Welcome
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Ever wanted to create clothing for The Sims 3 but didn't know where to start? There are a plethora of CAS tutorials out there, but they all only cover one or two topics. Making it difficult for someone who is just starting out to piece it together. I personally had to learn everything piece-by-piece, and I can attest to the frustration I faced. So, I decided to write this guide with the newbie creator in mind, to help them get started!
My guide will take you from Start to Finish on CAS creation. Including a guided walk-through on basic meshing, bone-assignments and UV mapping.
This tutorial is centered around the Create-A-Sim Texture Unitool - CTU for short. Meaning you will learn how to create a custom clothing package using this tool.
Difficulty
- This tutorial is written for beginners, however, some basic knowledge on how to use your imaging and 3D modeling programs is needed. Also, you'll need to be fairly familiar/comfortable with key commands (i.e. ctrl + c) and other necessary functions.
- Keep in mind that while this guide is fairly extensive, there is still a creative element required that cannot be learned by reading a tutorial alone. In short, I can teach you "how" to do something, but not necessarily the way to execute it. Be prepared to do extra tweaking and prodding to your creations, especially the more intricate they get.
Recommended Reading
If you honestly have never, ever used CTU before, then I recommend thumbing through the CTU Guide before starting. This guide covers installation of the CTU and has detailed explanations of its bells and whistles. It takes a little while to get the hang of CTU, so spend a few minutes playing with it before you actually begin creating. I promise you, it'll make your experience with this tutorial go a lot smoother.
The same applies for your 3D modeling program, especially those who plan to use Blender 3D instead of Milkshape, since most of the meshing procedures are given using Milkshape. If it's your first time dabbling with 3D modeling software, then the transition from 2D to 3D can - and will - be a frustrating one. I tried my best to explain things as slowly and clearly as possible. But, there are still some intermediate steps that one is expected to already know how to do.
- For Milkshape users, there's an awesome, indepth, guide by WesHowe that explains pretty much every element of Milkshape. This guide can be found, here.
- For Blender users, browse through their extensive tutorials section to help you follow along with this tutorial.
Lastly, if at anytime you come across an unfamiliar word, there is a glossary linked at the bottom of this page.
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Programs Needed
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Creation Tools
Paint Programs (Pick One)
- Paint.NET is one of a couple of programs that can be used to edit Sims 3 textures. Get it for free, here.
- GIMP is another - free - program that can be used to edit Sims 3 texture files. Find it here.
- Photoshop is, perhaps, the most used paint program. However, it can be very expensive. The bright-side is, a lot of schools/universities/jobs offer free or discounted versions of Photoshop to their students/employees.
DDS Plug-Ins
In order to get your textures to open in your paint program, you will need to install the proper DDS plugin for it.
3D Modeling Programs (Pick One)
- Milkshape 3D is the most used 3D modeling software in the Sims community. It's not free, but not terribly expensive either. This program comes with many amazing tools that make body meshing a lot easier, and a lot of these tools will be used through out this tutorial.
- Blender 3D is a free alternative, but the UI of the program can be kind of intimidating for new users. Plus, most of the convenient body meshing tools included with Milkshape are not included in Blender. And also, just as a word of warning, this tutorial is centered around Milkshape. So, it's recommended that you have some background knowledge on how to use Blender if you choose this program over Milkshape.
GEOM Plug-Ins
Like with DDS textures, your modeling program will not automatically be able to import your TS3 meshes. You'll need to install a GEOM plugin first.
Programs Demonstrated
I personally will be using Photoshop 7.0 (old, but gold) and Milkshape 3D to demonstrate steps through out the tutorial. This means that my screenshots (and possibly some keystrokes) might differ from what you see, however the concepts are the same.
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