Got tips on creating beautiful, unique sims? Got nice info that might help people create less boring pixel dollies?

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http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...p:Creating_Sims

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This thread here on S2C gives quite a bit of good information about making unique sims.

http://forums.sims2community.com/sh...34&page=1&pp=25

If you are going to be breeding your sims with townies, while they are still in CAS select a Maxis face template and see how the children look as teens or adults. Keep trying this until you find a face which produces decent kids, then find a townie with that same face structure.

My tips for realistic and unique sims:

- Try to pick an ethnicity for your sim; not some run of the mill normal sim

- Make the facial features related to that ethnicity; every ethnicity has their own different and unique features, which is where you'll get the most diversity

- Don't hesitate to make something look different; I personally can't stand sims made with perfect ski slope noses so i make them flatter, wider, longer, a bump, etc.

- Bone structure is the most important; don't make the sim have too thin of a facial structure where they look like an alien (unless that's what you're going for), and not so heavy and sticking out where it looks unnatural

- Lips don't need to be full; not everyone has full lips and I find thin lips fine for my sims who I choose to have them on

- Eyes I tend to give a bit of a narrowness since I haven't seen people with wide eyes; however also make sure to change the length and size of eyes too as that will give more of a variety

- The jaw line should be well defined and not too rounded unless the ethnicity of your sim calls for more of a round jawline; I also find giving the sim a small overbite to be more natural as well

- The brows should vary; not everyone has perfectly shaped brows unless they get them waxed or pluck them; I switch off giving full or thinner eyebrows when I make my sims

- The most important thing is just to be creative; that will get you the best results; give your sim personality

-I always try to move all of the bars a little bit, just to add variety.

-Move your sim's eyes together, it makes them more lifelike.

-USE CUSTOM SKINTONES AND EYES. It makes your sims look 10x more lifelike.

-Make something on your sim quirky (ie. an unusually big forehead, small eyes...)

-I always make the chin of my sim a little more defined and out there.

-Adjust most of the features in bodyshop as there are more possibilities.

-Create your sim with no makeup on first so you can see the features.

Also, for a little bit of fun, I go into bodyshop and just close my eyes and move all the bars around randomly. As long as you don't move the bars TOO drastically, you can come out with a very unique, good looking sim. This little 'game' is basically where all my model sims come from.

Create a template for yourself in bodyshop - i.e. a sim man and woman who have facial structure you love. Then, create your sims by modifying from them - as time goes on, your sims will deviate further and further from maxis norms.

Also, don't be afraid to make them ugly. Give a sim one ugly feature, and then tweak the face to fit it. You'll often end up with a more beautiful sim as a result.

Go out of the ordinary... I'm finding the vast majority of my sims are turning out to be single, medium-light skinned males or females who work their way to getting a partner and job. So do something you usually don't with sims. Aliens, Zombies, a Black Widow type sim maybe? And don't use maxis templates whereever possible. Start with a maxis template, pick a random one form the catalogue, even if it's ugly, then use the sliders to modify it to your liking.

A major tip is to create ALL sims in Bodyshop, not game. There are so many more sliders there for realism.

I agree with Cheese. And maybe giving some families some kind of background can help making unique sims (because -yes-, there is more than meets the eye on a special sim too). Where did they come from? Do they have a family tradition? Which kind of people do they (dis)like? Any quarrels within the family?
It will definitely help you making sims be less like sims and more like characters

Sometimes what I do is I pick a nice face that I downloaded, tweak it, then switch the person to child, tweak there features again and keep going and youll be surprised with the results

- Try finding pictures of people you think are attractive then use those as a base for your sim. You don't have to use just one picture either. Use the nose from one picture, the eyes from another, etc. You can get some good looking sims that way.

- Be open to experimenting with different skins and eyes until you find one that looks good. Some skins and eyes might look good on one sim and horrible on another.

- Be creative. Not all your sims need to be clones, and it's ok if they look a little different

- Experiment with different makeups. Some sims might look kinda strange after you make them, but totally gorgeous with certain make up.

- Keep in mind that your sim might look a little different in bodyshop then in your game. I usually make sims in bodyshop then tweak them in CAS.

I have got quite good results from making a sim in Bodyshop by creating features looking at a picture of a person i know or some celebrits. They do not need to be stunning beutiful, but ordinar, with human noses and lips. Then i tweak them in game and change the structures a bit, and they turn out to be really good actually. They get a personality. Before i started to make sims in Bodyshop from the scratch, but now i use my own models and tweaking them. It's a good tip, similar to what PennyTheCorgi is writing.