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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 21st Dec 2008 at 10:02 PM Last edited by fakepeeps7 : 21st Dec 2008 at 10:13 PM.
Default TUTORIAL: Recolouring Override Baby Meshes
If you're like me, you hate seeing those poor Sim babies in nothing but a diaper. There are a few different options for clothing your baby, but my favourite method is using a default replacement mesh. All your babies will wear the same outfit, but at least they'll be clothed. There are a number of different meshes out there (including mine, which you can find here), but the options for recolours are plentiful. You can even make your own! It's not as straightforward as making recolours in Body Shop, but it's not that difficult, either. All you need is SimPE, a graphics editor (like Photoshop, The GIMP, etc.), a mesh, and one recolour of that mesh.

To begin, open SimPE. Make sure the Plugin View is turned on. Now open the recolour file. You'll see that there's only one resource in the list, and that's the texture image. Click on the name of the file in the Resource List (in this case, it's "bubodydiaper-white_txtr") to highlight it.



The actual texture image should appear in the Plugin View window. In my example, the texture is blue. Let's say I want to make a white version of this outfit. I first need to export the texture. Right click on the image itself and choose "Export..." This will export your image so that you can open it and edit it with your graphics program. Keep the file format as *.png (this will preserve the transparency) and save your image to somewhere on your computer.



Now open your *.png file with your graphics editor. Make your changes. In my example, I just adjusted the hue and saturation to make a cream/white recolour. But you can do whatever you like with the texture. Make polka dots or stripes, add a decal to the front or back, add buttons, etc. Just don't flatten the image or you'll lose your transparency. If you end up with multiple layers, you'll need to merge them, but if you do, make sure you still have transparent bits (they'll be the checkered areas on most graphics programs). If you lose your transparency, your Sim's hands will end up covered in your texture, so be careful. Save as a *.png again when you're happy with your changes.



Go back to SimPE. Right click on the image again, but this time, choose "Build DXT..."



A new window will pop up. This is the DDS Builder. Click on "open Image..." and find your *.png file that you just edited. When you select it, it will show up in the little window in the DDS Builder. In the Sharpen pull-down menu, select "None". When you've done all that, click "Build". SimPE will now import your new image.



Your new texture should show up in the Plugin View.



Click the "Commit" button. Now you need to save your work as a new package.



Go to File>Save As... and give your package a new name (preferably something to do with the colour of your new baby outfit so you can easily find it again). If you simply save your changes, you'll overwrite your original recolour, so make sure you choose "Save As..." and give the package a new name.

Now all you need to do is put the mesh file and your new recolour package into your Downloads folder. Make sure that you only have one recolour installed at a time; if you already have one in your Downloads folder, take it out or your new recolour might not work.



All that's left now is to start up your game and admire your little Sim's cool new clothes. Doesn't that baby look happier with some clothes on?
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Field Researcher
#2 Old 22nd Apr 2013 at 6:22 AM
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I am new to this area, can this tutorial be used for recoloring maxis' adult clothing?
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#3 Old 22nd Apr 2013 at 6:42 PM
Quote: Originally posted by eliseluong
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I am new to this area, can this tutorial be used for recoloring maxis' adult clothing?


Technically, yes, but it's probably easier to do that with Body Shop. The only times you really need to be using Build DXT is if you're making a default replacement OR if Body Shop's compression has chewed up your texture (with Build DXT, you can import a nice, clean PNG texture without compression artifacts).
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