Sims 3 CAS Parts. With this tool you can import custom textures, designs and meshes to create your own unique clothing for the game.

What do I need?

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

The CTU was built with Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (free), so you must have have it installed!

Where can I find it?

The CTU can be found here.

How do I install it?

Simply extract the contents to any place you wish. You should see the CASPartEditor.exe and a bunch of other files, and then a casparts folder.

KEEP FOLDER STRUCTURE INTACT: Do not delete/move/change or otherwise do anything to the files in casparts!

How do I run it?

Click on the CASPartEditor.exe

Creating a Shortcut

For easy access it's a good idea to create a desktop shortcut. Simply right-click on CASPartEditor.exe and go to Send To → Desktop.

General Information

CAS Parts

A .caspart file itself can be thought of as a "placeholder" in Create-A-Sim. By linking meshes, textures and other details to the .caspart, you create what is commonly know as a CAS Part. CAS Parts are what a the game actually displays on the sim (i.e. shirts, shoes, watches, etc); this includes the mesh, shape, color, lighting, transparency or anything else that affects the look of the design.

DDS Files

A DDS file is a type of raster image, commonly used by many games, including both Sims 2 and Sims 3. DDS files can be saved in a variety of formats, both compressed and uncompressed. You will need to save your images in DDS format for use in the CTU.

Image Editor
Your everyday run of the mill image editor like MS Paint or Paintbrush will not suffice for TS3 skinning. Instead you'll need a program that at least has these basic features:

RGB Mode
Channel View
Layers
Image Adjusters (i.e. desaturate, colorize, etc.)

Most people use Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. However, there are free alternatives like GIMP or Paint.NET.

Plugin
Many imaging programs do not initially know how to save/handle DDS files, so you'll have to install a plugin for them. Here are two of the most common ones.

DXT Compression Chart

When working with CAS Part textures the compression type most commonly used is DXT. There are several different DXT compressions available so refer to the chart below to see which one to use for each specific part.

Texture/File	Acceptable Compression(s)	Alpha Channel
Base Texture	DXT5	Yes
Clothing Specular	DXT1	No
Clothing Ambient	DXT1	No
Mask	DXT1	No*
Overlay	DXT1, DXT3, DXT5	Yes
Part Mask	DXT1	No*
Stencil	DXT1, DXT3, DXT5	Yes
Skin Specular	DXT1	No
Skin Ambient	DXT1	No

* If the mask has 4 pattern regions, then you'll need to include the alpha channel.

Packages

The CTU saves your finished creations as .packages, similar to what was used with The Sims 2.

For help with installing .packages, see Installing Sims 3 Package Files

Getting Started

Creating A New Package

To create a new package, go to File → New. By default, you should be in the Find a CAS Part tab. Here is where you pick what mesh you wish to start off with.

Parameters

To help quicken the search for a mesh, you can dial up the type of mesh you wish to use by setting the age/gender/type parameters.

Mesh

Once you set the parameters, you can either pick the mesh you want to use from the drop-down list or you can select it using the Quick Find box by clicking on the thumbnail.

Extracting

When creating new designs for your CAS part, it's a good idea to use the existing textures/meshes as guides.

Meshes

To extract a mesh, simply click on the "Extract Meshes" in the Find a CAS Part tab.

Textures

The easiest way to extract textures is to use the "Extract Textures" button in the Find a CAS tab. However this will give you all the game textures linked to that mesh.

Quick Extraction

If you only need one or two files, instead of digging through all the textures, you can use the quick extraction method:

Anywhere you see a key number, click on it to highlight it.
Next, hit the "find" button nearest to the key.
A DDS preview window will come up, when it does click the "export" button at the bottom of the screen and choose a destination to save the file.

This also comes in handy when you need to retrieve a file you may have lost or deleted, simply open a preexisting package and follow the steps above.

Do not extract and/or use another creators textures without their permission. Yes it's your computer and yes no one will know, but it's better to respect people's wishes don't cha think? :)

Creation and Customization

When you've finished editing your textures and you're ready to import them into your packages, see:

Customization

Miscellaneous

These are extra actions found under File in the navibar.

Find Key

If you know the key number of a certain game texture, then you can type it in here and the CTU will retrieve it from the FullBuild2 package.

Generate Thumbnails

Generates all 1k+ thumbnails for faster loading.

Debug Mode

Debug mode shows some advanced buttons best left for more experienced simmers. While in Debug mode you can modify the TGI lists to change linkages to VPXYs, etc.

Options

Allows you to change the TS3 root folder (directory where the game is installed).

FAQ

CAS Issues

CAS Part Not Showing Up At All

Make sure you:
(1) Have the game configured for .packages
(2) Didn't put the .package in My Documents

CAS Part Won't Recolor

Some meshes are not recolourable and will simply not work at all in CAS. (i.e. the burglar gloves)

Wrong Thumbnails

Try deleting your caches.

Original Texture Won't Disappear

Sometimes no matter how many changes you've made to the base texture/specular you'll still see the original texture in CAS. What you're seeing is not the texture, but bumpmaps linked to the mesh. The only way to get rid of these is to extract and grey-out the bumpmaps. However you'll have to do it as default replacement at the moment.

CTU Errors

System.Core Error

You don't have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed or installed properly. Go get it and install it. If you have it already, reinstall.

Greyed-Out Mesh Parameters

If the mesh parameters are greyed out, and they won't let you change them make sure you hit File → New.

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException Error

Change your Regional settings to make "." the decimal place separator instead of ",".

If All Else Fails...

If you've read the above FAQ and you still can't get the CTU working then go to the MTS CTU thread to see if you can find an answer there.

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 * [http://registry.gimp.org/node/70 GIMP]
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+=====DXT Compression Chart=====
 When working with CAS Part textures the compression type most commonly used is DXT. There are several different DXT compressions available so refer to the chart below to see which one to use for each specific part.

Difference between revisions of "Sims 3:CTU Guide"