Tutorials:CAS Creation From Start-To-Finish - Glossary
Contents |
A
- alpha channel
- ambient
- anti-aliasing
- autosmooth
B
- Blender 3D
- bone assignments
- bones
- bump map
C
- CAS
- CAS Part
- caspart
- category flag
- channel
- clipping
- cloning
- commit
- compression
- contiguous
- CTU
D
- DDS
- design
E
- export
- extract
F
- face
- flag
- fuzzy select
G
- geom
- GIMP
I
- imaging program
- import
- in-game
J
- joints
K
- key
L
- lasso tool
- layer
- lod
M
- magic wand
- marquee
- mask
- material
- mesh
- meshing
- Milkshape 3D
- multiplier
N
- normal map
O
- opacity
- opaque
- overlay
P
- package
- Paint.NET
- parameter
- part mask
- Photoshop
- plugin
- png
- polygon
- preset
R
- RGB mask
- RGB value
- repository
S
- scale
- specular
- stencil
- S3PE
T
- tag
- texture
- texture linking
- texturing
- TGI
- thumbnail
- translucent
- transparent
- type
U
- UV map
V
- vertex
W
- wireframe
X
- XML
AS 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.
[edit]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 textures 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. Photoshop GIMP [edit]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
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. [edit]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.
Bump Maps Additionally bump maps may be found under the Meshes tab. To extract, click on the appropriate TGI link then hit the find button. When the DDS preview window comes up, click the export button at the bottom right corner of the screen.
[edit]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.
