#2: tutorial

[officialspec]

draw more fat characters ok. i love you

[remxedmoon]

i got it!

(og panels below!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIFFRIN!!! <- i say, scheduling this to post at midnight september 2nd. it’s his birthday somewhere!! and also loops birthday but look i had a deadline here. don’t ask why This of all things is their birthday art. i make normal choices!!!

also. somehow this entire thing only took 4 and a half hours??? insanity. i literally started this Today. thats how it Gets Me i suppose. anyways!!!! here’s the og panels!! no colored version this time, i didn’t think it’d fit the scene. also i didn’t want to render 3 colored panels.

[your-local-granny]

baby's first time animating!! have a trucy <3

[parisoonic]

'So, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you...' Some progress pics under the cut for fun.

Blockout / Shapework and a Little Rendering / Lighting Solidfication to Bring it Closer to Original Sketch / Details and Grade

[budgieflitter]

AAAND WE'RE DONE! 💖

thank you all so much for participating!! i'm sorry i couldn't do all of your suggestions (obviously), but i hope you still can find your faves here :)

(and if you really really want me to draw your faves you can commission me *twirls hair*)

it was super fun!

[pforestsims]

So it turns out it's quite easy to change Sim's voice in SimPe.

I had this household where all adult female Sims sounded the same and I had to do something about it xD. I've recorded a few TS2 voice types for future reference so I might as well share. Samples below the cut.

Here are examples & values for four adult female and four adult male voices.

It's NOT possible to change voice type gender or age group by editing Voice Type value

AF1 0xFD34, AF2 0xDE83, AF3 0x354A, AF4 0x3949

AM1 0xEF85, AM2 0xDCF8, AM3 0x0D95, AM4 0xE918

These samples are from phone call conversations. Second and the last male voice is by the same voice actor but it has different 'dialogs'. AM 0xE918 seems more assertive (?).

*To be honest I'm not sure if it's a different voice type or does it depend on personality? I need to look into that. TS2 only had four voice actors /for adult voices?/ but that doesn't mean there are only four voice types, right? 🤔/

*This is about The Sims 2

[sims2istheonlysims]

Because you can't save progress on them, I feel like someone should write timeloop horror for Tutorial Joe and Tutorial Jane.

[nouveaumoon]

💧✨based off of this illustration by @passionpeachy!✨💧

video compression muted the colors, so here are a few stills under the cut

tiny bonus: happy pride!

[99pm-e]

HOW TO DRAW SPY FROM TF2!!

[l-1-z-a]

🏡 Guide: Unlocking Hidden Catalog Content in The Sims 2

If you've ever wanted to unlock those elusive hidden items in The Sims 2, there's now a comprehensive guide that might be exactly what you need. The tutorial, "Unlocking Hidden Catalog Content," walks you through accessing hidden floor and wall patterns, terrain paints and fences.

The author, building on past community contributions, has crafted a structured and user-friendly guide to simplify the process. With step-by-step instructions on modifying key files, such as adjusting the "notInCatalog" and "deprecated" parameters, it’s designed for both Windows and Mac/Linux users, making it accessible for all. Plus, there are extra tips on leveraging unique wall and pattern properties to get creative with your builds.

If you're ready to expand your in-game options, check out the full tutorial for a deeper dive into what *The Sims 2* catalog really has to offer!

[lamare-sims]

Sims 2 UI Browser

Did you know there's a cheat that lets you play with UI?

Ctrl-U

Well, it mostly lets you find UI elements and move them around

It helped me make wider design dialog window

There's a search bar and info

Track Mouse checkbox is super useful, takes the browser window right to the element you hovering over

What's the use?

Say, you're looking to edit the pause button

The weird number 0x27d7258f is its ID (selected item on the picture)

Now you can find it in UI Data files

Open the ui.package in \TSData\Res\UI (or if you're using a UI mod, you may want to edit its files instead)

Select all UI Data recourses (try Ctrl-A) and extract them somewhere, into a new designated folder maybe

There's gonna be a lot of text files in a UI Data folder

Search that folder for "0x27d7258f" using standard Windows Explorer / File Explorer. It'll find the files with the pause button

What can you do with it?

Edit position by changing coordinates:

area=(170,192,190,212)

I call them start width, start height, end width, end height

IIRC, these coordinates are relative to parent element, not absolute (start where parent's position starts, not where your screen starts)

Find group and instance numbers of its image/icon:

image={499db772,a9200127}

Icons are also found in the ui.package, although they may be in a different one

There's a ui.package in every pack's folder, and you probably used your latest one to extract UI Data files (like SP9), but the pause icon is in the base game's ui package. Some weather related icons may be in Seasons' package and not in anywhere else. You get what I mean

There are all sorts of color options (in RGB, I assume):

fillcolor=(204,204,204) colorfontnormal=(0,0,0) colorfontdisabled=(0,0,0) colorfonthilited=(0,0,0) colorfontnormalbkg=(0,0,0) colorfontdisabledbkg=(0,0,0) colorfonthilitedbkg=(0,0,0) forecolor=(255,255,255) bkgcolor=(0,0,0)

Not all of them might be relevant for all elements, though

If an element has text, font may be edited:

font=0x00001318 font=GenSubHeader font=BuildBuyModeFooter

Looking at bigger elements, there are also a lot of flags and properties. Here's some interesting ones:

moveable=yes sizeable=no titlebar=no outline=no align=lefttop wrapped=yes opaque=yes

You can guess what they mean

Hm. Design tool window is moveable, but isn't sizeable. What if?..

Nah, simply changing "no" to "yes" didn't work

Search shows there are no sizable windows in game, except for UI Browser itself and a few other "browsers" I haven't seen, so we can't easily copy how it's done

Maybe some day

That's it for random UI modding stuff you didn't wanna know :D

[larvamars]

I genuinely need a step by step tutorial on how to draw Leon’s hair please. I don’t know why but his haircut is my kryptonite 😭 I can get the strands and stuff but the shape is impossible to draw without making it look like a bob 💀 pls help

I'm a bad teacher and don't know how to give good advice, moreover, I don't know how to do tutorials, but I tried to depict his hair as conveniently as possible. It also mostly helps me to look at his photo as a reference...

I'm sure that with more practice you will succeed! I believe in you <3 I hope this helps you somehow haha

keep in mind that this tutorial is also stylized, and I don't feel comfortable if people draw in exactly the same style, please 😭

[belladovah]

Every Cheat you need for The Sims 2 + a userStartup.cheat File

I've just released a tutorial on all the cheats I use for The Sims 2 as well as how to make or install a userStartup.cheat file!

Check Out the Video:

✨Check Out the Website Post✨

Includes a downloadable copy of my userStartup.cheat file!

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Tutorial how to find the new Good Omens S2 bonuses on Prime ❤ 🐍😊

[loustica-lucia]

Heroes of the Dragon Age

An animation I've made for Dragon Age Day 2023, featuring my main Warden (Alyssa Cousland-Theirin), Hawke (Eleena Amell Hawke) and Inquisitor (Sulevin Lavellan)!

It's to this day one of my best artwork and I thought I should share it here too! 90+ hours between the original sketch, outfit design, the rough animation, rotoscope, inking, flat-colours, background shading and even the audio :')

Interested in the process? I detailed it below since it was my first time doing something like that:

I would like to start by saying I'm not a professional animator!Everything you've seen here is the result of experimentation and a lot of practice to learn and understand how 2D animation works.

My first idea started in May 2023. I just finished rewatching DA Absolution for the X time, and wanted to analyse why I loved the intro so much. (Even after countless rewatch, I never skipped it once.) I was inspired to study it with my main three protagonists!

Then came the first test with Alyssa Cousland-Theirin, my Hero of Ferelden! I tried to understand which part to separate for the animation. Mainly the hair and cape because it flows a lot more than the rest! If I recall, my first idea here was to make her counter flame attacks (?). Then, as the camera turns around her, I tried to add a grid to know how the camera would work around it.

I ended up making the clip longer, so she could position herself to the further left and leave space to the two other protagonists.

Now it was time to try to animate Sulevin Lavellan, my Inquisitor. I really kept that quick doodling style just to capture the vibe without putting too much time/effort into it! The background would be static to contrast with Alyssa's. I also loved the idea of a rogue sneaking!

Instead of working on Eleena Amell Hawke, my Champion of Kirkwall, I went back to Alyssa and started working with Clip Studio Paint 3D models (this entire animation has been done on the EX version of the software!) It helped for rotoscope animation and maintaining likeness! That's when I got the idea to make the background swirl around the character to let the eyes be guided by the rest of the screen!

After a couple more hours, I planned the entire animatic with 3D models and quick doodles! I finally found a cool pose for Eleena Hawke, which was honestly the hardest of the three to imagine for some reason? I tried many other poses but ended up picking an animation from the game!

This whole time, I was studying a bunch of background ideas and how studio Red Dog Culture House (who made Absolution) work! Thankfully, they have a YouTube Channel where they shared some BTS content so I could analyse it!

Then, I simplified my character and their original designs in the style of the studio! These outfits are how I imagine them after Trespasser. Alyssa as the Queen of Ferelden, looking for a cure to the Calling, Hawke following Fenris to Tevinter & Sully as a Red Jenny Inquisitor!

The idea for Sulevin's animation actually came from a piece I doodled on a live stream, when I was drawing pose studies and turning them into finished artworks haha As for Alyssa, I wanted to draw the fight that got her facial scars!

Once their designs were ready and the background ideas too, I made the rough version of the animation! Basically a sketch done on top of the 3D models to add the details, staying pretty rough just to capture the idea and movements.

Then it was time to start the lines! I decided make a folder per frame, so I could separate all he main elements and draw them one by one. It helps keeping the likeness of a character in the different frames without having big "jumps" between frames! In fact, every parts were coloured differently to recognize them, and then I used vector erasers and masks (Ah yes, the entire lineart is done in vectors of course! It's easier to adjust and save time when working on similar frames!)

At first of course, everything overlaps! But I find it easier to draw too much and erase after, just to make sure everything is coherent in each frames! The cool thing about CSP is how you can change the colour of the layers in one click! So all the coloured lines turned into black in one second, and I could reverse it just as quickly to double check!

Then I started working on Sulevin! I made a blue line to mark where her feet were, as the sketch in the background wasn't perfectly straight! (Like Sulevin's sexuality 🤭😂) The silhouettes were very quick to do, but I had fun adding more & more details as she came closer to the foreground!

I really wanted to add that little dagger trick, but I remember it required me to change the pacing of Eleena's apparition, as it was recovering her arm too quickly! I had to change the pace of multiple frames quite a lot during the project, to make sure the flow was right! For Eleena, most of her animation remained around her arms and the staff itself, as magic would be the most difficult part! That way each character has their own focus: Alyssa has a very animated background, Sulevin got the grappling hook and Eleena the ice!

Then it was time to start adding colours! Just like for the lineart, I separated every colour on it's own layer, so I could easily adjust the colours later if needed. I added one colour at the time, going through all the frames, and then another colour!

I made full palette tests with the colours I would use for their background at this point, checking if the details remained readable! Alyssa was the most challenging in terms of clothes, because I made her a very detailled armour! I had to simplify the Theirin heraldry, vectorize/redraw the Cousland, and make a brush for her cape's pattern!

Once I was done adding the flatcolours, I started the background, and oh boy it was a wild ride. For the cave, I painted multiple tests. I imagine was to use CSP panorama tools, which transform a texture into a 3D sphere, so each corners must match to look good. Sadly, it made the background very blurry, so after hours of testing, I changed ideas. Instead of the random fire balls (?) I originally imagined for Alyssa, I made three simple frames of a Rage Demon to attack her.

I ended up using the cave as a repeated pattern to make it turn 360° around the character. For Eleena, I mixed inspiration from the comics, Dreadwolf & Absolution, using warm colours matching Hawke's signature red. Just like I made the cave very grey/blue to match Grey Wardens. For Val Royeaux, it was more complex because I wanted to make it green, matching the Inquisitor's signature green. But bright green couldn't work, and the original colour during day time was blue/white/gold. So I added more leaves, played around the design a bit! After adding the rage demon, I made the shading! It was surprisingly easy and quick to do now!

I clipped a white layer on the flatcolours to not be distracted by the colours, and made thin lines to separate the light/shadows, then simply filled everything with the bucket tool! Then you set the layer to multiply and remove the white layer, and you have celshading shadows! Now the character looks out of the picture, so I added layers of blue in color burn, saturation and substract blending modes to make her look like she's in the right setting! Of course, I did the same with the other two, giving Hawke a red overlay and Sulevin green shadows!

Then I added the details, it went from white irises, to sword/staff smears to earrings and smaller finition that goes on top of these layers. To add the lights, I simply selected the shadows and reversed the selection! Using warm and cold tones to create contrast with the purple/bluish shadows! I also added more ambient light layers for Alyssa to reflect the Rage Demon fire. Now it was time to add ice magic! My first attempt had too many frames, making it look weird! Sometimes it's better to lower the frame rate to make things less bumpy!

Then I downloaded some cool ice brushes on CSP assets that made it look less like blue magical flames! But when I covered the screen in ice, I realized "Oh wait, I could make a cool transition from the ice, to blue lyrium turning red?"Red Lyrium truly links these three games and The Veilguard somehow! I spent the next hour painting over the idol and putting it in a black background, with lyrium and then the golden Dragon Age title text.

For the SFX, I used free youtube libraries sounds & "Darkspawn!" comes from the violent human female voice set (iconic for ""Can I get you a ladder? So you can get off my back!"😂🤭) After editing all that, the animation was finally done!

Here's the final math:

About 15 hours for the sketching/rough/animatic phase, 30h for the lineart, 25h for colours, 10h for backgrounds, 5h for details & 5h for music & SFX, for a total of 90 hours. Aka the same amount of time it took me to finish Baldur's Gate 3 the first time lol

If you have any question regarding the animation or the softwares etc. do not hesitate to ask, I'll do my best to answer!

[melondaskelet0n]

People who draw medic....

SHOW ME YOUR FUCKING WAYS!! HOW DO YOU DRAW THIS MAN!! EVERYTIME I DRAW HIM HE LOOKS LIKE A BOX HEAD OR A PURE ASS CIRCE

I CANT GET HIS EYES, HAIR, FACE OR BODY RIGHT!!! PLEAAASEEEEE SOMEONEEEEEEE TEACH ME YOUR WAAAAAYYYSSSSSSSS