Tutorials:Tutorials
What are tutorials?
Tutorials are documents written to guide you through a specific project or technique. When someone figures out how to do something, or would like to share a technique, they can write a tutorial so others can learn to do the same thing. This way, someone who knows how to make something can help hundreds of people, just by writing the instructions down once. Many tutorials also include pictures and screenshots, so you can follow along visually as well as reading the text, to make sure you fully understand the process.
Tutorials do require a lot of reading, but without a direct neural interface to simply pour the information into your brain, tutorial authors use a combination of words and pictures to teach you techniques.
But this seems a lot like school...
Well, yes, sonny jim, it does, doesn't it? The whole idea of tutorials is to teach you - your goal in doing a tutorial is to learn something new or to expand on existing knowledge.
It can take several hours to complete some tutorials, and quite a few more to make anything from the techniques you learn. Even then, your first projects will likely not be presentable.
Modding is Hard and Tedious. Doing things right is Hard and Tedious. If you hate hard and tedious, just go drink a beer with your friends and forget it now. In order to be successful at modding, you'll need to really enjoy learning new things. The smell of your brain frying should be a smell you enjoy, and you should be the sort of person that relishes the feel of a well-earned tension headache.
What are the two main types of tutorials?
The first type of tutorials work sort of like a course at school - these tutorials are a series. They're meant to be read in order, completing one before going on to the next. You'll find series-type tutorials in the Body Shop Skinning and Body Shop Meshing areas, primarily.
The other main type of tutorials are "toolbox" tutorials. They're generally shorter than ones in a series, and are designed as supplements to other tutorials, to help you gain specific skills that you can use to improve your basic skillset.
How do I know what tutorial I need?
If you're completely new to Sims 2 modding, you probably don't know exactly where you should start. There's a great guide, with links to tutorials here, including a nifty flow-chart, which shows you what sort of things you should learn, and in what order. If you want to eventually make something more advanced, start at the beginning and work your way there.
How do I start a tutorial?
Before you begin, you need to read over the tutorial, especially the introduction. Generally in the introduction, the author will explain the purpose of the tutorial - what you will create or learn, so you know what you're getting from doing this.
They will also tell you if there are other things you need to know first. Many tutorials have "prerequisites" - indicating that a previous tutorial or knowledge of another technique is needed before you can continue with their tutorial.
The introduction should also tell you what will be required in terms of tools, programs, and plugins.
Make sure you read the introduction thoroughly. Is the tutorial for you? Is it on what you want to do, or a subject that will eventually lead you to what you want to do? Do you have the prerequisites - have you completed previous tutorials, or simpler techniques?
Read to see that you have the right tools - you may have to purchase or download a new program, and installing it and getting it working on your system is up to you. If you have trouble with that part, the official site for whatever you're trying to install will provide support for that issue - not the tutorial author.
Double-check all of the above, and then it's time to start the tutorial!
How do I do a tutorial?
Well, you DO it, of course. Tutorials are almost always meant to be a hands-on process. The tutorial author is assuming you have the program up, and you're actually working along with them.
Just reading a tutorial will almost never teach you how to do the techniques. You may have a basic understanding of how it's done, but until you're actually WORKING on a tutorial, you really won't -know- how to do it.
ALWAYS do your first project as-written - i.e. you will make exactly what the author is making, down to the last detail, if at all possible. If they give specific settings, sizes, textures, a particular outfit or object they're making, do exactly what they are as closely as you can. It can be tempting to just charge off on your own, but if you just go through the first time and do the tutorial how they've done it, you can be sure at each step that you have done it right. When you finish, your result should look just like theirs. If at any point your work in progress doesn't look like theirs, you'll know you did something wrong - and can then try to correct it.
Work through the tutorial slowly, reading every part carefully. It may help, especially if you're doing a complicated tutorial, to read each sentence or paragraph several times over before attempting to do anything - you may even say it aloud to yourself as you read, as that can help commit information to memory for many people. Do each step as it's presented, and don't skip ahead.
Engage your brain for this - you may have to use a little logic here and there if something is slightly unclear, or you're expected to already know a technique.
What if I do something wrong?
If you find you've gone wrong somewhere, stop. Take a look at what you have compared to what you should have, and see if you can figure out where you went wrong. If you have an undo function in whatever program you're working on, it may be helpful. If you can back up to a point where your project looks like the one in the tutorial for that step, you can often back up to that point, then proceed forward again, hopefully not running into the same issue again.
If you can't back up or figure out where you went wrong, the best thing is generally just to start over. It may be frustrating, especially in a long tutorial, but you'll find the first parts will go much faster the second time, and it'll feel good to be at least moderately competent with some of the steps.
What if it's still wrong, or I'm stuck?
If you've gone back and tried the tutorial again and had the same result, then it's time to re-read. Look at every picture, and re-read all the related text, several times if necessary. Often there's a detail you've missed - like a setting you might not have noticed was checked in one screenshot, or a short sentence that was critical to the project that you just skipped over.
If you're getting frustrated, just stop. Step away from the keyboard, go outside and get some fresh air, grab yourself a tasty beverage, go play a game, have dinner, go watch a movie, whatever. Working when you're frustrated will only result in more errors, causing more frustration, in a downward spiral that will only cause you to eventually give up in anger. Don't pound your head against a brick wall - come back to the project later, maybe after a night's sleep, with a fresh perspective, and try again.
If you just can't figure it out after several tries, it's time to reach out and see what information the internet can give you.
If the tutorial is part of a thread, like on MTS2, there are likely several replies on that thread. There will be people commenting on the tutorial, as well as adding information and tips. There will also generally be people who have asked questions relating to the tutorial, and answers from the tutorial author and/or others to those questions. It can be very helpful to read the thread to see if someone else has already had the same problem - perhaps they've gotten an answer that fixes it for you, too. Maybe there is some other clue in the posts on the thread that can help you figure out the answer.
It can also be helpful to use the search - you can search a specific forum by clicking on the arrow next to "Search This Forum" at the top of the thread listing, and type in search terms related to your problem. You may have to try several combinations of terms before you get some useful results, but that can also be a great way to find information - and previously asked and answered questions.
