Sims 3:Basic Mask Editing

RGB Masks

Masks can be thought of as the "painter's tape" of the game. The game uses masks to map out separate colorable regions in Create A Style. These regions allow for multicolored/patterned parts on your CAS part and/or object.

What This Tutorial Will Do

• Teach you how to make color masks for the Sims 3.

What This Tutorial Will Not Do

• Make new meshes or patterns for the Sims 3.
• Create new base textures or add transparency.

Take a look at Creating A New Base Texture for that.

• Create a CAS part stencil

Take a look at Creating Custom Clothing Stencils for that.

Difficulty

I've made this tutorial for beginners and first timers, however, some basic knowledge on how to use your imaging program is needed.

What You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop (purchase) or GIMP 2.0 (free)
• Delphy's CAS Texture Unitool
• DDS Plug-in for Photoshop or GIMP

(I'll be using Photoshop 7.0, so if you're using GIMP the screen shots will be different but the concept is the same.)

The Anatomy of the RGB Mask

Before you dive in and create your new mask, it's best to get familiar with how these things work.

So, let's take this t-shirt and break down the different parts of its mask.

Channels

Like patterns, the game uses color channels to break up the CAS part into different colorable regions. The red channel is almost always used as the main background color whereas the green and blue channels are used to define smaller regions and detail. Although it's not pictured, the alpha channel can also be used to add a fourth recolorable zone.

Defining Colors

To create the color channels you could edit directly on the channels themselves. However, by painting with certain colors, you can create the channels automatically.

• The first color you use is red (255R/0G/0B). Notice how red is the predominate color, that's because it maps the main color of the t-shirt.
• The second color you use is yellow (255R/255G/0B). Yellow maps the t-shirt sleeves.
• The third color you use is magenta (255R/0G/255B). Magenta maps the collar and trim of the t-shirt.

Unfortunately, there is no "shortcut" to create the alpha channel, so you'll have to edit it directly.

Notice how each different color creates a different channel: red creates the red channel, yellow creates the green channel and magenta creates the blue channel.