A-Z Object Creation in TSR Workshop V0.02. TSR Workshop: Step by step guide to creating your new object. Written by: Apple

Transcription

1 A-Z Object Creation in TSR Workshop V0.02 TSR Workshop: Step by step guide to creating your new object Written by: Apple

2 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Introduction Welcome! Welcome to this guide to the TSR Workshop program! What is this guide for? This document will teach you the basics of creating objects in the TSR Workshop. It ll cover things like the different types of meshes, how to import / export LODs, what the different textures do etc. Let us get started by teaching you how to open and clone an object in TSR Workshop, and the tutorial begins. What you will need: * A Graphics Editor capable of supporting DDS * The TSR Workshop * Milkshape 3D (Recommended or later) Note: You must be familiar with your graphic editor, the DDS file format and know some basic commands in Milkshape 3D. (You must have purchased Milkshape 3D as the trial version does not allow import / export, this is vital in this tutorial). Tutorials I will refer to throughout: Object Creation Part 1 Riccinumbers The long awaited beginner s tutorial has arrived! This tutorial is a must for anyone wanting to learn to mesh. Beta Tested, this tutorial has already helped some create who thought they never could... Object Creation Part 2 Cyclonesue Welcome to this complete resource on Sims 3 object texturing. Ideal for both beginners who have no idea how to create a texture from scratch, right through to experts who haven't harnessed the full power of a specular or would like to make transparencies... 2

3 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps 1-3 Tutorials I will refer to throughout (continued): Auto-generate Sun Shadows - Murano The new version of TSR Workshop offers a great feature to autogenerate sunshadows. TSRW is the first tool which can make them look correctly in game. Step 1 Download TSR Workshop Right, start off by downloading the Workshop software, which can be found here (The latest version is available here), and once it has downloaded make sure you install the program. Step 2 Installing the plugins Before launching Workshop for the first time, you need to install the Milkshape Plug-ins. Go to this directory: C:\Program Files\The Sims Resource\TSR Workshop\Extras\Milkshape plugins\ and copy the following two files to C:\Program Files\Milkshape 3D 1.8.4\. Important note: Each time you install a new version of TSR Workshop, the plugins MUST be re-installed. Each version of Workshop includes all new features which can only work properly when used with the updated plugins. Step 3 Launching TSR Workshop Go to your Start Menu > All Programs and load the TSR Workshop (it may take a while to load if this is your first time loading it). You ll be greeted with a splash screen where you can see the loading progress of Workshop, and then the main Workshop Interface after that. We re going to now clone an object, and load it into the Workshop ready for editing. 3

4 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps 4-6 Step 4 Creating a new Project Navigate to the top left of the Workshop UI and click on the Create new Project button which looks like this: For future reference, 'Open project' will open up any.wrk file (The file format in which TSR Workshop saves a project, so it can easily be edited later). 'Recent projects' will list your recently opened / saved.wrk files, so you can load them quickly if need be Step 5 Loading the object list Select objects from the next pop-up, next you should select 'object' again like I have in the image. Click on Next on the bottom right, and wait for the objects to load (Again depending on your computer this could take a while). Step 6 Selecting an object to clone Once the object list has loaded, select the item you wish to create. I ll go through this tutorial creating a simple stool, but feel free to explore and clone whatever you wish to. If you're unfamiliar to the concept of object meshing, then I would strongly advise that you start off by making a chair or table, they re the simplest items to mesh. The process of loading the object list can vary depending on the speed of your computer. I m going to clone the Barstool Brasserie here, but as you can see from the picture that s pretty much the selection process; just click on the item you want to clone. And once you have selected the object you wish to clone, in the bottom right corner click on Next. 4

5 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps 7-8 Step 7 Object unique identifier After clicking next you ll be presented with a screen that asks for some of your project details. The screen looks like this: (picture on the right) The Project Name is kind of like a GUID, so you must put something pretty unique in there. I find it easier to come up with a formula as then there s no chance anyone will have the same GUID as you. This is the format I use: creatorname_objectname_date_time That format is optimized to make it very, very unique and there s next to no chance of anyone coming up with the same. So mine will be something like this: Apple_simpletonstool_060310_2140 Step 8 Give your object a name and description Fill the rest in with whatever you want. Title will be the name of your object in-game, and Description will of course be the description of your object in-game. Below is an example of what I put as mine: Click Next in the bottom right corner and then a Finished! screen should appear. This just confirms and tells you that the object has cloned okay. Click the OK button to proceed. You should now see your cloned object in 3D view along with a lot of information, text and numbers on the right hand side. Don t be scared by this; it'll all make sense over the next few pages. 5

6 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Step 9 Step 9 Discovering TSR Workshop When you ve clicked Finished!, you will be presented with a screen like this. I ll just go over quickly what all of the buttons at the top do: Click on one of the icons to show the corresponding LOD (Level of Detail). You can see objects only have two LOD s. Hairs and clothing have 4. This button turns the grid on/off in Workshop. Can be useful to see the scale of your object against the in-game tiles. The blue one will toggle wireframe view mode. The yellow one will toggle highlight vertices. You can toggle whether the ground plane shows (the green plane on the picture above). This toggles whether you can see slots/joints or not. Yellow spheres indicate object slots, whereas red shapes will show joints. 6

7 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 10 Loading up the mesh tab Now we ll export the high poly mesh from Workshop and open it in Milkshape. Click on the Mesh Tab like so: You ll then see lots of entries (This will vary depending on the object you clone). Step 11 Discovering your LODs The 'High Level of Detail' should load up first. There are different groups there for the different pieces. For a table you'll see Group 0 (Which is the stool mesh) and Group 1 (Which is the ground shadow mesh). If you cloned a stool with glass, and then another group will be listed here, as a glass component has it s own group. If you just want to click on the dropdown list, you should see 4 options. Don't do anything with these yet, but just make sure there are 4 there before you proceed with the next steps, otherwise you'll become stuck. Step 12 Exporting the High Level of Detail LOD To export your mesh, click on the 'Export' button, which is placed right next to the dropdown list in the image above. Select a place to export the file, and name it. Give each LOD a distinct file name. Overview of buttons This button will export your selected LOD. This button will import your new, edited LOD later. This button will auto-generate sunshadows, you ll need this one later. 7

8 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 13 Loading up Milkshape3D Open up Milkshape3D. I m going to use version for this tutorial as it s the version that the Workshop plug-ins have been tested in. You should have already installed the Milkshape3D Workshop plug-ins (Step 2), we need these to import the.wso file into Milkshape to edit. Important note: Your version of Milkshape3D must be purchased and fully licensed. If it s not licensed, then the Import / Export functions are disabled and you will not be able to import your LODs in. If you have purchased Milkshape3D, double check that your license has been activated onto your software, as sometimes it doesn t do it the first time and the plugins won t work. Step 14 Exporting the High Level of Detail LOD Once Milkshape3D has loaded, go to 'File > Import', and look for the one that says 'TSRW Object'. Locate the file you've just exported from TSR Workshop and it'll load up in Milkshape. Some users may have to scroll down to be able to see the TSRW Object option in the import list. 8

9 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 15 Cloned object in Milkshape3D You ll see the mesh in Milkshape3D now, with a weird circle around it (The circle is a joint/bone, and I ll cover that later). See the image right. Now the fun part begins. We ll now start meshing! Before you do anything, you'll see that 2 objects have been imported. The stool mesh and the groundshadow mesh. It's important that you note down which order these items are in (The stool mesh is usually at the top of the list, and the groundshadow mesh the second one down), you'll need this in Step 18. Step 16 Create your own mesh This may seem daunting at first and you may have just had a Oh gosh, I can t mesh in Milkshape! moment, but don t worry. If you re not a Milkshape user, like me, you can simply mesh your object in your own 3D program and then import into Milkshape.. Easy. So do your stuff, mesh and map your object as you would have done for Sims 2 (If you made Sims 2 objects). Here s mine (picture below). Notice I haven t deleted the original object yet. Firstly you need to use it as a size guide to check your object is the correct size, secondly we need to check the bones, and we ll do this in the next step. If you re completely new to meshing, and haven t the faintest idea of how to mesh an object, there s a new and very useful tutorial... Object Creation Part 1 Riccinumbers This tutorial will show you the functions of Milkshape, and how to make a proper mesh in Milkshape3D from start to finish. If you re new to meshing, this resource will be very valuable. 9

10 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 17 Cloned object in Milkshape3D Click on the 'Joints' tab in Milkshape. This lists all of the bones that are assigned to the cloned object. Stools usually only have one, but objects such as beds can have quite a few. The name/number of the joint has no significance, it's just a reference so the game knows which type it is. Click SelAssigned and the original object should show up red, this means that the object has the 0xCD68F001 assigned. You need to assign this bone to your new object for it to work correctly in-game. When you're sure you know which objects have bones assigned, you're ready to proceed to the next step. Sometimes noting down the bone names and which items have which bone assigned to it can be helpful, especially for objects with many bones (doors, for example). Step 18 Assigning the bones So, you can see here that just EA s stool mesh has the bone assigned. Not my mesh yet or the shadow plane mesh. Now you re ready to assign the bone to your new object. If your object had no bones or joints then again just go ahead and skip this step. Select your object. I do this by going into the Groups tab and double clicking on my new object in that list. It should appear red. Go back into the Joints tab, select the bone and click Assign. This should have now assigned the bone to your new object. 10

11 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 18.5 Checking the bones and Exporting from Milkshape To make sure your bone is assigned to your object, you can simply follow the latter part of Step 18 again and click SelAssigned. Both objects should now appear red. You can now go ahead and delete the original table, so just yours is in there. You can do this by again going into the Groups tab, double clicking on the original object in the list and simply hit Delete. Referring back to Step 15; Your High Level of Detail export will have 2 items, the groundshadow mesh, and the stool mesh. Before exporting back to TSR Workshop, make sure that the 2 meshes are in the SAME ORDER as they were when you imported them, otherwise you'll get a very mixed up object. Okay you should be left with just your object now in Milkshape3D with the bone assigned. Now just export is as a.wso file. (Follow Step 15 again but for Export this time). Step 19 Importing back into TSR Workshop Back into Workshop now. Remember Step 12? Clicking the 'Export' button to export your.wso file? Well right next to that button, was another button. This is the 'Import' button and you use this to import your.wso file back into TSR Workshop. Go right ahead and import your.wso file, the one that you've just exported from Milkshape3D. If you did it correctly you should now see something pretty disgusting in Workshop. If you can, well done! You re doing well so far. If you cannot maybe you missed something in the steps, re-read the steps and check. Mine worked, and here s what I can see, my new mesh but the old textures (see the picture on the left). 11

12 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 20 Exporting the Low Level of Detail To export your Low Level of Detail LOD, you simply do the same as you did with the High Level of Detail LOD, but this time select Low Level from the dropdown list under the 'Meshes' tab. Low poly LOD's are a lower poly version of your item. This object is viewable when the object is viewed from a distance, or whilst the object is loading. It's very important that the low poly version of your object can use the same UV Map as your high poly version. Do the same as High Level of Detail. (do the same from Step 15 but for low level of detail). The low poly version of meshes also have bones, so do that too, and import it back into TSR Workshop when you've finished. Important note: The geometry is a lot more simple, no chamfered edges, the overall shape is more basic than the high poly. But as mentioned above and this is very important, they must share the same UV map. Also take note that the Low Level of Detail mesh has no ground shadow plane mesh. Step 21 Shadow High/Low Level of Detail In the dropdown list, you'll see two more options. 'Shadow High Level of Detail' and 'Shadow Low Level of Detail'. These ones are used to generate outdoor sun shadows, when your object is placed outside. Auto-generate Sun Shadows Murano This tutorial shows you how to automatically generate the sun shadows in TSR Workshop. This tutorial is very handy and is a must-read to get your sun shadows spot on. 12

13 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Step 22 Quick check-up Yep, my High Level of Detail and the sunshadows are showing up fine. Sometimes the Shadow High Level doesn t quite match, but don t worry only the Shadow Low Detail is used in game. My Low Level of Detail is also showing up, the sun shadow too. Now that I ve seen that all of my meshes are showing up as they should in Workshop, I can move on. Step 22 Creating your textures - Multiplier Object Creation Part 2 Cyclonesue This tutorial is a very useful resource. It talks you through how to create each one of the textures you need for an object. It s very useful if you re unsure about how to create the different textures. Now you have the shadow meshes, the high poly and low poly versions of your new object in Workshop, you re all ready to tackle the textures. We ll start with the Multiplier first. This is basically the texture that controls the shadows on your texture. Mine looks like this (See image to the right). To import your new multiplier, click on the Multiplier in the Workshop and click the little Edit button, as shown in the image below... 13

14 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 23 Creating your textures - Mask Let s do the RGBA Mask now. This image basically determines how many recolourable parts your object has. The red area will be recoloured in the game by the first colour palette in "Create-A- Style", the green will be the second, blue third etc For more information, see Cyclonesue s tutorial: Object Creation Part 2 Cyclonesue Draw out your mask in your Graphic Editor, save it as a.dds and import it into Workshop, the same as you did for multiplier. Mine looks like this (see the image to the right). Step 24 Creating your textures - Specular Now it s the turn for the specular map. This map determines how shiny your object is in places when shiny patterns are applied via Create-A-Style (For example chrome or leather). Draw out your specular in your Graphic Editor, save it as a.dds and import it into Workshop. The specular is usually just a higher contrast version of your Multiplier, so that s what I did here: Specular maps can be difficult to understand the concept of, but there s a useful article in Cyclonesue s tutorial which can be found here: Object Creation Part 2 Cyclonesue 14

15 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 25 Creating your textures - Overlay The final texture. And this is also an optional texture, the Overlay. This is used for any details which you may want on your object but can t be recoloured. Painted on decoration, screws, all that kind of thing. My overlay is black as I don t need one for this object. Overlay maps are optional, it depends what you want out of your objects. Although the concept is simple, I d like to point out that Overlay maps has been written about by Cyclonesue in her tutorial: Object Creation Part 2 Cyclonesue Step 26 Brief check of your object Now you should see all your textures applied in Workshop, although it still may look a bit odd. This is because you need to change the patterns and tiling etc. Here s what mine looks like at the moment, not perfect huh?:(see image to the right). It s mostly there and by now you should be able to see your mask working, the multiplier, and overlay. There s no real way to test the specular map until you get in-game. We ll get on with the next step then. Important note: When importing your new textures, you may get asked if you with to update material masking sizes. If your textures are bigger than the ones that EA used for the object, then click Yes. 15

16 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Step 27 Step 27 Editing your objects patterns There should be a Patterns section underneath where you imported all the textures. Select Pattern A. This is the pattern that would cover where your red parts on your Mask are. First of all set your tiling in accordance to your map. My multiplier was 1024 x 1024, so my tiling will be 4x4. Enabled needs to stay as True otherwise it won t show in game (that particular palette if you disable.. Select your pattern by clicking on the Edit button. Clicking the 'Edit' button will bring up a window that looks like the one in the image below. This allows you to change the patterns on your objects easily. Browse Sims 3 patterns. Create a new pattern. Import/Export 16

17 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps Step 27 Editing your objects patterns (continued) In the bottom right corner, you'll see Colours and a colour swatch next to it. If you click on the colour swatch you will be able to pick the colours of your pattern. Patterns with 4 colour palettes will of course have 4 of these values listed in the window. I want to browse existing Sims 3 patterns, so I ll click on the button which allows me to do that (see the bottom of the previous slide), and I m going to select the pattern I want. The patterns will load and then from there you can select the pattern you want to use. Click Done, and then done again, and it ll apply your new pattern to your object in the unique 3D Preview. Step 28 Enabling a new colour option on your object If your object only has 1 subset, you can skip this step and continue. If your object has 3 subsets, you ll have to repeat this step again afterwards. Remember subsets having been explained in step 22. Because I have 3 parts (red, green and blue) on my map, I ll need to select a third pattern. So I just go through Step 26 again, but do it in the Pattern C section. My object didn t have 3 patterns before, so I have to make sure that Pattern C is enabled. Look at the picture below to see how I did this: I selected the material I wanted. Because the pattern tiling has remained the same as EA s mesh (I used the same texture size as their original) I won t need to change tiling, but you may do if you ve used a different texture size. 17

18 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps T-29 Tiptorial Adding a new preset colour variation You often see objects with preset colour variations, and I m just going to show you quickly how to do that yourself, and the proper way to do it. A preset colour variation is a pre-saved alternative colour option for your object. Quick button overview: Clone current preset. Delete the current preset. Save the complate (For Sims 2 textures refer to Cyclonesue s document). Start by cloning your colour package. You can do this by clicking on the button seen above which Clones the current preset. This ll bring up a brand new colour option. From here you can just change the patterns. Refer to Step 27 on how to do this. You can create as many colour variations as you like, but adding lots results in quite a large file. Step 29 Enabling a new colour option on your object It should look more or less finished in Workshop now, as you imagined it... That s because it is more or less finished! Here s what mine now looks like in Workshop (see left image). Don t forget to check both the high and low poly versions, make sure they look alright, the patterns have applied correctly, and that all your textures still look alright. Export your object as a.sims3pack and check in-game! : 18

19 The Sims Resource A-Z Workshop: Steps T-29 Step 30 Checking your object in-game Check your object in-game. With any luck it should look half decent, and that s fantastic if it does. Change the textures via CAS, have some fun with it, go and grab a coffee, you deserve it! See the image to the right to see how mine turned out in-game. Congratulations! Congratulations! If it worked okay for you, that s great. If you re having any problems at all, just read back through the steps and check you ve done them again. It s likely it didn t go right the first time, whether it be meshes, textures or anything. There s a lot of trial and error to be had here and you ll need a lot of patience, too. Thanks for reading the tutorial and I wish you all the best in where you decide to go from here. Special thanks I would like to say a special Thank you to a few people. Murano, Cyclonesue and Riccinumbers for their fantastic tutorials. I d also like to thank the TSR team for their ongoing hard work on the TSR Workshop, TSR Launcher, the Sims 3 Wiki and the website. 19