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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Jul 2014 at 3:32 PM
Default Niko Bellic (WIP)
Hello all!

I'm creating Niko Bellic, the main protagonist from video-game GTA IV but I just can't seem to get him right and it's even more difficult to make him look like he's supposed to because I'm not using CC. Note that this is still work in progress, so I can enchance him a lot. I tried to keep him CC Free, but at this point I am willing to use some custom content (like custom skin tones, hairstyles...). If you think there is some CC that would make him look better (closer resembling Niko from GTA IV) you can post it here and I'll check it out.

So how do you think I can improve him? I can post his "attributes" (like face width, cheek fullness, jaw shape etc.) if you need.
Any suggestions will be really appreciated!






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Née whiterider
retired moderator
#2 Old 13th Jul 2014 at 5:08 PM
Could you add in-game pics, please? Sims looks totally different ingame from how they do in CAS, so it's hard to make suggestions based on CAS pics.

I found a reference pic that might be useful, as you don't have a straight-on pic yet: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2...dxx-d54rjkn.jpg

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 13th Jul 2014 at 6:44 PM
I added some in-game screenshots:









I also changed graphics settings to high to make his facial features and textures more visible/better.
Scholar
#4 Old 14th Jul 2014 at 3:55 AM
At this point close up head and shoulders shots will help us the most. Also, please bring the reference picture down with each revision - ideally next to the sim's pictures - so that we can better compare them. Thanks and good start!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 14th Jul 2014 at 5:02 PM Last edited by SimsError : 14th Jul 2014 at 5:23 PM.
Ok, here is a head and shoulders picture + some more close-up pictures. I also launched my GTA IV game and took some pictures of Niko Bellic. It's really difficult to take some good close-up pictures of him, because the provided camera angles won't really let you do that and besides that he often does some idle animations so it's difficult to get an emotionless picture of him. The whole atmosphere is slightly dark/grey with lots of shadows, but you can still see his face.










I don't like the way Sims look different in-game than in CAS though.
Forum Resident
#6 Old 20th Jul 2014 at 12:30 PM Last edited by shmovese : 20th Jul 2014 at 12:45 PM.
i really enjoy seeing this character for sims 3 - thanks for that. I like him a lot and have some suggestions at this moment:
his nose tip could be wee more prominent to mimic Nico better.
this forehead shape slider could mimic his forehead section better
i would also like too see some different eyebrows on him - not so bushy ones, but "barely there" hairy ones
also i like your cheekbones a lot (and the general skinny-thin-ness of that area) but i guess your only chance to get closer to Nicos cheekbones concerning the distance would mean for you to get you these cheekbones sliders by OneEuroMutt - Nico hardly has ones righty??? prominent nose BUT hardly cheekbones

EDIT: a comparison pic created with a painting program would be nice where one could see both Nicos in one pic
LAST EDIT: how do you like this jacket for him?

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Test Subject
Original Poster
#7 Old 21st Jul 2014 at 7:23 PM Last edited by SimsError : 21st Jul 2014 at 9:20 PM.
These are the sliders I used on Niko.



Quote: Originally posted by shmovese
i really enjoy seeing this character for sims 3 - thanks for that. I like him a lot and have some suggestions at this moment:
his nose tip could be wee more prominent to mimic Nico better.
this forehead shape slider could mimic his forehead section better
i would also like too see some different eyebrows on him - not so bushy ones, but "barely there" hairy ones
also i like your cheekbones a lot (and the general skinny-thin-ness of that area) but i guess your only chance to get closer to Nicos cheekbones concerning the distance would mean for you to get you these cheekbones sliders by OneEuroMutt - Nico hardly has ones righty??? prominent nose BUT hardly cheekbones

EDIT: a comparison pic created with a painting program would be nice where one could see both Nicos in one pic
LAST EDIT: how do you like this jacket for him?


Thanks for the tips! I'm still working on him so any feedback is really appreciated. I'll see what I can do.
I will download those custom sliders you recommended, because I agree that his forehead needs some adjustments.
The jacket looks fine, if it wasn't zipped and wouldn't have hood it would be perfect.

I already tried to mimic it myself, but couldn't find the right pattern + it only has two layers.
Forum Resident
#8 Old 21st Jul 2014 at 9:51 PM
impressive sliders list! do you know about this hair by darko - nightcrawler ? its a wee more than just a shaved scalp. + fingerless gloves
i looked some time to find a jacket for nico but if the "jacket" is sportive/ leather jacket style than the undershirts are OOO or if they have the perfect sweater its a blazer above!!!

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 22nd Jul 2014 at 10:52 AM Last edited by SimsError : 22nd Jul 2014 at 6:14 PM.
Thanks. I downloaded the hairstyle and gloves you recommended. Niko already has fingerless gloves in my game (TS3), but I used those from Generations EP. However they're too long so I'll use the ones you recommended.
These are the gloves I used until now (the picture isn't mine):

--------------------------------------

Here are two comparison pictures I *tried* to create in Paint.NET. GTA Niko is a bit dark in the first picture but you can still see his face structure. None of them are perfect but it'll do. I could do better if I spent more time on creating them.



I can already see that his chin needs some adjustments.


EDIT: What do you think about these eyebrows (no. 5, with the cut)? They're not so bushy and one brow also has a scar, same as Niko Bellic in GTA IV.
Forum Resident
#10 Old 22nd Jul 2014 at 9:41 PM
i like the brows "texture" (the hairy streaks) but i think they could be wee to thin. but - you could + should try them! i had something like the following in my mind:
Eyebrows Collection by Ephemera (LOL the male "paler" ones)
Cut and regular eyebrows for males by Ronja the 2nd one has the "cut"
a lot of burntwaffles eyebrows look awesome on males (also they could be too bushy for Nico)
hairy-streaky eyebrows by mochi029
...barely there eyebrows raonsims male eyebrow 01
i dont want to patronize just to give some input! this is what i had in mind when i wrote "barely there", not so bushy you know. but they should be wide/thick for him

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Test Subject
Original Poster
#11 Old 22nd Jul 2014 at 9:43 PM Last edited by SimsError : 22nd Jul 2014 at 9:54 PM.
I've been messing around with TSR Workshop (basically just recolored the original jacket in Paint.NET; took me about 5 minutes so can't talk about a big project here) and came up with this, hahah. xD


I couldn't do anything about buttons and of course I'm NOT going to use this clothing in the final version of Niko Bellic, but it was still fun.
It's three-layer tho gotta give myself props for that!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#12 Old 22nd Jul 2014 at 9:49 PM
Quote: Originally posted by shmovese
Cut and regular eyebrows for males by Ronja the 2nd one has the "cut"


Actually, those are the eyebrows I used.
Forum Resident
#13 Old 22nd Jul 2014 at 10:09 PM Last edited by shmovese : 22nd Jul 2014 at 10:13 PM. Reason: IMAG + buttons
lol stupid me. so are they ok for you? i cant see much from the newest pic in post #11. anyway: having a cutted brow is really awesome for Nico ;-) nice jacket edit! maybe you could upload a special recolour jacket for Nico. why not? cool feature
edit: arent the buttons in one of the IMAG files?

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Test Subject
Original Poster
#14 Old 23rd Jul 2014 at 6:27 PM Last edited by SimsError : 23rd Jul 2014 at 8:05 PM.
Yes, I think the eyebrows look very good and fit Niko better than eyebrows I gave him at the start.
About the outfit while I agree it would be a good idea, I won't upload it because honestly, what I created didn't impress me at all. And I found the image of the buttons and I successfully (kinda) removed them, but they still appear in the game (they're not colored tho, you can just see their shape).


(I altered the texture so it looks a bit better)

About Niko... I added some CC to him and this is how he looks with custom haristyle, eyebrows and forehead slider. This is the newest version of Niko Bellic in my game. I also kept the old version (seen in posts #5 and #9) so I can revert back at any time.




Forum Resident
#15 Old 23rd Jul 2014 at 8:50 PM Last edited by shmovese : 23rd Jul 2014 at 8:57 PM. Reason: greek nose slider?
Sims - Tutorial: Making Sims in TS3 if you want to get really close to the original GTA character i think those half split comparison pics HystericalParoxysm mentioned there would be really helpful (especially for you for further "slider tweaking" see #4).
Nico Bellics face is really "edgy". your sim looks close but is much more smooth in general as far as the up and downwards scrolling comparison tells me...so far.
and are you ok with darkos hair? i dont know why but i start to think the mesh doesnt look to good (the seam above the head looks "unhairy", just like a shadow, or is it just me?) maybe i just start getting too picky.
edit: have you ever heard of this sliderset by Hiemal? it includes a "greek nose" slider that would be awesome for Nico

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Test Subject
Original Poster
#16 Old 23rd Jul 2014 at 9:11 PM
Quote: Originally posted by shmovese
Sims - Tutorial: Making Sims in TS3 if you want to get really close to the original GTA character i think those half split comparison pics HystericalParoxysm mentioned there would be really helpful (especially for you for further "slider tweaking" see #4).


That tutorial looks very useful as I can see. I'll surely read it further! Thanks for linking it here.

Quote: Originally posted by shmovese
and are you ok with darkos hair? i dont know why but i start to think the mesh doesnt look to good (the seam above the head looks "unhairy", just like a shadow, or is it just me?) maybe i just start getting too picky.
edit: have you ever heard of this sliderset by Hiemal? it includes a "greek nose" slider that would be awesome for Nico


I know! That was the first thing that came to my mind when I set him that hairstyle. I'm starting to think that his hair before (the almost shaven) was almost better than the current hairstyle. That's also the reason why I kept the old version of Niko in the Sim Bin - so I can switch between them to see which looks better. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet.
BUT in the picture below, if you look closely, you can see the same "problem" - in GTA IV.


I'll check those nose sliders, thanks!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#17 Old 24th Jul 2014 at 11:19 AM Last edited by SimsError : 24th Jul 2014 at 5:03 PM.
This is a new comparison picture I made. Eyebrows and everything else is aligned properly, but I just couldn't get his eyes higher (Niko's eyes in GTA are just under his eyebrows). Is there any way to raise his eyes higher?
I agree that his face is too round in TS3 but it's difficult to match his edginess using the sliders I'm currently working with.


+ Besides that I noticed that Niko's chin in GTA IV is more 'defined' (see picture below) but I can't recreate that feature in TS3 - I searched for some sliders online, but couldn't find anything similar to what I want, or am I missing something here?

See what I mean?
Forum Resident
#18 Old 24th Jul 2014 at 9:15 PM
you should be able to make the chin bigger with maxis chin underlip depth - i dont know f it creates the significant shadow correctly but normally it should.. for the eyes: try oneeuromutts just eye height slider
btw the comparison pic you made is really awesome (i mean look at the nose its soo close) i would enjoy seeing a 1/2 split comparison for the side view
and i love the idea changing back to the shaved hair. i like its receding hairline feature for Nico

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Test Subject
Original Poster
#19 Old 24th Jul 2014 at 10:41 PM
Yeah, I'll probably change back to his shaved hair.
I'll download the eye height slider - it's just what I need so thanks for posting it! Oh and I already tried adjusting the default chin underlip depth slider, but I didn't really get the results I wanted (Niko's chin just looked weird from the side and I didn't get that defined chin that I wished for.

Btw; I'm going on holidays for 12 days with my family (we are going to travel tomorrow) so I won't be able to continue with this project, but I will surely continue with my work as soon as I get back home. I will have wi-fi in our apartment but I won't have my computer there (I have one good desktop where I have TS3 installed and one crappy laptop which would barely run TS3 on low settings), only my smartphone but I'm not planning on using it too much.
Forum Resident
#20 Old 25th Jul 2014 at 10:06 PM Last edited by shmovese : 31st Jul 2014 at 10:54 PM. Reason: chin shadow as make up?
happy holidays! have fun and see you later then ;-)

edit: if the chin -especially the distinctive/striking shadow between the underlip and the chin- cant be achieved via sliders the only chance i see so far would be creating a special "nico make up" for it. as far as you made this quick and dirty edit for the jacket quite confidently would you think you can do that make up too? if so here is a creating basic face overlays tutorial and some useful UV-map ressources
and here is a good example of a "wrinkles/age detail" make up made by Arisuka Subtle Wrinkles for Both Genders ***NOW AS AGE DETAIL TOO*** that one would be nice for nicos forehead and as an inspiration how a chin wrinkle/shadow could look like or funnily if mochi029s underlip shadow would be flipped it could be a nice chin shader too..
as far as i speak of make up here what do you think about this frown slider + make up by sucreomiel for nico?
i just found a seperated version of EAs wrinkles (aging blush) - Nico could use the wrinkles on the forehead Aging Blush Separated by Pretty Lady Babies

<< ... too old-fashioned to die young-fashioned >>
Scholar
#21 Old 27th Jul 2014 at 5:43 AM
Good work! Make the jaw narrower, increase the cheek bones - if possible - and decrease the jowls to make the face more "gaunt". Nose needs to be wider above the nostrils. Upper lip thinner up and down; bottom lip a tiny bit thicker up and down and more square [__]. You've already talked about raising the eyes. Maybe raise the eyebrow just a bit, too. The chin should be just little longer. The eye and chin shapes look close to me. Looking forward to an update!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#22 Old 5th Aug 2014 at 7:09 PM
Hello, all. We decided to extend the holidays for another week so I won't be able to continue on this project for some more time.
I think setting my eyes off this project for a while made it easier to recognize what to do next. After checking those comparison pictures I see many things that I didn't before.

Quote: Originally posted by shmovese
if the chin -especially the distinctive/striking shadow between the underlip and the chin- cant be achieved via sliders the only chance i see so far would be creating a special "nico make up" for it. as far as you made this quick and dirty edit for the jacket quite confidently would you think you can do that make up too? if so here is a creating basic face overlays tutorial and some useful UV-map ressources

As much as I'd like to I don't think I'm quite there yet. As I said (did I?) this was my first time creating any sorts of CC for TS3 and I was surprised that I managed to do it. However, it was just a simple recolor which is easier than creating face modifications and I'm afraid it would take me too long to grasp even the basics. I also think it could distract me from working on Niko Bellic as a Sim. I already put too much priority on that jacket that I already stopped working on him for a bit. Even if I made it for fun I always tought "a little tweak/recolor here and there would make it even better" and wasted 10 minutes I could easily spend tweaking him in CAS. If I'd have any experience in creating CC I'd give it my best and try it, but I'm not an expert there and I think it won't come out as good as I (and other people) would want.

Quote: Originally posted by shmovese
and here is a good example of a "wrinkles/age detail" make up made by Arisuka Subtle Wrinkles for Both Genders ***NOW AS AGE DETAIL TOO*** that one would be nice for nicos forehead and as an inspiration how a chin wrinkle/shadow could look like or funnily if mochi029s underlip shadow would be flipped it could be a nice chin shader too..
as far as i speak of make up here what do you think about this frown slider + make up by sucreomiel for nico?
i just found a seperated version of EAs wrinkles (aging blush) - Nico could use the wrinkles on the forehead Aging Blush Separated by Pretty Lady Babies


I already have Arisuka's wrinkles in my game because I thought they would fit Niko well, I just haven't used them yet because I wanted to get Niko's face structure right before I would add CC to him.

I will check out other CC that you posted and decide what to do when I get back home. Thank you very much!

Quote: Originally posted by SimmyRN
Good work! Make the jaw narrower, increase the cheek bones - if possible - and decrease the jowls to make the face more "gaunt". Nose needs to be wider above the nostrils. Upper lip thinner up and down; bottom lip a tiny bit thicker up and down and more square [__]. You've already talked about raising the eyes. Maybe raise the eyebrow just a bit, too. The chin should be just little longer. The eye and chin shapes look close to me. Looking forward to an update!


Thank you for those tips, much appreciated. I'll tweak him as soon as I get home.
You'll see an update soon!
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