In this Issue muse’’s Story (honestly)
Peacy On CAP
Picture Perfect Recap Snippets And Much Much more
Issue 10 2 July 2011
Scorpio is still flashing in and out, and has discovered the quote button........
Kateknight is breeding the weird children from Midwich Cuckoos. Should we be worried? Vampire babies?
Food is a perennial favourite ... turtle cake being the latest, Smoky is waiting to lick KateSterling was seen with a baby stuffed the mixing bowl behind the steering wheel. That too young to try and teach them to drive Kate. Cera went to the beach and took some lovely photos, making everyone who lives inland or New challenge has started 'Say Cheese' to not in California jealous feed the pose player addiction. Great entries so far! Crys got pressys from hubby...... now she not only looks beautiful she smells divine Stu is back from his retreat, hopefully all too. relaxed now. Yanti got taken out for dinner by hubby.... all Fancy building a house for the Byrds? this makes you think, husbands may have Gargantua is challenging you ...... uses after all. Peacy is still building his world. So far ten Jaylf finally got ea to let her spend money months and one week. Six days is the norm at the store AND download her purchases. for a Godlike creature Peacy. Avis are still changing faster than the speed of light.... new addiction is diagnosed as the Pose Player KateS drank too many Mai Tais and then couldn't think how to hide her hangover. Under the blankets works for me. BF is working FAR TOO HARD. You realise BF you are making the rest of us look lazy? She still managed to get to 3000 posts though. Must be summer, lots of barbeques going on. Ah the smell of burning meat! Isn't this where the men pretend to be in charge of the cooking? (meanwhile the lady of the house has made the salads, marinaded the steak, done the shopping for the extras and baked the potatoes?)
And of course the new photo challenge, Say Cheese got 39 photos entered.
Picture Perfect Week 32 - Day Care
has a large area to turn into an entertaining and functional space for littlies. She would like your ideas for interiors and colours.
We
are going to school, well play group anyway. Your client this time is opening a nursery(playgroup or day school) for under fives. She
Haze went bright and jazzy, he of course went on to build the whole lot!
Flobo created a softer look
Lightside went for a more sophisticated, expensive look
Scorpio ‘Flash’ entered this one, pastel colours again.
Stacy entered for the first time, lovely entry.
Yanti also entered this, love that desk!
Now what did the judges say?
Haze
Tweek - I like how you used a house for your daycare. The playground looks great!
Cera - Very cool! So fun and spacious! Yanti I love all the generations items! Bright and spacious, great layout! I love the Cera - I love the yellow and blue! Lots fence over the roof! to do and learn about in there, and fun flowers all over the floor!! Tweek - Great colors and plenty to do. Where do those steps go? I like it! Tweek - I like the colors and the furniture layout is great.
Stacy
Scorp
Cera - 1st, I'm so happy you joined in on Picture Perfect! You've done a Cera - I love the colors and they wonderful job! Wonderful colors, great layout! The area for nap time is perfect layout! Lots of fun things to do, and there's lots of stuff to do! wonderfully done! I look forward to Tweek - The puzzle piece floor is great seeing more entries from you! for a daycare. I really like the colors
KateK
Light
Cera - I love the garden area! I can imagine it being the perfect place for collecting bugs! Wonderful layout! I love the little details like the cheery bathrooms and the office.
Cera - Beautiful space! I love the sleeping areas for the different personalities as well as the ottomans on the floor in the learning space. Love, love love the blackboard!
Tweek - Great indoor and outdoor play Tweek - I like the art classroom. I like areas. I really like the garden. those toddler beds. The colors are great.
So who won? Our winners for week 32 are: Generations EP category: Honorable Mention - Stacy Winner - Kate Custom Content: Winner - Light
Stacy
Kate
Lightside
Beautiful entries - Well Done All!!
JadedCat is posting again after what has felt like an age. She is a well known builder, and has been building Sims3 lots for a long time. Recently she put up for our delectation something quite different, spurred perhaps by Generations. Beautiful wedding chapels which is promised to be a series.......... have a look.
Arabian Wedding Chapel http://www.4shared.com/file/8xssECW9/Arabian_ Wedding_Chapel.html
Beautiful interiors, and note the gorgeous cc used throughout. Jaded has never been afraid of cc.
She has always had a deft hand with landscaping as this shot of the Golden Wedding chapel shows. http://www.4shared.com/file/HyiUmOr5/Golden_Dragon_
Delicious cc, this one is from the Arabian Chapel.
JadedCat is also known as JadedPanther This is her tsr page http://www.thesimsresource.com/members/jadepanther198303
CAP is a powerful tool allowing players to create their own patterns. Like Bodyshop from TS2 this gives a player endless options for personalising their Sims life whether it’s a customised home, clothing or the town itself. This article is a follow-up from “The Basics of CAP” article in the previous issue. Here I will discuss how to make a pattern of 1, 2, 3 and 4 palettes (or layers you can call them) and how to export and save them for future tweaking.............. In the previous article I described the basic workings of Create a Pattern (aka CAP). Hopefully you are all familiar with the tool now but if not check out TSSI issue 9 in the spotlight section of our website. Here is will describe how to make a pattern using the stickers and textures already given to us by EA. So let’s start off with a solid background for layer 1. Just follow the steps in the previous article. I am going to colour mine white (HEX code of FFFFFF).
Now that that step is done we need to select our next layer. This allows for a 2 palette (or layer) pattern. I believe it is necessary to separate different elements of a pattern in order for them to be freely coloured. You may want to create a pattern not designed to be coloured as it is a picture of a figure or sticker for instance. I will not cover that here but it is the same process just every element can be in a single layer.
Once you have selected your layer 2 its time to choose a sticker from the range supplied to us. I have selected a sticker from the decorative section. From here we first need to decide on the way in which we will colour the sticker. There are 2 ways; sticker and stencil mode. Sticker mode keeps and detail or shading in tack which is handy for many of the stickers like the freezer bunny. Stencil mode can be thought of like complete fill, you lose all detail the sticker mode kept but is becomes a solid fill and the colouring is more controlled as there is only one colour that will change in game compared to 3 or four in some of the stickers. I am going to change the colouring mode to stencil and colour it charcoal (HEX 222222). Now we need to choose the size of our sticker. This can be done 2 ways. Like in document programs you can drag the corners to adjust. This isn’t very accurate and I don’t tend to use it. The other method is not input values into the box that pops up once the sticker is placed on the work area (i.e. the box around the icon is showing). From here you can change the size and location of the sticker. Knowing that the work area is 256x256 pixels is an important point to keep in mind when sizing and placing stickers. As seen here the sticker has a dimension of 58x58 pixels. Now stay with me here, I am going to start talking math. If we know the work area is 256x256 pixels that would mean if we want a sticker to be ¼ of the work area then we must size it to 128x128 pixels. If we want it 1/8 of the work area then it would be 64x64 pixels, 1/16 would be 32x32 pixels. Let’s resize to 64x64 pixels. These are important sizes as it aids in using the x and y values to place the sticker more accurately to create geometric patterns and to ensure evenly spaced stickers. When talking out using the x and y values they reference the middle of the sticker to position it. For instance the centre of the work area would be x=128 and y=128 pixels.
You can see the sticker is in the middle of the work area. To work out the position of a sticker it is easy so long as you know the dimensions. If you want it in the corner and your sticker is 64x64 pixels then the x y coordinates would be:
Now see why I chose to keep the sticker sizes are fractions of the total dimensions of the work area? It makes it a lot easier to use the x and y coordinates. So let’s place our sticker in the top right corner. This will give us the x and y value of 32. As you can see it is now in the top left hand corner. The point at which the lines of the gird cross at the top left is point 0, 0. Bottom right is 256, 256. Now let’s put 3 more stickers in to for a column of 4 stickers. To clone a sticker, select it and then press [crtl] and the [C] keys together to copy your sticker. Now making sure you are in the same layer press [crtl] and [V] keys at once to paste the sticker on the work area. To make sure you align them right as a column the x coordinate value remains at 32. For the y value you add the size of the sticker to the first stickers y position. In this case it was 32. Adding 64 we get 96. Once in place paste another sticker in place and keeping the x value the same add 64 to 96 to give you 160. Repeat for the final sticker with a y coordinate of 224. You should end up with a work area that looks like the picture to the right. They are now in a perfect column! Now let’s try a new feature, flipping! In the same box used for the coordinates and size of the sticker is the buttons which allow you to flip a sticker horizontally or vertically. I am going to flip the second and fourth stickers vertically. The Horizontal flip will not have any effect on a sticker like this because it is perfectly symmetrical. On a-symmetrical stickers this can be very useful. Select the stickers using your mouse the just click the appropriate button, the left being for horizontal flipping and the right one for flipping vertically. Repeat this for the fourth sticker. This is a great way to add visual interest to your patterns and get more use out of what EA has provided.
So this is what we have so far. Next step is to duplicate this 2 times. This is where it gets tricky. There is 2 ways of doing it, the cheat’s way or the long way. The cheat’s way is to select the 4 stickers like you would on your desktop by clicking and dragging the mouse. By copying like you would and pasting, it pastes the column intact. On catch, you have to line it up using a combination of your eyes and the x coordinate. You can’t use the y coordinate as it merges all the 4 stickers to the position you input. There is no option to merge the 4 stickers into one larger sticker like you would in a vector program. The long way is placing them individually. I am going to use the cheats way but both work although you may need to practise the cheats why in order to get it lined up properly. I am duplicating this to the x position of 156. Now to make a complete 2 palette pattern lets create another column in the missing spaces but alternating the flipped stickers. Still work in the same layer. You should end up with something like the picture below.
You can check what it looks like using the preview mode which is the icon that looks like a video camera. Apply it to different surfaces to see what it looks like. This is the icon if you are not sure.
Here is what this pattern looks like in the preview mode. If you’re not happy go back and tweak the pattern. It’s advisable to test in game how it works as there is colour variation after export as I have found. Once you’re happy you can save for future tweaking and export the pattern.
To export your pattern click the options button at the bottom left corner of the screen. This is located in the exact same place as in the Sims 3 game itself. Choose export from the list and this will pop up. Choose a pattern name, something unique. I usually add my screen name initials into the name and a descriptive word. For this Pattern I would call it “PC Floral Geometric 01”. This leaves it open for if you want to do different versions or a series of patterns with the same theme. Choose the category to put it in and a description. I usually tell them the amount of recolourable areas and my name as the creator. Now just accept and the pattern will be turned into a sim3pack file and can be found in your exports folder. I advise to install in your game before sharing for quality purposes if you wish to share your creations. So that was making a simple 2 palette pattern. Let’s make it a little more difficult shall we? Here I have selected layer 3 and added thin lines using the square in the basic shapes menu. It is in stencil mode in a pleasant shade of yellow. I used a size of x=4 and y=128. It’s a nice thin line but gives the pattern a wonderful classic touch. The coordinates I used were x=0, 64, 128 and 192 with the y coordinate staying at 128. Try some other variations or make a completely new pattern. As you can see its quite easy. Below is what it ended up looking like in the preview mode.
Again you can save to tweak later and export if you are happy with it. Follow the steps from earlier and you should be ready to go. Now let’s change this to a 4 palette pattern next.
I need to move around some of the layers in order to do what I want. This is easy as saying 1 2 3 assuming you can speak English of course. I am going to move the empty 4th layer to position 2.
Easy wasn’t it? What I am aiming to do is make alternating strips that will recolour. Using the pre-existing stickers from the decorative section we have been using, I copy them over to the new layer. This creates alternating columns of the stickers. It ends up looking something like the picture to left. I have used a lighter grey (HEX code of 666666). The positions are the same as previously covered but just in a different layer. You can copy and paste between layers to make it easier for you. Once again check in preview mode and export as mention prior. Mine looks like the picture below. So that is pattern making. It is relatively simple. So to summarise: 1. Keep constant shapes related to the size of the work area. This aids in keeping a symmetrical design. 2. Know the difference between stencil and sticker mode. 3. Practice copying and pasting stickers onto the same layer or between them. 4. Understand how you want your pattern to look like. This helps you lay out the pattern without all the trial and error. 5. Practice makes perfect. Go over everything I have covered and keep trying until you understand it. It may take a while to get used to but is well worth the effort. Stay tuned for the next issue where I tackle the specular layer and how to utilise its potential.
THE LOVE LEGACY Eve’s Faith
CHAPTER 1: Eve’s Letters To whom this may Concern: I left all the money in the cookie jar, over the stove. That should be the last of the debt. I’m dropping my husband’s last name and I also refuse to pay off any more of his loans. If you want him to pay it back so badly, you go find him. Simla only knows where that waste of meat is. I haven’t seen him in years, and seeing as I’m skipping town I suggest you find someone new to leech off of. I’m ain’t putting up with anymore of this silliness. I have a daughter and she deserves to live a life of happiness, without having to look over her shoulder every ten seconds in fear. And if you was even thinking about shaking down any of my kinfolk, I have some sad news for you. They dead, my brother died off just last week, which is why I am now skipping out. Betcha thought I was stupid eh? Just cause I didn’t graduate out of high school don’t mean I ain’t got no common sense. Sometimes street smarts are more important than book learning, especially when it comes to scum like you O’Rielly. Oh, and don’t bother trying to find wedding records, cause Bubba and I were never legally married. Just common law junk, in account of us living under the same roof for twenty some years. So consider this a farewell letter from me to you. And if I ever catch you anywhere near me, I have a fully loaded shotgun with your name on it. ―Eve
Faith, I’ll be picking you up from your friend’s house just before noon. Make sure you have all your things packed and ready to go. It’s a long drive, so I already packed you some food. I also spoke to your counselor at Chanty Junior High, and they said that you are free to go up to high school in the fall. So don’t bother going to the school for anything. ―Mama
Dear Sister, While going through the records and old newspaper clippings, apparently our family has roots in Twinbrook, I suggest you head there. The housing is currently dirt cheap as to the incident that happened there fifty years ago. I enclosed a map for you. I’m leaving everything in my possession to you, so please make sure to spoil Faith with it. She deserves the best, everything we didn’t have growing up. I know you always worried about me not having a family of my own, but you two were the world to me. Even more than the drugs. I managed to call on some favors and get $100,000 simoleons together and deposited it in the bank as soon as I could so I wouldn’t spend it. Consider it a thank you for putting me through college, even though I did screw up in the end. I never could do anything right, ―R. Lawrence
Dear Eve Harrison, We are sorry to inform you about the death of your brother Romance Lawrence, even though he was your half-brother he requested that we send you a letter in the occurrence of his death. Enclosed is a check for $100,000 that he specified to be sent to you at the time of his death. Our deepest condolences, The United Bank of Sims
Dear Eve Love, I am happy to let you know that the house you requested is available. Enclosed is the key.
Sincerely, The Mayor of Twinsbrook
CHAPTER TWO: Settling In Sunday
We spent the summer making our way across the Sim States to get to the south. I never in my life expected to be back down here. To many tryin’ memories I suppose. There ain’t no easy way to go back to your roots, even if it is for the best. Though seeing the bright open Twinbrook sky, it eased my heart a wee bit. Hefting the suitcases up the front stairs to the front room was no easy task. It didn’t help that I am getting on in the years and every pound of those blasted things multiplied my age. The house is interestin’, I like it. It’s going to take Faith some time to settle in though, she hates too many changes. But hopefully she will get used to it in time. The house is called Bygone…Bygone… something. I forget, but it reminds me of a Gingerbread House. And there ain’t nothin’ I love more than Faith, cides food. So livin’ in a gingerbread inspired house seemed down right normal.
I spent over three thousand simoleons make sure that my kitchen was just right. After all these years working on old cracked up stoves, I could finally afford a top of the line one, like they have in the nice restaurants. I can’t wait to try that baby out. Another change, is that I decided to try getting a cookin’ job at one of those nice sit down and eat places, no more flippin’ burgers for me. I’m gonna make my daughter proud and become a respectable chef. Make enough money so I can take care of us both. No more going without. Lords know Faith and I sacrificed for too long on account of that jerk’s selfishness. It’s about time we got to treatin’ ourselves nice. No more panty-hose with holes in ‘em, no more patchin’ up undies neither. No, no not this sister. Eve is a new woman now, with no debt, and I ain’t fixin’ to change that either!
But even’ though I said that, Faith went off and got herself a job, ‘spose it’s alright though. Girl has to save up for her own car and all. Times are a lot better, but they ain’t so good that I can just throw money left and right on the non-essentials. I mean for goodness sakes we have drapes an’ a comput’r, I haven’t a had a chance to learn how to use it, but Faith will teach me. She says in this day’n age ‘t’s impor’nt to know these things to get a’ead.
Today’s Recipe: Key Lime Pie 5 egg yolks, beaten 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup key lime juice 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust Completed in: 35 minutes
Monday Acciden’ly woke up at fo’ am… I guess old habits are hard to break. Working at a fast food joint for ten years will do that to you ‘parently. I was really stressed out, so I ate a lot… I’m going to need to go on a diet soon. I made some Renoit Grape Pancakes for Faith so she could do well in school. She told me about how she wants to get on the honor roll so she could go to a good college with scholarships so it won’t be too s’pensive. Bless her soul, that girl is jus’ too mature. When Faith got home from school she told me about this Writin’ Club she be trying to join. She has to put together a small por’folio of her writings. Or something, I didn’t even know the girl could write. Well I hope she does well, but I don’t want her over-doing it… Her just graduating high school is good ‘nough for me.
I’m still not making enough money to afford the bills. If I can’t find a way to get a promotion quick we gonna end up in a bad place. I don’t want to talk to Faith about it though; girl is stressed out enough as it is. She doesn’t need her pathetic momma holdin’ her back none… Today’s Recipe: Renoit Grape Pancakes 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 cluster of Renoit Grapes (added for sim sakes)
Tuesday Before heading off to work today I wanted to make sure that our last names were indeed changed. But I got so wrapped up in cleaning up the house I missed my appointment. I’m feelin’ so
down lately. I ‘spose it’s cause Faith is so busy doing her stuff, that I feel useless. Cause I was never good with that homework stuff… Faith competed in a chess competition, and didn’t come home till late. She lost and didn’t want to talk about it. Not that I would have been much help in that situation either… Today’s Recipe: Nothing Wednesday Today’s Recipe: Crepes 2 eggs 1 cup of milk 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour 1 pinch of salt 1 ½ teaspoons vegetable oil
Thursday Today’s Recipe: Cookies (Washboard Cookies) ½ cup of softened butter
1 cup packed with dark brown sugar 1 egg ½ teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon hot water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour And as much sugar as you want! Friday Today’s Recipe: Cheese Platter Now, obviously this isn’t really a recipe, more of a group of things to assemble. You need to make sure to have a theme to your cheese platter, for the one I prepared today I chose texture. However to be on the safe side of variety make sure to pick an aged cheese, a soft cheese, a firm cheese, and blue if you want to be adventurous. For the cheese platter I prepared for the party, it needs to have the right balance of foreign and familiar. So I went with aged cheddar as the familiar taste and the aged category. Saturday It was a normal bustling day at the Bistro; I spent it juggling eggs and knives. I’ve been making a name for myself here, though I don’t know what kind of chef I want to be yet. Everything is moving along so quickly, never thought I’d be work at a classy establishment you know. I was just about to move onto adding the finishing touches to a tri-tip steak when I had the strangest urge to look at my phone. “Ma, I wish people would take me seriously. Chad Miller who is the president of the Writing Club stood me up. We were supposed to be working on the layout for the yearly literary journal the school produces. I’m absolutely livid! I’m gonna head to the park for now till it’s time for work.” I remember wrinkling up my forehead and frownin’ when I read that. My poor girl was having a hard time. I didn’t really know what to say to her, so I put my phone in my pocket and finished up the steak while I thought. I remember when I met Faith’s pa. He was a charmer, he could charm his way in and out of any girls window in the county. And he did. Thinking about that inspired me, and I knew just what to say. “Dont worry ur lil head over it all of the strugles ur goin thru will make u stronger” I winced at how stupid my text looked but sent it anyway, Faith would figure it out. I ended up having to text her later letting her know I was staying at work late. We had gotten an emergency order for Cobbler.
Today’s Recipe: Cobbler (Fresh Fruit Basket Cobbler, The Sims Cobbler is made with apple) 2 cups of sliced fresh peaches 2 cups of sliced fresh nectarines 2 cups of pitted and quartered plums 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 cup currant jelly ½ teaspoon apple pie spice 1/8 teaspoon white pepper 1 flakey biscuit pie crust ¼ cup of white sugar ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
(Thanks Cera for this 'how-to' post!)
Next you need to have a resource.cfg file. Your .package cc will not work without it! Just click and “save as� this file to the Mods folder (but not inside A Mods folder is required for all .package cc. It must go in the The Sims the Packages folder). 3 folder under my documents for .package cc to work (sims3packs are skuld.modthesims.info/Resource.cfg installed through the launcher). To create the folder do the following.
Go to : ---> Documents ---> Electronic Arts
Inside the Mods folder you should now have Packages and the resource.cfg file. Just place your .package cc in the Packages folder and you will be ready to go!
---> The Sims 3 You can organize your cc in the Packages folder too. You can create You should end up in this location additional folders in the Packages username/Documents/ElectronicArts/T folder for things like mods, sims, heSims3 building, decorating. Here create a new folder (file, new, folder) and name it Mods. Inside the Mods folder create another folder and name it Packages.
nb cfg files are updated from time to time, so be sure your file is the upto date one.
Top Pick Review Community Amateur Lot Top Pick for went to Lilsapphire for her Lot Castle Ruins
Community Pro Lot Top Pick went to KateSterling for Club Neon
Amateur Lot Top Pick went to DeathNoteSim for Yellow Victorian Cottage
As sometimes happens, it’s just too difficult to choose one lot! Two talented creators won Pro Top Pick this week!
The first Pro Lot Top Pick went to Gokukaren for Geyser Cliff House
The second Pro Lot Top Pick went to Simeve for Salida del Sol Article by Cera13