Tutorial - How to make a top out of a picture?
I've written this tutorial in german before. Please be patient with me if my english isn't perfect.
I use the german version of Paintshop Pro 9 and there are some problems to translate the tools in the right way.
Please look in your PSP to find the symbols in the pictures I attached to every step to take the right tool.
First, it is really important that you use a good graphic programm such as Paintshop Pro, Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop.
Windows Paint isn't a useful programm.
I use Paintshop Pro 9 for my skins.
You can download a trial version of Paintshop Pro X here:
http://www.corel.de/servlet/Satelli...d=1047025530410 (click on "try" at the right side)
And you'll need good images of clothes. It is important that you can see the clothes from the front and back side.
You'll find such clothes at
www.gojane.com
For this tutorial I'll use this images:
EDIT: I don't have the original pics for this tutorial anymore but here's the frontpic I used:
http://home.arcor.de/blue/tutorial1/tut2.jpg
So...then we'll start with the tutorial.
In Bodyshop you choose a suitable top and export this with a name of your desire (maybe tutorial_top)
In this folder you'll find a new folder with the name you choosed: My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/ Projects
Open the folder of your top and open the top~stdMatBaseTextureName.bmp with your graphic programm.
That should look like this, that depends on what top you choosed in Bodyshop:
Next we create a new layer. We work on this layer from now on. So we seperate the new skin from the background.
Just click on the layer symbol shown in the image and in the next step click OK.
Now we take the picture of the top.
There's much white space around the orange top.....we have to delete this.
Take the Magic Wand Selection ("Zauberstab")
Take a number about 20 like I did:
Now click on the white around the top.
The whole white should be marked. If you hold down Shift while you click on the white you can mark more areas.
Click on Selection - Invert to invert the selection. Now only the orange top is selected.
This selection we copy on our .bmp
Click Strg + C to copy the orange top, go to the .bmp and click Strg + E to paste the top there.
Now we have to suit the top to the .bmp
We take the "Verformen"-Tool (deform, distort, go out of shape)
Let us take a look in Bodyshop:
Now we do the same thing with the back side of the top.
Take the Magic Wand Selection - invert the selection - paste the selection to the .bmp - suit the top to the .bmp:
In Bodyshop we press F3 and place the Sim like this....we can see that one of the back wearer don't suit with the front wearer.
We make a small trick: just copy the right back wearer to the left.
Take the selection tool to mark the right wearer,
press Strg + C, mark the left wearer and delete it, press Strg + E to paste the right wearer on the .bmp, press Strg + M to invert the wearer horizontally.
That should look like this now:
Now we make a new layer again. But be sure that this layer is under the layer with our top.
In the layer palette click on the background and then create the new layer.
With the selection tool mark an area shown in the picture above.
Fill this area with an orange color with the "Farbfüllungswerkzeug" (Filling tool)
If you hold down Strg while you click on a color PSP remember this color.
Fill the whole area like this:
The next step:
Open the top~stdMatBaseTextureName_alpha.bmp
This file is black and white colored. White means that you can see that on the Sim, black color means that you can't see, grey color would be transparent.
The alpha looks like that:
Now go back to our layer with the top, press Strg + C, go to the alpha again and press Strg + E to paste the top onto the alpha.
Arrange the top and fill it with a white color.
Now invert the selection. Everything is marked except the top.
Take a black color and paint everything away (at the neckline and the back) that's not part of the top.
It should look like this:
And here is a Bodyshop preview:
It's pretty good right now.
But there are stil some white borders at the side.
With the "Verschmieren"-Tool (blur)
you can blur the borders.
Make it like that with the whole top.
Now it should look like this:
At last you have to import everything in Bodyshop.
And here's the top:
And here it is ingame: