Tutorial:Understanding CAS Modding/Basic Concepts
Contents |
Understanding CAS Modding - Basic Concepts
Introduction
Sims 3 modding is still, in relative terms, early on in its life; there are lots of people making very awesome discoveries and so on, and lots of very talented creators, but the information is rather scattered, and that can make it difficult for newbies to get started with CAS modding - especially if you never modded Sims 2.
This tutorial won't explain all the things you can do with TS3 CAS content - its aim is to provide enough basic understanding to get new modders started, or to help Sims 2 modders figure out the differences they need to be aware of to apply their skills to TS3. I will link to other tutorials and so on where appropriate, as there's no point rewriting exactly what someone else has said.
This tutorial will focus on clothes, shoes, accessories and so on - I won't cover hairs, although you may find this tutorial useful anyway if you want to create hairs, as many of the same principles apply. It will also focus on using CTU, Photoshop, and Milkshape 3D. If you are using any other program, you should be able to "translate" without much trouble in most cases. Any exceptions will be explained along the way.
Before You Start
This first section addresses very basic concepts, and won't involve much practical stuff. However, you should get hold of the requisite programs first, so you don't have to worry about it later.
Skills
This is a beginner's tutorial - it will be simple and full of pretty pictures to help. That said, while you don't need to have any modding, meshing, or graphics experience; you do need to be able to be persistent - you won't get through this tutorial in one afternoon - and you do need to be willing to be frustrated. Try as I might, there will probably be something here that you don't understand, and if you're not willing to read that section few and start again and keep trying again until you get it - don't mod.
If you have any questions or problems, you can post them here to see if anyone can advise.
Programs
- CTU - This is the main tool that you'll use for actually creating the CC file - putting all the elements together into something which will actually work in your game.
- S3PE - This is a very powerful program which allows you to edit package files, both custom content and those used by the game.
- A graphics program - Photoshop is the one used in this tutorial; it's very powerful, and very expensive. If you don't want to shell out for Photoshop, use GIMP. GIMP has all the same abilities as Photoshop, but it's free. GIMP is a little harder to use - but that's what you get for paying $700 less!
- A 3D editor - You absolutely will need either Milkshape 3D or Blender, as these two are the only 3D programs with Sims 3 plugins, to open Sims 3 mesh files. If you've never meshed before, Milkshape is strongly recommended; it's cheap (and has a 30 day free trial), and is very easy to use. If you already know and prefer another program, such as 3DS Max, get Blender: it's horrible to use, but is free, and is a good option if you just need something to convert files between TS3 and your chosen meshing program.
How Are Simmies Made?
At the end of the day, you can't make CC unless you have some idea of what you're making and how it works. So the pertinent question is thus: How is a sim put together?
Most people would assume that it's something like this:
A doll, essentially, with a body and skin, and then various hairs, clothes, shoes etc which can be attached or removed. As usual, most people would be wrong. ;) A sim is actually put together more like this:
A shirt isn't just a shirt - it's a shirt, the torso, the neck, the arms, and the hands. Trousers or skirts include the legs, shoes include the feet and ankles. This means that you could make a custom shirt without any arms, and ingame, the sim wouldn't have any arms - it's important to remember that "top" or "bottom" refers to the top or bottom of the whole sim, not just their clothing!
The blue lines you see are the sim's skeleton. Just like a human skeleton, they hold the whole lot together and allow the sim to move. When your sim moves her finger bone, her finger and her rings will also move, because they are attached to the finger bone.
The grey is the mesh. The mesh decides the shape - so if your sim's trousers have flares, or if her hat has a bobble on it, all that is the mesh. Imagine you're making a clay model: the mesh is the clay, that you can mould to be the shape you want.
The pictures are the textures. They don't make much sense laid out flat - don't worry about that yet! The textures are the paint on your model; they add buttons and belts and folds and so on. A good texture is essential to good modding. In Sims 3, every single item on your sim has five or six different textures, all of which do slightly different things: what each one does and how will be explained more later.
Finally, we have the CASt colours. These aren't part of the textures; when you use CASt to apply different colours or patterns to clothes and so on, they're overlaid on top of the clothes, like putting tinted acetate over something to make it look red or green or whatever: the texture itself is grey, then the CASt colours "paint" over it.
The Next Step...
There's a lot more to learn, but I believe in learning by doing! So click through to go to the next step - altering the base texture!
