OK, so first off, this whole question probably seems silly to those who are into creating for some time, but I'm a beginner so please bear with me (:

I have just got into creating TS3 stuff, so far I've only been creating clothing and shoe meshes (that use the cloned item's textures). I use CTU and Milkshape for doing this.

I tried searching on this site (and did a Google search too, just in case) for a tutorial that would explain how to create own textures for a new mesh, but haven't really found what I was looking for.

I want to know, how to create new texture for a new mesh? So I could, let's say, re-draw fabric folds and stuff, and also change parts for different patterns. By that, I mean, if the original texture was only made for let's say 2 channels, how can I make one to have 3 different channels? Also, how about changing alpha?

The only good tutorial on this I found for TSR Workshop. But I'm pretty sure it's also possible to be done with CTU, just someone needs to point me in the right direction so I know how to.

I DO know how to change default patterns that show in CAS to an existing texture, but I want to know about actually changing the texture and adding channels. BTW, I use GIMP and Photoshop (I have GIMP on my laptop which I'm currently working with meshes on, and PS on my desktop computer) for graphics editing, and I'm quite fluent with the graphics editing, so I don't need a step-by-step guide on editing, but more of a 'how to' instructions.

Also, I apologize if something similar has already been explained, I just can't seem to find it. If it's been posted already, please, give me a link since I can't seem to find it myself.

It's pretty much the same from TSRW to CTU, the only difference is the layout of the tool itself which isn't very confusing, all the images are made the same way

There are lots of tutorials on this, but scattered around - after all, creating a good texture isn't something which can be pinned down to "do this, then this, then this, then BAM!".

Most of the TS2 texturing tutorials apply to TS3 too, although ofc you'll need to ignore stuff about SimPE and so on. For folds in particular, I recommend Faylen's tutorial How to add shadows and highlights; and for adding new channels and manipulating masks in general, dal's Sims 3:Basic Mask Editing^wiki. For other stuff, look through Tutorials:TS3 CAS Tutorials^wiki and Tutorials:Body Shop Recolouring Tutorials^wiki - you can find lots of tutorials via google which will help too, as many techniques, like for example adding buttons, work just as well on sim content as on anything else.

Thanks for your replies.

Whiterider, you didn't quite understand me, though. I know how to do graphic editing, how to actually add folds and shadows to a texture. I'm not sure how to add the texture to a new mesh (that I have created, not EA mesh), and how to add additional channels. I did create a few things in TS2 already but TS2 had better EA-made tools for creators (Body Shop) while TS3 doesn't have a similar tool released by EA. So creators' choise is to use either CTU or TSRW, and as I heard TSRW has some bugs I learned to create in CTU instead and have succesfully done some meshing, and I also found the export textures button which exports the textures that I presumeably have to 'play around with', but I'm not sure how to import/use those textures with a new mesh that I made earlier. Sorry if I wasn't clear enaugh in the first post.

Oh - just select the texture in the list and hit "Replace".
If you're adding channels, you'll also need to enable the channel in the patterns tab (tickbox underneath the dropdown), and if you're adding a fourth channel, you'll need to go to the Other tab and switch from 3-channel RGB to 4-channel RGBA. Note that some meshes don't support four channels, and you'll just get one solid channel covering your entire outfit if you try it.

I know i'm new too, but i think i get it as well. You mean that like, you made this awesome mesh, and is totally different from anything already out there, and you need a way to find sort of the "pattern" for what to make in photoshop. Like what shape to make. Is that what you mean? I want to know that answer to this too. Because after I have my meshes done, i have to make them look like clothes. I need to know what shape to make the alpha.

I think this might help

http://nene.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=419656

Dumb question - where do I hit replace? I can't seem to find it, but I bet I'm just being blind.
Also, thanks... this answered my question much better than the previous one. Now, I kinda know what to do, I just need to try it out.



Yes, that too. Sometimes, EA textures and alphas from the cloned item look wierd on a new mesh. Or simply not the way I wanted them. It's probably a lot of trying out when doing a new alpha, though... at least it was in TS2, and in my opinion, TS2 creating was simplier, EA made more tools for creators than in TS3. It was also easier to preview the item without having to reload the whole game. I need to restart my game a hundred of times till I get some mesh done, as I'm a beginner and I'm still learning how to use the tools. And so far, from out of let's say 8 meshes I did only 2 (one baggy AF shirt and some extremely high heels) came out the way I wanted in less than 3 editings.

Oh yes creating for sim 2 is still easier than sims 3 at the moment.
Plus there is no one definite tutorial for newbs like the mesh tutorial by Tiggerypum for the sims 2 clothing meshing which I did learn a lot from.
Definitely a lot more editing involved and there are still some mysteries to be discovered like the one I have found with shoes.....planning on solving it though.
Or at least do my best.

As for replacing the textures in CTU.
You need to make sure you go to the designs TAB
Click on add new design and either add or copy from base package
Click on the textures TAB and right click on each texture you want to replace.
Make sure you click commit after replacing the textures in each design or they will not be added and the end result will not look right.

Just a bit of time to get used to making new stuff for sims 3 and waiting to see if tools get updated to be easier to create with.

Possibly one of the reasons why there are fewer creators for the sims 3 at the moment besides some which have lost the novelty of making custom content for the sims.

The easiest way to figure out how to shape your texture is to export the UV Map from the mesh. There are several ways of doing this; the easiest, if you're using Milkshape, is to use the Milkshape Export menu to export as obj, and then open the OBJ file in UV Mapper Classic. You can then save the map as a 1024x1024 bmp, which will show you where the various vertices and polygons in your mesh are in relation to the texture.

After I have been moving the UV map n MS3D texture co ordinator about I have been scaling down the texture map to 1.0, making sure the texture is in full view then pressing print screen.
After that I go into photoshop and open new then press Ctrl-V

Only thing is the pixels end up being bigger.

I've been doing this since Sims 2 to get the UV maps the way I want them matched up with the textures.

But i'll be using UV mapper classic now so i can get a more sharper image of the map.

This TS3 meshing tutorial is good: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=397260 Sure, it does not explain every detail of Milkshape editing step-to-step, but it explains the basics, and there's a lot other tutorials to teach how to use Milkshape all over the net so if you combine that and some TS3 specific tutorial like that one it's easy to learn some basic meshing.

I've downloaded it, but have yet to learn to use it. It looks pretty useful though, so it's probably going to make texturing easier :D

I tend to do it the opposite way. I make my texture first, apply it to the base morph, and adjust the UV map.