#so I was spending more time gaming than learning blender | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

femboycatofmystery · 7 months ago

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So my post about how you should draw (YOU SHOULD DRAW!) blew up beyond any precedent since my return to tumblr and someone in the FRANKLY KIND OF TERRIFYING NUMBER OF REBLOGS mentioned downloading a free DAW to make music and that got me thinking,

HOBBY SOFTWARE MEGAPOST GO

All of the below software is free to use, and most of it is Open Source (which is its own thing I recommend learning about, its entire existence and success gives me hope for humanity) so GO GET SOME TOOLS! Make things like nobody's watching and then SHOW IT TO THEM ANYWAY! Or don't! Even if you hide your work from the world (lord knows I do!!!) you will have created something! And it feels amazing to create something!

VISUAL ARTS:

Inkscape: Adobe Illustrator replacement, pretty solid if a bit quirky.

Krita: Painting software, if anything slightly overpowered and sometimes more complicated than you want, but can do bloody anything including advanced color management. A wonderful tool.

Blender: You have probably heard it is super hard to use. This is CONDITIONALLY true. Because the developers are working day and night to improve everything about it it's always getting better and now like, 80% of the hardness is just because 3D is hard. Aside: Blender Grease Pencil - A subsystem in Blender is concerned with 2D animation and it is. Surprisingly good. Some annoying conventions but totally possible to literally make professional traditional 2D animation.

MUSIC:

LMMS: A free and open source DAW that can do a lot, except use most modern VST plugins. The practical upshot of this is that if you are just starting out with music it is totally serviceable but over time you might start to long for something with the ability to load hella plugins. (I'm currently trying out Reaper which has a long free trial and is technically nagware after that point...)

PlugData: You GOTTA TRY THIS, it's not mentally for everyone (not HARD exactly, just WEIRD) but if your brain works well with this kind of flow graph stuff it's a magical playground of music. (If you have heard of PureData, PlugData is based on it but has a lot of nice graphical upgrades and can work as a VST if you have a proper DAW)

Surge XT: A big ol' synthesizer plugin that also can run standalone and take midi input so you can technically use it to make music even if you don't have a DAW. If planning notes ahead of time sounds intimidating, but you can get your hands on a midi piano controller, this might actually be a great way to start out playing with music on your computer!

Bespoke Synth: Another open source DAW, but this one is... sort of exploded? Like PlugData you patch things together with cables but it has a wild electrified aesthetic and it can do piano rolls. Fun though!

GAME DEV:

Yeah that's right, game dev. You ABSOLUTELY can make video games with no experience or ability to code. I actually recommend video games as a way to learn how to code because the dopamine hits from making a character bumble around on a screen are enormously bigger than like. Calculating pi or something boring like that. ANYWAY:

Twine: Twine is what I might describe as sort of a zero-barrier game dev tool because you're literally writing a story except you can make it branch. It has programming features but you can sort of pick them up as you go. Lowest possible barrier to entry, especially if you write!

Godot: I use this engine all the time! It's got great tutorials all over the internet and is 100% FREE AND ALWAYS WILL BE. Technically there are more Unity tutorials out there, but Godot has plenty enough to learn how to do things. It's also SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT so you won't spend your precious hobby time waiting for the engine to load. There are absolutely successful games made with this but I think the best thing about it is that the shallow end of the learning curve is PRETTY OK ACTUALLY.

#art #hobbies #free software

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passportinspection · 2 years ago

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Remake (from memory) of this. Gordon and Borrower!Barney hanging out in Gordon's room. Poster suggestions welcome. :>

Extremely long rant about this thing's creation under the cut.

aaaAAAUUUGGGHHH okay. So imo this poster is kind of a mess and I'm not happy with the lighting at all, but if I work on it for a single second longer I will simply cry.

So there's a gordon model on the sfm workshop that has outfits like the one above, and I was quite determined to make this in gmod, so I had to learn how to port ragdolls from sfm to gmod. You'd think this would be a fairly easy task - they're both source, after all, and there are tutorials - but it was a multiple-weeks-long journey of roadblocks followed by breakthroughs followed immediately by additional roadblocks. There was vital knowledge not in the tutorials. And I didn't fully succeed, anyway - the above image is his sfm body with his gmod head so so so carefully aligned to it in-game (there is a whole additional invisible gordon body in this image). If I wanted to put him in a different pose, I would have to re-align his head. Which is, like... way harder than it has any right to be. Sooo much harder. And that's with the "reference" head I have - like, okay, sfm-gordon's body does have a head attached, but the issue is that it doesn't have the correct facial posing. So I use it as a reference for placing gmod-gordon's head. I know why getting a functioning sfm-gordon head in gmod is harder than than the rest of him (or at least I think I do), and I think I know what I need to do to make it happen (though it will sacrifice a bit of his sfm-level complexity), but I don't yet know how, and at this point spending like 2 hours getting his head aligned juuuust right in-game is so much less time and effort than figuring out how to do that, so... Later, I'll figure it out. Maybe.

But yeah, there was a hell of a lot of very frustrating trial-and-error involved in that whole process because it's very difficult to find resources for a lot of stuff unless you already have the knowledge to know what to look for.

And that was my first trial.

I liked this desk model the best, but it didn't have a bumpmap, so I generated one for it, which made me feel very fancy and tech-proficient, but really all I had to do was open up the texture in vtfedit and click "generate normal map" or whatever. Oh, yeah, I'd been looking into porting models from sketchfab and such into gmod for a while, off-and-on, a while back (and dabbled a tiiiny bit in map-editing too), so the knowledge from then definitely helped me a lot. I probably wouldn't have gotten this poster done if it wasn't for that, because at that point it would have all been too arcane and overwhelming.

But yeah, you can't even actually see anything but the top of the desk, so I could have just chosen a good texture and used a rectangle instead, and the bumpmap is barely visible in this poster, lol.

Then there's the mousepad. It's a re-textured street sign, by the way. :) I put an absurd amount of effort into that too. I got the black mesa logo off google, but the large majority of the effort to turn it into a mousepad involved messing with the texture with tedious in-game tools.

Then, that book, I got it off a free 3d models website, because I didn't like any of my already-available options. I had to learn a bit about UV maps through trial and error in blender to get it to work right, because nothing is easy. That's the first time I've ever actually ported a non-source object into gmod, so that's cool. (Gordon being the first time I've ever ported something at all. To my recollection, anyway...?) Oh, and I had to learn about how to convert a more modern texture format into valve's obsolete one. That involved being subjected to sights like this:

Thank you, developer.valvesoftware.com. (Though really, this part wasn't that hard. I ignored the scary math(?) and it was fine.)

Next was the mug. All the mug models I had were not smoothly circular enough for me (Or I think maybe there was one or two, but I really didn't like their shape either way). They were quite obviously made of a few flat planes arranged into a circle-ish shape, and that just wouldn't do. So I went and found another free 3d model, slapped the black mesa logo on it, and put it in gmod. I... Did not consider how much more complex it would be as something intended for 3d art / ads rather than video games; I think it has more vertices than Gordon, LOL. It's not so many that it actually lags the game, so it doesn't really matter, but I do find it funny.

And then those papers! I remembered that letter sent to Gordon from the PS2 Half-Life case had a coffee mug stain on it, and I wanted it on the table, but, remembering how much of a pain it was to make the mousepad, I opted to actually create my own models for them this time. They're just rectangles, after all, so it's not like the modeling part was going to be a challenge.

Well, it wasn't a challenge, really, but it did take quite a bit longer than I had expected, partially since I had to muddle through stuff I only sort of had an understanding of. Anyway, it took like, an hour and a half, or two hours? I finally get it into the game, and as I'm putting it on the table, I realize... The coffee stain is in black and white. OTL

So. I put the other page on top. Sad. I mean, I could have just added a free in-color coffee-stain png to the texture somewhere, but. *Gestures.* I had expended too much energy so far to be in the mood to do that.

And this barney model... It is cursed somehow. Or it hates me. The more you pose it, the more resistant it becomes to being posed. The posing tools just.. don't do what you ask them to do after a certain point. So I wasn't super happy with the pose but it was good enough. ToT Originally I wanted to post 3 posters with them in different poses as if they were having a conversation, but yeah, I am not posing that Barney any more, lol. It may have been the fault of the tool I used to make him Small, I'm not sure. Will need further testing.

And THEN.

I take 18 different lightbounce renders, writing down the settings I used and whatever I did differently each time, trying to feel out the tool and find a render I really like. (Last time I kinda just did whatever and settled on an early render I liked without really bothering to figure it out much). At render #18, I get one I'm happy with, so I throw it into GIMP and- oh, now it looks different and bad. Wtf. I try a different image editing program and the same thing happens. I google the issue and decide it probably has to do with some crappy default windows color settings getting imported into the program along with the image, and decide I'll go to bed and deal with that tomorrow. (Oh, yeah, I kept staying up way too late thinking I'd just finish the poster before I went to bed, but never finishing it...)

But no! As I find out the next day from more googling and experimentation, it turns out the windows photo app auto-"enhances" your photos. I'd been judging the renders by how they looked in the app this whole time, so the way it looks in GIMP is how it actually looks. All that experimentation on what looks best the night before... Done on the basis of how they looked after windows "enhanced" them without me knowing.. OTL

And so today I do some more lightbounce render experimentation. I try again and again, but I can't get it to look the way I was able to make it look before, even accounting for the auto-"enhancement". No clue what I did different that night, but okay. So I settle for the way the renders have decided to look tonight, and try to get one that I like the best out of the options it's giving me, but... This tool was created by arcane wizards. This tool is a wild, untamed beast. Even in the same session, I'll be like, "How did I do that and how do I make it happen again." Eventually I kind of gave up and just worked with the most inoffensive one I could generate. I suspect this tool wasn't designed with such small scenes in mind.

The main light source render - well, i hardly experimented with it, because I just wanted to be done with this freakin' thing already.

Anyway, that's... most of it. How long has it been? Like a month? And I was working on this nearly every day. All just for this thing. But it consumed me, man. I couldn't focus on anything else.

Maybe now I can do other things... Like I said, I'm really not happy with the lighting, but I'm so excited to just put this behind me. orz Hopefully my dissatisfaction doesn't turn into an un-ignorable need to keep fiddling with it. I refuse. I refuse! I am doing something else now!

Oh, however! In the process of all that, I may have found out a way to be able to facepose resized-barney, something as-of-yet impossible for me. Still have to try it out. Exciting stuff...

#my gmod art #half-life #giant/tiny #g/t #garry's mod #gordon freeman #barney calhoun #i guess?#anyway #good NIGHT #*collapses*

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mortal-kombat-1 · 1 year ago

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How hard is it to mod the game? I'm very new to modding and I want to learn, but it all looks so confusing. With the Johnny Cage shirtless mod, are you just erasing the textures? If you don't want to answer that's fine.

You're good! And I don't mind explaining. Under the cut because longish reply. Also, if this doesn't answer anything or if you have any other questions you're more than welcome to come off anon and we'll continue the convo privately c:

Ok, since you mentioned my shirtless mod, we'll use that one.

First, you gotta extract the meshes themselves from the game. All models in MK1 have a base template, that includes materials.

(I also extract the face and hair meshes.)

This is what it should look like once you've imported it all into Blender. As you can see, I've not only the template mesh, I've also got the face and hair meshes in there.

Reason being: So I can sculpt that neck gap to line up with the head because editing or sculpting the head mesh itself will cause the game to crash. Also bald Johnny makes me giggle uncontrollably so reason for the hair, lol.

Select the template mesh, go into edit mode and select the head material to delete the vertices, because we're not gonna touch anything face/head mesh related, we're removing it from the body template only.

Finally, you can freely sculpt away on the body mesh to fill the gap the best you can; it's not going to be perfect no matter how much time you spend on it. Once you're happy with your sculpting, import the skin you're replacing. Join the template mesh with said skin, go into edit mode once more, select the materials, delete the materials from the skin you're replacing and assign the new materials from shirtless mesh (hopefully you've got a bottom mesh to give 'em so pants or whatever, anything else I'm not going over on dfghjkl) in the place of the skin material you just deleted. Once you've done that, and if you're not adding new textures (UV editing) delete the other meshes, save your modded skin (mesh) as Armature and the file type .fbx

Everything else involves placing everything where it goes via Unreal Editor. The Johnny tattoo I added myself because he doesn't have that in this game.

#**#*Mod Talk

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next-caller-game · 2 months ago

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Week 3 (06/10/2024)

Due to unforeseen illness this week, I had to spend a lot of the week recovering and taking it a bit easier than I would have liked. However, I decided that this would be the perfect time to learn some new skills with Unreal to aid the project and although not imperative, would be nice to have in and understand while I was under the weather.

I focused on learning Lumens, one of the integrated lighting systems built within Unreal. While there are plenty of other ways to design lighting in Unreal, I felt lumens was far easier to use overall and extremely Intuitive and efficient to use. As well as this, Lumen gives far better emissive lighting control which is extremely important for the Neon lights that are featured throughout the game, and through testing I have found appears far more true to real life within darker lighting environments.

I also decided to play around further with this lighting to create a placeholder model for the "LIVE" Sign, Using a graphic image found online and blender to create a very basic mould of the sign. I used the same emissive lighting materials I used on the neon lights and shifted to colour to a bright red, which came out looking really good even though it's only a placeholder. Finally, my interactable dot blueprint is now Null and void, so I have added this to the list of UI design to create for the game and will work on those blueprints later on. For next week, I Intend to begin work on the proper game systems including use of the computer and telephone, and will work on accordingly implementing these within the game.

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melissas-blogs · 5 months ago

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Dragon Model Redo - Creation

Beginning the rework, I used the older model of the dragon as the base since the proportions were not planned to change. I took the rig back into its A pose and closed the mouth before applying the armature to the model and re-meshing. This allowed me to begin working on the redesign while keeping the model fairly flat with the scrape tool, maintaining the stylized theme.

The main reason for re-meshing was to keep the mouth closed, avoiding the issues with the teeth encountered in the previous test. Additionally, I removed the wings by selecting both wings, deleting all of their faces, and manually joining the vertices together. This method, while tedious and time-consuming, was the best functional option I could find without redoing the entire model. Moving on beyond the body I worked on adding clothes. This was something I wasn't experienced in which took a lot of time and research to attempt. First was the arm wraps where I followed the tutorial “Arm wrap in Blender NO ADD ON by (TLD Studios, 2023)” to create the arm wraps as part of the design of my character. I used a plane that would shrink-wrap around the main mesh so it would easily follow its shape. I then added modifiers to solidify so that it has thickness and subdivision to allow it to wrap around the mesh more smoothly. Duplicated and adjusted each wrap to create multiple wraps around the arm overlapping each other.

Next, I worked on the cloth that hangs down the middle of the character. Because this model was aimed to be 3D printed, I needed to ensure the mesh was thick and fairly simple for the printer. Using the video by Theo GL titled "How to Simulate Thick Clothing in Blender" taught me the basics of the cloth simulation tool in Blender while applying a solidify modifier to it.

Despite many trials and errors in changing the simulation stats and modifier effects, I couldn't achieve a satisfactory outcome for the cloth. After spending most of the day trying to perfect this feature, I decided to remove the cloth from the model to avoid falling behind schedule.

With all the smaller assets completed, I was ready to begin rigging the model to pose it for rendering. However, I was facing multiple crashes when trying to move the pose of the high poly model. Therefore, to fix this I used the low poly base to put it into a pose ready for a higher poly later. To help smooth out the process, I kept the belt and wraps separately so I could control and place them onto the mesh more easily than trying to fix weight paints.

With the rig and mesh working without crashing I began testing out poses. Overall, it was good. There was some slight stretching in the shoulders as they were too pushed out, but this can be adjusted later with the rig and the model itself. Additionally, I noticed that some controls were not following properly, such as the toe controls not following the rotation of the foot. I fixed this by adding a copy rotation constraint to the bone. This process, despite its challenges, has improved the Dracythr model and prepared it for the final rendering stage.

After these few adjustments to the rig, I was happy with the final pose. I used my low-poly base, subdivided it, and shrink-wrapped it around the high-poly model. This allowed the low-poly model to capture most of the high-poly details, giving me a high-poly look without the lag.

This model would not be suitable for any games; however, since it's intended solely for 3D printing, retopology is not needed. Finally, I created a base to be printed separately from the model, which will help keep the model balanced. From my previous 3D print, I learned that the model could not remain upright on its own. The base was made using simple cylinders with two extra supports at the base of the foot, which were then cut into the mesh using the Boolean tool.

References

TLD Studios (2023) Arm wrap in Blender NO ADD ON. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teN4A5LwNCY (Accessed: 18 January 2024). Theo GL (2022) How to Simulate Thick Clothing in Blender. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m06QU_khLIY (Accessed: 18 January 2024).

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epicwinsauce · 1 year ago

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Green colors survey answers found here, if you'd like 'em, I promise I tried to be funny occasionally:

green: Whats your favourite way to spend your day off?

Eee I don't even know. I don't get my days off to myself anymore, always working on my friendships or distracting myself with a video game. I should pick up another book.

jade: whats your favourite music genre?

~I like everything~ nah I kid. There's a certain amount of liveliness of music I enjoy but not like electronic music as much. Look up "Odo" by Ado and that's what I'm talking about.

emerald: whats your favourite place to visit? why?

The grocery store lmao. Which I haven't even done this month because I need to get a jump for my car and I just haven't done it yet. Soon.

peridot: whats on your bucket list?

To kick it.

envy: what are your hobbies and what got you into them?

I'm not sure envy is a specific hue of green? I have been enjoying pixel art and 3d art on blender lately. My buddy and I wanna make a video game and he's doing programming, I'm learning art. I haven't been progressing on my languages much (but my Japanese speaking feels much easier these days)

tea: top favourite movies growing up?

I wasn't into movies as a kid. I was very into the plots of the video games though.

mint: top favourite toys from your childhood?

I had a green Monkey Cat, a rainbow bear. My sibling and I liked pokemon figurines and we had some kind of house we used to play in. I had a lot of toy cars, too, but I gave them personalities and basically played them like Barbies tbh.

lizard: last show or series you binged?

I'm rewatching this anime series True Tears. Parts of it are eeeh cringe but it's got character. The main love interest in these animes are always the wrong ones imo like Noe was way better than Hiromi, get out of my face Shinichiro-kun

lawn: favourite show or series to binge?

One Piece obv. I also rewatch How I Met Your Mother a bit. Toradora was an instant fav.

sheen: do you like podcasts? why or why not?

I struggle to pay attention to them, so I don't listen, especially if they're on the longer side. My siblings and I listened to some like 10-15 minute spooky scary story podcasts and I was in and out but still getting most of it, it was nice

lime: if yes to the last question, do you have a favourite podcast?

I forget the name of the spooky podcast but it was on the Luminary website.

slime: do you prefer watching movies in theaters or streaming at home?

I prefer streaming at home but the theater has its charms. I'm sure it's impossibly expensive these days though

forest: list one thing, or person, that always brightens your day and why.

I have been existing in a server I made for a few friends on discord and I've been living in it tbh. My friends are so funny and it's genuinely exciting to engage with them, especially Morgan, but I've been too emotionally codependent on her and I need to fix that lmao

neon green: do you prefer breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or snacks?

I actually have been eating more than once a day but I'm still very low energy when it comes to any of them. Pb&j's were my main food source for a few days because it's so relatively simple. but I don't care for time restrictions on my food, if I want dinner food at 1 pm I'll eat dinner at 1 p-fucken-m

light green: whats your favourite song for a dance mix?

I have an entire set of jam lists on my spotify that I turn on late at night and just dance to (quietly enough not to bother my roommate but also naked sometimes).

Ado: Odo, Ready Made, Gyakkou, Tot Musica, The Faking of the Comedy

Yoasobi: 夜に駆ける, Idol

Yonezu Kenshi: 海の幽霊, Cranberry and Pancakes, 感電, 春雷

Basically anything by La Dispute

We could be here all day

pastel green: what top things always help calm you?

I've been kind of struggling with this because I usually just sing loudly and scream for a while but that is inconsiderate to my roommate lmao. Mortal Kombat 11 has been helping

india: what app do you use on your phone the most?

I have a tablet now so I can play my games on it so probably discord, Facebook, Signal, and Pixel Studio on my phone. I love Resourcer, Nonograms Color, and YuGiOh Duel Links on my tablet (tbh the tablet was like $100 and sucks, it can't handle everything I want it to do without crashing and I'm not asking a lot, but def make sure to get one worth your buck if you decide to do the same lol

fern: do you prefer cooking or ordering food?

Cooking. Ordering food is too expensive now, but I do love having GOOD food and not just QUICK, EASY food like I usually cook

hunter: do you prefer going out to eat or ordering from home and getting it delivered?

Going out. Delivery charges are necessary but they still suck

castleton: do you have a favourite board game?

This is probably not a good time to bring up the board game called Pandemic, but imagine if I did 2-3 years ago, am I right?

cadmium: if you drink coffee, do you make it at home yourself or prefer ordering it?

I don't drink coffee

british: if you make coffee from home; how do you make your coffee?

What is British green???

phthalo: if you order it; how do you like your coffee made or whats your usual order?

Come ooon maaaan

chartreuse: what's your most prized or "favoured" possession?

Phone and computer tbh. A few books I have that I've had for years. Car. I'm very sentimental in general but those cost MONAYYYY

juniper: have you ever been to a concert?

Yes, a fair share of them. Not always worth it unless the band really makes a show out of it tbh

sage: whats your favourite genre? does it depend on the media?

Didn't we already have a music genre question? Otherwise there's zero context for this question

pea: whats a plant you really like?

Moon flower!

moss: do you have any plants? if yes, what are they? if no, would you want one?

No. I've been looking into planting but honestly it's a hassle, I don't think I'll find the fulfillment I imagine there is to be had there

shamrock: what would you do if you had $500k right now?

Pay off my car, start helping those around me pay their debts

seafoam: do you have a lucky item? if so what is it?

My clothes, they keep me from getting kicked out of the grocery store.

olive: do you have a lucky number? if so what is it?

I have dabbled in the synchronicities of finding or designating a lucky number, but nothing sticks in the long run, so no.

parakeet: who's a person you envy? if youre comfortable saying so, why do you envy them?

Would rather not answer.

pine: if healing methods from video games were available in real life which would you choose?

Resta. Heal myself and everyone around me. Not particularly Technique Point heavy (normally). No clear drawbacks, though whenever I imagine magic where healing is possible, I basically throw it back to being a doctor. You can't just heal with words, you have to know how the body functions so you can magically guide the body to a quicker healing process. I like that idea.

seaweed: if you had to work one task as your job for the rest of your life, what would it be, why and how much money do you think it would earn you per hour?

Give me a shift's worth for sleeping every night and I'll get 8 hours every night lmao

pickle: if you could cure one thing from the world forever what would it be?

Joe Mama

pistachio: say you could heal anyone in any form, emotional/physical/mental etc, how your healing have to activate and whats the drawback?

Well I guess I already answered most of these questions, I'm not sure specifically on how to activate. Magically, I guess

basil: if you could magically summon money or artificially create wealth through mystical means, what would be required to do so?

Food!

crocodile: a veggie you despise with all your being?

If I don't like it, I just don't buy it, there's no need for me to expend energy in hating it. But I don't like citrus fruits

sea: thoughts on jealous partners?

Excess is the enemy. Small dosages may be natural (I've felt it before, I know it), but each person's feelings are their own responsibility to manage, so if your jealousy is so much that you can't manage it (specifically: it slips into your behaviors, not just your thoughts), maybe you should consider getting help. Perhaps even of the venting variety of help

uniform: are you the jealous type of partner? (romantic or otherwise)

Recently I have been a jealous friend (it's not fun watching your best friend call another bestie over and over or talk about drug use history) but like I said, I manage it. I had to step out of a game night this week because I realized my emotions were unfair and I had to go sort it out (which I'm still working on).

forest: thoughts on jealousy in friendships?

Happens. May be natural. Learn to manage your emotions. If you struggle, google it or get help. It may be hard but if you're a human, it's not impossible, I honestly believe.

Sacramento: whats something about the concept of luck you find ridiculous?

How it's connected to good karma or bad. And I believe in karma, but not quite in the universalistic sense of justice (there are probably better words for this). Sometimes shit things happen to lucky people and vice versa.

russian: whats something you find refreshing?

🎼enjoy coca-colaaaa🎶

I've also been drinking water with flavoring packets in them and they have helped make my 3 cups of water a day goal much easier to reach lol

army: something in your room that helps it feel more peaceful?

My TV, it plays Spotify for me lmao

jungle: whats a song you find peaceful?

I have a Spotify playlist for Eng, German, and Japanese called ENG Soft, DE Soft, JP Soft, and ALL Soft for these exactly. We'll just go with "In Our Bones" by Against the Current

asparagus: whats the most peaceful atmosphere to you?

Rainy days, sitting on the back porch with soft music in one ear. Maybe dancing, maybe reading poetry, maybe writing it. Maybe just sitting there in my thoughts. Rainy days are good days.

harlequin: whats something that makes you feel safe?

...rain. lol. Locks on doors!

kelly: something that makes you feel hopeful?

... haaaaa

spring: list 3 things you love about nature

Rain (and any body of water tbh), trees, warmth.

viridian: list 3 things you hate about nature

Cold, excessive urbanization, mosquitoes LOVE MY BLOOD

mantis: whats your ideal environment?

Warm summer rains. I feel like I've made this clear 😂

sap: an energetic memory from childhood?

I did not like childhood, next.

dartmouth: if you could bring something back from the past to be renewed or used commonly again what would it be?

COMMON SENSE, HA .. HA .. HA .. [laughs in old people]

Sorry, it's TOO easy to make fun of the cringy parts of the older generation. Um, nothing specific comes to mind, I'm sure there's something but my brain just ain't reaching for it.

camo: whats something you used to do that youre proud you've grown out of?

Go on dates. Lmao. I really don't want to do that anymore, it's clear I am too mentally fragile for it.

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heartreactor · 1 year ago

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Masterlist

Since I've had an Ao3 account long before I created one for Tumblr, I haven't had the chance to post about most of these stories individually. So here's an index of all my works posted to Ao3. This list will be expanded as I further add new works. [Works marked with * were written for prompts and requests]

Marvel

One-shots

What never was* - Peter Parker & Tony Stark [Tumblr post]

Oh God, why him…

It’s the first anniversary of the Snap. Tony mourns.

She's not alone* - Natasha Romanoff & Avengers Team [Tumblr post]

I was a child when they made me into a monster.

Five times Natasha said she was fine... and one time she didn't.

Of smoothies, pizzas and ice cream* - Clint Barton & Natasha Romanoff & Tony Stark [Tumblr post]

“I’m hungry.” “Wrong floor. Three up,” Tony waves his finger toward the elevator and up. “And… so are you,” Natasha challenges. “I’m a spy. You have to know these things when you’re a spy.”

Actions always speak louder than words; after Tony is thrown through a blender after a fight with Steve during a meeting, Clint and Natasha intervene.

Breaking the cycle* - Peter Parker & Tony Stark [Tumblr post]

He wants to match the smile the kid is giving him, he wants to tell him that he thinks it simply fantastic, to suggest that they head to the workshop right now to pick it apart and figure out what is causing the issue. But he can’t bring himself to do it.

Peter's RC car brings back memories that Tony would rather forgotten.

A way out* - Rogue & Tony Stark

Tony didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know if there was anything to be done, or if his interference would only make it worse. But, God – if there was one – there had to be something.

The latest addiction to the team comes with more baggage than she can handle. Tony tries to help, and perhaps learns something about himself in the process.

Dancing in the rain* - Natasha Romanoff/Steve Rogers

Except, her ledger was tainted with red while his shield still glinted a vibrant blue.

Natasha doesn't think Steve would go for someone like her.

Will you teach me to fly? - Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

The intention was what counted, they said, but spending six years on something like this was hardly an intention.

Tony was never good with words, or showing any kind of emotion, really. And perhaps, he is a little crazy, but there's nothing in the world he loves more than Pepper. He just hasn't figured out how to properly show it to her yet. But at least this time there isn't a giant bunny at their front door... That has to be progress, right?

Or... Tony built Rescue. All that there's left for him to do is gift it to Pepper. That might be just the hardest part yet.

Comes with the territory* - Matt Murdock & Peter Parker

Just another normal patrol for our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Until a certain person in a red costume comes crashing in. And... Fiddlesticks, that's a whole lot of blood!

Uncharted territory* - Logan & Scott Summers

When Logan is lured by the shadows of his past, Scott comes to save him from the monsters of the present. This is not that story. This is the aftermath.

Saved your life* - Rogue & Kurt Wagner

The discovery of his true parentage sends Kurt spiralling. Fortunately, Rogue is there to catch him.

A Handshake and a Smile - Nebula & Tony Stark

And... you've won. Congratulations. Fair game. Good sport. Have fun?

Or... Nebula misses the human she ended up stuck with when stranded in space.

Because the right thing is to give you up - pre-Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

Pepper receives some dire news. Tony tries to help. Keyword- tries.

An offer you can't refuse - Peter Parker & Tony Stark

After the worst week of the century, Peter gets an unexpected visit.

Multichapter

Heartstopper* (2/2) - Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts [Tumblr post]

«A eighty-six percent functional damage to the RT has been reported to the history log upon impact. That was two minutes and twenty-seven seconds ago. Friday has initiated the FUBAR protocol. Dr. Cho has been alerted to report to the Compound, as well as Mrs. Stark.»

A mission incident threatens Tony's life. Peter tries to help.

Silver Lining (16/?) - multiple Avengers - Pepperony, Wandavision, Romanogers

In a post-Endgame Universe where no one died (except Thanos and his lackeys, of course), our heroes learn to live again. Cue in the foundations of (possibly very unlikely) new friendships, the discovery that the word family doesn't apply merely to those connected by blood... and the emotional rollercoaster that that entails.

Other Fandoms

One-shots

Falling apart at the seams* - Camilo Madrigal & Dolores Madrigal - Encanto

Sometimes being gifted isn't all fine and dandy like cotton candy. Sometimes it's really tiring and, honestly, all Dolores wants is some peace, but mostly quiet. Quiet is good.

Snow angels* - Jack Skellington/Sally - The Nightmare Before Christmas

Sally wished to be seen. Jack dreamed of the world outside. They meet halfway.

Lost and found* - Dorothy Gale & Glinda - The Wizard of Oz

After Aunt Em and Uncle Henry's death, Dorothy has nowhere else to go. But perhaps, she wasn't as alone as she had thought.

Snow day* - Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil + others - Descendants

When Auradon wakes up to a blanket of snow, the Villain Kids had never seen anything like it.

#masterlist #heartreactor masterlist #ao3 writer #fanfiction masterlist #marvel fanfiction #marvel cinematic universe #avengers #x-men #disney fanfiction #encanto #the nightmare before christmas #the wizard of oz #descendants #fanfiction requests open #ask box open

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maddgicalgirl · 3 years ago

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Paracosm Resources <3

Need help bringing your paracosm to life? Try these free resources!

⚠️ Updates always pending! Suggestions always welcome! Feel free to message me any tips or questions <3 ⚠️

(Cont. below cut, or with real time updates on this google doc!)

Art Programs

FireAlpaca - 2D Art Program, Animation. Where I make most of my digital art, and paint the frames for my animations :) It is free to use, and easy to learn and use! It can make basic animations as well, such as gifs. It requires download.

Krita - 2D Art Program. Professional, free digital paint software :) I have not used it before, though I have heard good things.

GIMP - 2D Art Program, Photo Manipulation. It's free to use, but I do not like it/recommend it highly. But! If FireAlpaca and Krita don't float your stoat, try Gimp! For 2D art, but also able to emulate Photoshop to a degree ^^

Inkscape - 2D Art Program. Free to use digital illustration software. Makes 2D art :)

Of course, who can forget classics like good old MS Paint, and the new and exciting 3D MS Paint, which can both be used to create some really neat things! Classic MS Paint is available here in browser form! If you need that. I just think it's neat!

Art AI

Petalica Paint - Coloring Software. An in browser, watercolor manga style coloring software, which can (almost) effortlessly color in any of your line art pieces! I've played around with it for my Thorn illustration style piece, and enjoyed it! It is free to use, and can take user input to make the colorations more precise.

ArtBreeder - 3D Realism Software. Using Artbreeder, you can create lifelike images of your paras, planets, or potentially even fursona, using the intricate AI they let you work with for free! A premium version exists, but most functions are fully usable without - though I recommend donating ^^ You can randomly generate, or prune and shape what you make until its perfect! Slow to use and get the hang of, but very worth it! Artbreeder is also pioneering an intriguing animation software to go alongside their product! Browser based.

3D Software

Blender - 3D Modeling, Animation. The best (in my opinion) free 3D modelling software.

MagicaVoxel - 3D Pixel Art. Free to use! Could be interesting :)

MikuMikuDance - 3D Rigging. Anime style rigging and animation software, free to use, and certified internet artefact! Has stood the test of time, and is still used and loved today. Can support ports of many kinds of assets, including, I believe, those from Blender, and of course those that are downloaded. DA has a bunch of old MMD communities you can raid for assets!

Animaze - Face Rigger. Use 3D models and a webcam to watch your paras talk! Models can be made in Blender, downloaded online, or even from CHARAT V, CHARAT GENESIS sister app!

Character Creators

CHARAT GENESIS - 2D Character Creator. Browser based anime style character creator, with multiple crops and poses, and infinitely customizable options. It is legitimately insane. Has a 3D function called CHARAT V which can apparently convert characters made in CHARAT GENESIS into 3D models compatible with Face Rig and Animaze!

V-Katsu - 3D Character Creator. Free on steam! Anime style, intensive character creator, by the same people who made Koikatsu, and Koikatsu Party, two amazingly detailed 3D hentai makers. While V-Katsu is a SFW VTuber maker, if you're looking for NSFW anime content, you could always spend roughly $70 on the full NSFW versions. V-Katsu requires a translation mod (free online as well) which you have to install, or the ability to read Kanji <3 Works with VR tech.

V-Roid Studios - 3D Character Creator. Free on steam! Anime style, fairly in depth character creator, that allows for some degree of digital 3D hand sculpting, particularly with their amazing hair engine, to get your paras looks perfect!

And, of course, Picrew has thousands of character creators of various styles and quality uploaded by the artists who made them! Also, honestly I think we as a society should embrace making dinky chibis in Gacha Life. IDK why everyone is mean to the gacha kids, like we weren't all cringe at some point,

World Design

HomeStyler - 3D and 2D Room Designer. Make a model of an interior for a home or building, using real 1:1 furniture of IRL brands! Apparently this is free to use, though there is a premium version, and it offers 3D and 2D models.

Map to World - 3D Planet Maker. Turn your fantasy world into a 3D model of the planet. Put maps directly on, or design the surface and textures of your world. Takes a lot of getting used to, but it is AMAZING. Free to use, and browser based!

PlanetMaker - 3D Planet Maker. Make a customized 3D planet! Free to use browser site! I have never used this, but I would love to mess around with it sometime! Allows you to add orbital rings, change textures, and more at the click of a mouse.

If on sale, I also recommend snagging a copy of the Sims, particularly 3 or 4, for character creation and world design. Maybe not the best gameplay without mods, but it's also a load of fun, and very easy to add custom content to! Minecraft also. But you just need Minecraft, in general. Beyond its ability to fairly faithfully recreate structures from your paracosms, it's just Good.

Game Creators

Maybe you wanna turn your paracosm into a cool game idk, just thought I'd put these here!

Construct 3 - 2D Game Creator. Beginner level game making :) Drag-and-drop if/then style programming.

GameSalad - Codeless 2D Game Creator. Drag and drop style/no coding, beginner friendly. Free version available!

Solpeo - 2D Game Creator. HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.

Stencyl - Codeless 2D Game Creator. Drag and drop style building/no coding skills needed. Has editable templates!

Scratch - 2D Game Creator. Very easy to use and totally free, though relatively basic!

Unity - 3D, 2D, and VR Game Creator. Make games with 3D software. Import your own assets (Blender compatible) or download free options, or buy the rights to models. Works for 3D and 2D games. Free version available, and now works with VR tech!

Unreal Engine - 3D Game Creator. Extremely advanced 3D game developer. Highly customizable. Free to use!

Twine - Text-based Game Creator. Use a map to make a branching paths text-based story game. Free to use.

Squiffy - Text-based Game Creator. have used Squiffy and it can make some really, truly incredible things. Can take a while to pick up, and learn how to use to its full potential. Free to use! Has an online and offline library of player creations you can get inspiration from!

Quest - Text-based Game Creator. I've never used this, but it seems cool! Use it to make interactive text-based DND game adventures in browser.

Ren'Py - Visual Novel Creator. Visual novel engine, that is well acclaimed, and of course, free to use!

Companion AI

Replika - 3D Companion.

Kajiwoto - Chatbot Companion. Customizable, learning AI you can shape into a personality. Communicates via Discord like chat box.

Organization

Toyhou.se - Character Gallery. A customizable library where you can upload all of your paras and characters for the public to view! Free to use, but requires a premium member to invite you!

Refsheet - Character Gallery. I haven't used it before, but I've heard good things, and that it's a suitable alternative to toyhou.se if you can't get an invite!

Notebook.AI - Character Gallery. I haven't used it before, but I've heard good things, and that it's a suitable alternative to toyhou.se if you can't get an invite!

World Anvil - World Building Toolset. Like character galleries, but for worlds and their lore :)

Scabard - World Building Toolset. Aimed at DnD campaigners, but I reckon it'll be useful for many!

YARPS - World Building Toolset. More focused around story and lore than Scabard or World Anvil, and looks beautiful! Still in its prototype stage, however.

Pinterest - Photo Organizer. Look at, collect, and sort images into boards. Personalizes your feed based on that, and is free to use and join! However, unlike their myriad of wonderful recipes, DIY tutorials, and the likes - a lot of the images are uploaded by second parties and not credited, so be careful reuploading anything you find! Also great for finding outfits and art inspo for your paras!

Generators

Fantasy Name Generator - Name Generators. Does what it says on the tin! Generates fantasy names. Is a lovely website, run by a purportedly lovely woman.

Fantasy Map Generator - Map Generator. Randomly generates a fictional map, which you can view in 2D or 3D.

Donjon RPG Generator - Multiple Generators. Can make maps, weapons, items, etc.

Seventh Sanctum - Multiple Generators. One of my favorites from high school! Does all kinds of things - the standard items, spells, and names - but also prompts, backstories, characters, and even comedy generators!

ShindanMaker - Multiple Generators. User created and uploaded, any kind of generator you can imagine, of varying complexity. And when I say any generator? I mean ANY generator.

Audio

Audacity - Record and Edit Audio. What can't Audacity do? I love Audacity to death. At surface level, it records audio. I've used it to record voices for my paras, and get audio for animations and games I've worked on. I cannot recommend it enough. Comprehensive editing, and with some investigation, it can do so, so much more than just record simple dialogue.

FL Studios - Compose. Compose music with an unlimited free trial. Upgrades available for purchase!

Indie Game Music - Royalty Free Music Library. Free to use Indie Game Music. What it says on the box!

AudioJungle - Royalty Free Music and Audio Library. Thousands of free to use audio clips!

Online Piano - Someone could use this, for recording, or just messing around. I've seen plenty of paras who play piano, this could just be used for fun!

Online Guitar - Same reasons as above, but this site looks kinda sketchy. Use at your own risk or reward! Audio

For real, if you ever need music, sound effects, or really any MP3 clips that can be used without infringing on copyright laws, just search 'royalty free' (music/audio/insert thing here) same applies for photos! Make sure the source is reputable, however.

Tutorials

W3Schools - Coding. Learn the basics of coding, for free, online!

Miscellaneous

Debut Video Capture - Screen Recorder. Record game footage and let's plays for free! Professional and home versions. I see a few of our community members have paras who run YouTube channels, and I thought these might help! It could be a nice way to connect your parames. YouTube quality <3

Pixton - Comic Maker. Comic making website. I have no experience with this at all, but some may find it useful!

Picfont - Image Editor. Puts customizable text on an image. I used these for @paraesthetics paracosm header edits <3 It has a premium version (???) but the free version has all functions, but it crashes regularly (honestly seems timed :/) but once you get it down, it's a very quick process, and you won't have to worry about that at all.

Itch.io - Publishing. You can publish your self made games here :)

Korsakow - ??? Described as, "The Future of Storytelling" and is apparently a way to create interactive films. I *just* found out about this, but thought I should include it for someone who may know how to use and appreciate it! Free? Unknown, at the moment.

Tips and Tricks

Animation Done Easy

Our forefather's of internet animation used MS Paint, Windows Movie Maker, and Audacity. All of these, or their equivalents, are free on standard computers. I, personally, use FireAlpaca - which works just as well, if not better, than MS Paint for animation - but takes longer, and definitely lacks that retro feeling. I also use my trackpad to draw and animate everything, so its doable, but probably not totally comfortable, to animate like this for most people :)

⚠️ Updates always pending! Suggestions always welcome! Feel free to message me any tips or questions <3 ⚠️

#immersive daydreaming #paraportal #paracosm #paracosms #paracosmonaut #madd art #art resources #masterpost #free resources

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mack3030 · 4 years ago

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Things the Sims 4 Community Can Do About Paywalls...A Post...

[This is going to be a bit long, so you may want to save it and read it when you have time, or just...you know, buckle in.]

I thought I would ring in the new year by talking about something that I feel we as a community need to finally decide on. (It’s been debated since 2017 or so, and it’s now 2021...) I’d like, if possible, to try to suggest some real solutions and choices that we can make that will hopefully create a better and more honest community out of all of us. Now I would like to start by making some postulates. In geometry, postulates are facts that do not need proven with a mathematical proof. They are assumed to be true. Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers would call these “Self-Evident Truths”. I would like to use these as a bit of a basis for my arguments.

Truth: The Sims 4 has been enough of a cash cow for EA. If you buy the base game ($40) plus all expansion packs (40 each x 10) + all game packs (20 each x 9) + all stuff packs (10 each x 17) you would come to a total of seven hundred and 90 dollars ($790) plus tax. This is of course, without sales, bundling, etc, which many people DO take advantage of, but STILL. That is a TON of money for EA’s pockets. EA makes a majority of its money on the fact that the Sims 4 is an “incomplete game”. It “completes” the game further and further by adding more “expansions” to the game to the point that it seems almost useless to buy the base game alone without adding to it.

Even with sales and other things, it’s easy to spend over $500 dollars on the sims 4 game + expansions. Still a lot of cash for a game that is years old. This is just money that is spent on the game that goes to EA. This does not account for: * Money spent to buy a new computer because your old one wouldn’t run the sims. * Money spent supporting CC artists who have donations open or early access. * Money spent on access to sites that have ads/paywalls/exclusive sims 4 CC such as Leosims, etc. (Which are the problem, frankly)

We should be able to respect the fact that a majority of us paid a hefty amount for this game. It is unfair, and frankly greedy to REQUIRE people to pay MORE just to unlock or gain access to specific user created content.

I am not talking about a VOLUNTARY support or donation because they like what you offer. I am talking about FORCING people to pay if they want to ever be able to use the CC or mod you offer.

Now, the typical defense for this is “Well, I’m an artist! I spend time/effort/etc working hard on these meshes, the code, etc to make this content!” Which leads me to point #2.

Truth: Mods, CC, and other content for the Sims 4 are useless without the game. Once they are created/uploaded to the game, all copyright to those objects IMMEDIATELY transfers to EA.

I teach art in a Missouri public school. Our state standards dictate that when art students are in middle school grades, they have to learn about copyright, fair use, and creative commons. While I am not a copyright lawyer, I have had to learn enough about this subject to teach it. So allow me to break down a few facts about copyright:

First, when ya make it, ya own it. There’s not a process to apply for a copyright. The moment you create something that is 100% your own work, you hold the copyright to it.

Second, when you make something that is created based off of or USING someone else’s intellectual property as a reference or resource it is a fan creation. In art, we call this “fanart”. It is not 100% your own work. Someone else’s intellectual property is involved.

Fan creations always have tread a very thin and shadowy line when it comes to different companies and the legality of them. You can easily search google for various articles explaining it, but to summarize it in a short method:

Most companies do not actively go after those who create fan creations unless they are making profits that could instead be going to the creators of the intellectual property. If the fan creation is discovered to be making profits and/or taking the intellectual property in a direction the creator does not approve of, they have legal options to pursue (court, cease and desist letters, etc).

Third, Copyright can be transferred from person to person. In most cases this is done through a written document that both parties sign, however there IS an exception to this that EA uses to allow itself to transfer your copyrights to your content to them:

EA’s agreement with you is non-exclusive, meaning that the moment you hit “agree” on the sims 4 terms and conditions, you have handed over your rights to any CC you create for the game.

If you want to maintain full creative rights over the mesh/mods/etc you make then, you have to not make that content for the sims 4 and make your own platform to host it on. This is way easier said than done.

Truth: There have been various examples in the past of CC creators who have stolen meshes, bases, bits/pieces of work, or “inspiration” for CC from other sites/companies, who have been called on it publicly.

The most recent event concerning this was drama concerning itsbrandysims and their use of meshes from imvu/secondlife (you can see my opinion on the subject HERE), but there have been other documented cases. Leosims, for example, has been listed as an example of someone taking meshes from secondlife creators and reuploading them (when it was told to me, I was shown THIS thread as evidence). Another well known creator was accused by a former sims 4 cc creator (who now makes content from second life), and was called out in THIS post in 2019.

The horrible part of this? Many of these creators are charging people (often at not so great rates as well), for STOLEN content. Content they don’t even own, that they ripped from another place. This should not be accepted by a community that loves a game as much as the Sims 4 community. Truth: EA has provided a way for people to make money while not hiding content behind paywalls entirely, and the INTENT of this was to OFFSET COSTS. Almost every post about content locked behind paywalls features this post found on the Sims Forum from 2017. In it, SimGuruDrake, who was the community manager at the time (she has since left the Sims 4 team for another job). Most of you who have seen this discussion topic before know this post by heart, but I’d like to highlight one important aspect of it:

One thing that is always important about communication is the intent behind it. The intent for people to be allowed to make patreons and allow early access wasn’t so people could just make money for themselves, the idea was to offset costs to buy programs to make the content. For example, a yearly subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud (which has photoshop, illustrator, etc) costs a couple hundred dollars US a year. If someone was using photoshop to help them create their CC in addition to blender or other free programs, EA/Maxis wanted to allow the creator to not have to pay for making the CC out of pocket. Can EA/Maxis control what people spend the money they make off of patreon on? No. But it should be noted that the intent of this action was to help people pay for supplies for their hobby more than to make a business out of it.

Onto the next truth! Truth: There is an image that disputes this post above, however the authenticity of it and timing of it are very disputed.

This image is often thrown around by people who lock content behind paywalls, but I would like to take a second and try to provide an honest assessment of it. First of all, I have a bit of a problem with the fact that the original person who “messaged” SimGuruDrake this question has not been identified. This image was not posted on the tumblr of a CC creator who claimed “Hey I reached out to a sims guru and this is the answer I got!” The main pages that have this image are either tweets from CC creators using it to defend their stance on paywalls (ex: here), or tumblrs/tweets “debunking it” (ex: here, here). I even reverse image searched this image using google, and another platform and could not figure out where this originated from. Of course, I’m not an expert, but...still.

The fact that the origin of this picture is unknown casts doubt on it. If it were a well known CC maker who is known for being honest, that’s one thing. But the fact that we don’t exactly know where it came from is suspicious. Because frankly, anyone with some decent editing ability could photoshop this.

Here’s my imperfect edit, but I’m just a self-taught graphics nerd and I am not as dedicated at faking screenshots as some. (And the crap photo quality didn’t help.) Another common issue is that at the supposed “time” that this question was being asked, some state that SimsGuruDrake had already left the Sims 4 team. I will admit, this photo is within the correct timeline, as SimsGuruDrake did not officially depart the sims 4 team until February 2018. (There is a post on the sims forums that has a timestamp that confirms this.) But, if you were in the process of leaving your job within the next month (as a two week/30 day notice is common when leaving a job), would you REALLY be answering questions in DMs on twitter, or be focusing on packing up, and training your successor? The last thing that really makes me doubt the validity of this picture is the fact that it’s not really easy to message the sims gurus on Twitter. This appears to be twitter from the screenshot (although there are some things that are a little out of place from the current UI): But when I attempt to direct message a sims guru I get this message:

I even tried seeing if I could reach out via DM to Drake herself, (who now posts under a different twitter) to see if it was possible:

Could the policies have changed since 2018? Possibly, but I feel that opening up direct messages is just asking for Sims 4 team members to get angry messages, so this could very well be a long running EA policy. I have also reached out to her via a twitter tag (as of 1/2/21), and will update y’all if I get a reply:

Okay, so now that we’ve gone through all of this, let’s talk about the last truth that’s really important: Truth: Putting content behind paywalls has generally been considered disgusting by many in the sims 4 community, and TAKES AWAY the choice of people to support CC creators they love/appreciate WILLINGLY. A few notable posts sharing the disgust with this practice can be found: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE). And these are just what I can find from a simple precursory search.

Okay, Brainiac. So what can we do to solve this problem?

Well, there’s a few methods we can employ, and sadly, it’s going to take a bit of a commitment and concentrated effort from the community.

Step #1: Make the COMMUNITY the VICTIM instead of EA.

Now when I say this, I don’t mean we’re actually victims, but mean that instead of constantly saying things like “WHEN YOU DO THIS YOU VIOLATE EA’S TOU!”, thus making EA the “victim” of the crime. We change the dialog to saying “When you lock stuff behind paywalls, you cheat the sims 4 community and disrespect their choice to support you or not.” Because let’s be honest. Maxis/EA really doesn’t give much of a care about if people aren’t following this rule. You can report people to the team, but as far as most people have seen, it doesn’t get anywhere. But if we make it where the community is the party being “wronged” it is much harder for those who have paywalls to not be scared. Because the community, in the end, has to be with them. DepthofPixels had a really amazing post about this HERE.

Step 2: Decide to not support anyone who puts their content behind exclusive paywalls and do not hesitate to spread the word about why you choose not to do so.

By that, I mean

not paying any patreon accounts that don’t offer either their content 100% for free, or offer early access.

And sharing about why you choose to do that on your social media. Something I might suggest would be to make it a bit personal and share something like:

Instead of spending $15 a month to get exclusive content from Leosims (or any other patreon/paywall creator here) I’m spending that $15 supporting creator x, creator y, and creator z, who don’t put their work behind paywalls!

Link their patrons, share why you like their content, and why you take the stance to make the community better. Make it a positive thing, praising the people who are doing RIGHT by the community.

Yes, you may not get their content for a while (although there are some different places (

) to find them *cough*. But in the end, is it worth supporting someone’s content when they’re treating the community badly?

Step 3: Report creators who actively steal content from IMVU/secondlife to those respective companies, and all others to EA. (Even though nothing may happen.)

Here’s the deal. When people steal from either of those sites, they are infringing on someone’s copyright, as well as Imvu/secondlife’s copyright as well. It’s not okay, and they should be held accountable for it. Here’s the LINK for submitting a ticket to Secondlife. I haven’t been able to find one for IMVU, but maybe someone else will find one. Let those companies know and allow them to handle those specific creators. As to the other creators, EA may not handle them at the moment. But IF (and this is a wishful thinking “if”) there were suddenly a flood of messages about certain creators...? I think they might have to pay attention to some of those messages. There is an official report form, but it might even be worth tweeting to SleddingGuruFrost, who is the current community manager asking about their stance on paywalls. And last but not least:

Step 4: Make sure that those who are doing the right thing and not putting their work behind paywalls feel appreciated. Show them some love via a tumblr ask, or by tagging them on twitter, or by going up a tier on their patreon (or pledging for the first time). Celebrate these heroes who are creating content and not forcing it on us.

Us asking for people to give us a choice to support them isn’t being greedy, or disrespecting their time. We just want transparency, and respect from those who create content for the game we love so much versus them treating us like we’re just a source of income. I know it might seem a bit hard to do this for some of you, and for some it may seem like I’m preaching to the choir, but we have to decide where we stand on this issue and stop letting those who abuse this system keep doing it. We can make a difference if we decide as a COMMUNITY to work together.

With commitment, ~Sunny

#sims4cc #sims4mm #maxismatch #sims4alpha #sims4cccommunity #paywallssuck #downwithpatreon #EA #maxis #TOS #thievessuck

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canmom · 3 years ago

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it's a bit of a pipe dream to think i would be well known one day, but i would hate to become known as a 'british animator' or 'british writer' whose work reflected on the vibrant culture of this shithole of a dead empire. if my work doesn't say on some level "this country is an unmitigated evil in the world and all its institutions and traditions must be violently overthrown" I'm doing something wrong! this seems to be true of e.g. most of the interesting british comics writers. being british should be seen as an unfortunate fact about my background, like, 'oh this explains a lot about how depressing her work is' lmao

anyway this makes me kind of think... obviously i am into a lot of japanese animation and games, and i certainly don't want to make some silly claim that every anime creator i like is some badass radical because that's obviously not true, but also like, promoting an image of 'cool japan' is a literal policy of their seemingly eternal far right government and i don't really want to enable that! i would hate to sort of shackle someone to a nationalist project they don't uphold in appreciative critical writing.

a couple weeks ago i saw an fairly big name webgen animator on an animator discord expressing resentment about being held up as an up and coming filipino animator when, in his eyes, he had seen no support from his country and taught himself everything through the internet. he saw his community as international web animators. and while i don't want to be idealistic, his attitude appealed to me. i feel much more comfortable thinking of myself as a creature of the internet, with all the flaws that entails... i can't really remember a time where i didn't spend much more time reading and talking to people in other countries (mostly Americans, but also a lot of people from other European countries on the old Blender forums) and i guess that played a huge part in my particular path of 'socialisation'.

one thing I've found quite striking since getting more involved in the like, 'indie animator subculture' is that there the balance of countries ppl are from is much more south american and southeast asian, much less USian, than most online communities I've been in, which is honestly a p welcome change. it's a bit of a cliché but i do feel like the internet really is demonstrating its potential to create certain kinds of international connections not mediated through mass media localisation in the way of the last hundred years of capitalism, and as much as corporate near-monopoly media production - The Industry - still dominates the landscape in so many ways, it's still really exciting to see what sort of art movements are going to grow in this ecosystem...

but of course, i realise this feeling of being part of a cosmopolitan international culture or w/e is such a class thing. the UK, by virtue of its place in the world economy and the last few centuries of colonial plunder gets both the most modern comms infrastructure and the benefits of its language being widely considered the path to wealth and privilege, a structure which perpetuates itself long after the period of direct rule... especially since its immediate successor as "top dog empire" also uses English. the people i talk to are either from other rich countries, or often the comparatively well-off people of colonised countries who are coming to speak to me in my language rather than the other way round. there's not much i can immediately do about the distribution of power in this situation, but i don't want to have illusions about it. and if i can figure out the right, sustainable means of motivation, it would be really good to learn to visit the non-English-speaking parts of the web.

what is to be done about all this? idk. just mulling this one over. i very much admire someone like @anarcha-catgirlism who seems to pick up languages as easy as breathing out of an intrinsic love of it (i'm sure she finds it harder than it looks from the outside lol), but I've never had that facility and comfort with language learning the way i did with, say, maths.

it's very hard to figure out how to get a proper habit of practice going the way i have with drawing and animation lately. what happens is, i think one day, oh no, not done this in a while, let's make an effort to get back into practicing kanji, knock a couple hundred off my wanikani queue, and then it won't occur to me to do it again for like, weeks. other languages I've tried i have fared even worse; at best i get a period of hyperfocus and then it collapses, or the excuses for language classes you get in british schools. i don't know how to summon the determination that keeps me coming back to draw even when I'm unsatisfied with my skills. I'm certain it's possible to learn languages even with unmedicated 'adhd', but i haven't figured out the trick of it and continue to be an embarrassing monoglot...

anyway, enough moping. time to draw.

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biteghost · 4 years ago

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How do you come up with so many cool characters?? All of your OCs seem so vibrant and fleshed out. Do you have a specific process for developing them, or do they just kinda come to you mostly formed? I find I struggle with building a compelling OCs for D&D games & would love to hear your thoughts on character development.

(This answer got long, sorry.) This is a super nice sentiment, I’m happy you think my characters are all cool and unique!!

As far as process goes, uh, it depends on the character? I’ve spent a long time (years) rewiring my brain when it comes to what I think about when creating OCs. They don’t usually come to me fully formed - I get an idea in my head about a concept, and then over like a week or even months of fiddling I end up with a character for that concept.

A lot of the time my characters are simply people I wanted to see more of in media as a kid! Mostly, female characters I actually relate to or are as nuanced and messy as their male cast members, haha... (It was a trip when I realized in high school that I didn’t hate female characters - it was actually that none of them were written as well as the cool boys in the anime series I liked, haha! Be the change you want to see in the world, basically.)

Inspiration for characters (and stories for them to be part of) come from a lot of places. An easy piece of advice is to make an effort to intake media you like! Read new comics, watch new movies and television shows, read books, play video games, listen to music and obsessively memorize the lyrics - hell, obsessively learn everything there is to know about black holes or public domain characters (that’s what I did, lol...)!

(Note: ’New’ meaning new to YOU - you don’t need to only be partaking of media that’s created in 2021 - you can find a lot to love in media that was created before your time, or for generations before you!)

I must reiterate: intake new media that you ENJOY! You don’t have to like all the same things as everyone else, you don’t have to be invested in the same shows and podcasts as your friends. Varied interests and taste is part of what makes us all unique! Increasing your pool of inspiration will help you come up with interesting ideas, and help you find YOUR voice. Your particular interests and the niche things that speak to you will help you figure out what kind of characters and what kind of stories you like to create! But the process doesn’t end at just intaking media... When you find the stuff that brings you joy, analyze what exactly it is about that thing that speaks to you... Put it into words. Explain it to a friend. Make it tangible, analyze the feelings and why the series made you feel that way... and then take it and shove it into your own stories, lol!

Engage critically and thoughtfully with work you like, with characters you like, and it will help you have the language and thought process to recreate it in your own work!

My creative process is like an exquisite corpse of all the characters and series I’ve liked over my lifetime. I mesh them all together in a grim blender and what comes out is a shake in the vague shape as an OC, lol

BUT... it seems like you’re asking more specifically about making characters for tabletop roleplaying games like D&D? And THAT is a different process for me than making OCs for my comics or original story ideas!

I don’t usually join a tabletop game with a fully fleshed out character, actually?? I don’t spend a long time on their backstory, and I usually figure it out like halfway through the story, or through collaboration with my game master!

My TTRPG characters are usually whatever I think would be most interesting in the given game setting or set-up and... usually they exist in opposition to whatever the core concept of the game is. So, the examples I have from games I’ve played are:

In Cardians: West (World of Darkness: Hunter the Vigil): we played in a modern-day urban fantasy setting, where players were recruited into a supernatural Hunter group that was also a criminal organization that Did Crimes and Broke The Law in the name of keeping peace and protecting humanity from the supernatural creatures that go bump in the night. I played Andrew, a Lawful Good Police Detective, because I thought playing a character who would need to grow past his original ideals of ‘Right and Wrong’ in the name of the greater good would be interesting! (And it was!)

In SINNING ADVENTURE (WoD: Geist: The Sin-Eaters) we payed in a modern-day urban fantasy setting with the premise that the players all Died and were brought back to life by forming a pact with a powerful spirit (and getting cool ghost powers in the process!) I played Cassius, a character who could not cope with his death, and thus refused to use his new powers because they were evidence that he was no longer strictly human. It caused conflict in the group and world, but I thought it would be interesting! (And it was! Cassius was a Bitch.)

In Rex Machina (Dungeons and Dragons 5E), I wanted to play an Aarakocra, but was having a hard time deciding on a class or backstory... until I found out that in the ‘canon’ of D&D Aarakocra only live to be like, mid 20s???? Their lifespans are insanely short compared to other playable races!! And I thought that was stupid, so I decided to make MY Aarakocra, Izzy, a warlock that’s looking for ways to extend his own stupidly short life. His pact essentially granted that to him, giving him extra time to find a way to achieve True Immortality. His conflict challenges what’s ‘true’ living in this world, and his extended life is in direct conflict with a lot of forces in the world we play in, and while it is very stressful I think it’s really interesting to play!

In Lamplighting (Monster of the Week), my character Aicen is an assassin who made a deal with a demon and gained supernatural perks out of it... except I decided that she doesn’t WANT to be in this deal. She is actively trying to undo it because it wasn’t her deal - she inherited it from a CEO that she killed during an unrelated job. (Aicen is probably my character I’ve put the most backstory into, and that’s just because at character creation in MOTW you are given a lot of questions about who your character is and why they’re where they are!)

In Hand of Adam (WoD: HtV), the concept was that all players were going to join a post-apocalyptic supernatural-hating cult. I played Shouter, who was a self-preserving pacifist coward who also turned out to be a fae (which the cult would have killed him over). It was stressful but very fun. I love Shouter. He ran away from fights and didn’t actually kill anyone until the last episode where they fought God (whom he killed, lol).

NOW. THESE ARE ALL JUST EXAMPLES OF HOW *I* LIKE TO PLAY CHARACTERS!! For me personally, I enjoy playing a character who has built-in conflict either with the world, the story, or the other players. I’m only able to play characters like this because my friend group are all really cool and we all know that conflict is not bad - it’s fiction and we’re just roleplaying! If I didn’t trust my GMs and fellow players as much as I do, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable enough playing some of these concepts.

I don’t think you need to know every little thing about a tabletop character, and in fact, not knowing some things and leaving it up to the GM and story to flesh out is an easy way to help you get more invested in both your character AND the story your GM is telling! Tabletops are a collaborative storytelling experience, so if you’ve already plotted out your character’s whole story, there won’t be much participation from other players or your GM. Figure out what your character wants, and let your roleplaying and GM slowly put all the other pieces in place over the course of your campaign!

But the TL:DR about how I make tabletop OCs is that I just... try to give them a goal, an ideal, or a personality that is in direct conflict with some aspect of the game we’re playing. I don’t want the character to be undermining the whole game, because that’s really crappy to do to your GM, but I have to have something for my character to grow through or change. I like giving them built-in character arc starters, lol. I haven’t played a game where my character has gotten along with every other player character and NPC over the entire campaign since my very FIRST game, lol!

Also, if you’re having trouble, why not ask your GM what they think? Again, tabletops are collaborative! Don’t be afraid to talk ideas out with your GM for your character.

A final note about playing in specifically oneshot games (i.e. games that are not long campaigns but are meant to be played in one or two sittings). Personally, I always just retrofit an OC I already have to play in oneshots! When I make a new character for a long campaign, it usually takes me two or three sessions to find their voice and figure out how to roleplay them. If the game you’re playing is only one session, I find it easier to jump right in and get the most out of your character and the game when you’re playing a character you already know pretty well! I’ve played characters from my webcomic quite a few times, and it’s always a lot more fun for me than figuring out a new character on the fly!

SO UH, IN CONCLUSION... sorry if this is mad unhelpfu!! My personal processes are unique to me! but that's the point - no one person will have the exact answer that works for you! You have to keep trying until you figure it out for yourself! Good luck! Keep creating! <3

#long post #asktime #not art #art talk #writing talk #tabletop talk #gif #iwishihadhorns

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missmentelle · 5 years ago

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Hello So i'm about to move from my parents house into an aprtment with my best friend and her friend as roomates. Do you've got any tips on how to make sure we won't get into huge fights, learning how to be responisble with the bugdet and getting to know her friend more? I am really stressed out about it but there's no going back now

It can definitely be nerve-wracking to live with people you aren’t related to for the first time, whether you are moving in with friends, your partner, or random roommates off the internet. I’ve lived with many, many people over the years - most of them strangers I found online - and the best advice I can give you to make the experience more pleasant is to set ground rules and boundaries early, and to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Even close friends can have very different expectations when it comes to sharing a living space, and the big things that you’ll probably want to figure out are:

Shared expenses. Are common staples like margarine, ketchup, salt, dish soap, toilet paper and cooking oil going to be shared by the entire household, or does everyone have to buy their own? If you are sharing stuff, can one person decide to just go buy stuff that’s running low and ask for reimbursement, or do you all need to agree in advance? My roommates and I used to keep a communal list on the fridge that one person would use to make our monthly Costco run, and we’d all just pay one-third of whatever the total ended up being. You might prefer a similar approach, or you might just take turns paying - ie “I bought the last pack of toilet paper, now you buy the next one”. It depends on your budget, and how good your housemates are about holding up their end of the bargain. If you are on a smaller budget than others, or if one roommate tends to use more than their fair share, it might be less of a headache if everyone just buys their own stuff. It’s also important to figure out how rent and bills will be paid - whose name are they in? Are you paying rent with three separate cheques, or is one person writing a cheque for the whole rent? If one person is writing a cheque, when do you need to give them your portion of the rent each month?

Shared household items and appliances. If everyone has brought some kitchen items - cups, mugs, plates, etc - into the household, is every item totally up for grabs, or are there any special items (like a favourite mug or expensive blender) that not everyone is allowed to use? How is fridge and pantry space going to be divided? Are everyone’s items just put into the cupboards together, or do you each get a cupboard for the things you individually own? Does anyone have any allergies or dietary restrictions - like Kosher or Halal requirements - that make it important for other people to not use their dishes? My roommates and I always put our kitchen stuff together in a jumble and just went with it, but I have friends with strict Kosher roommates who cannot share any kitchenware at all. Will you all chip in to buy shared items like a couch and coffee table, or will one person buy the item and own it by themselves?

Chore schedule. Different people have different standards of cleanliness, and it’s important to figure out how often cleaning should be done so that no one feels like they’re living in a hovel. How quickly should people be doing their dishes - as soon as they’ve finished cooking? Within 24 hours? Or will you eat together and take turns washing dishes? How often will non-daily chores - like mopping the floors, cleaning the shower stall, and cleaning the oven - be done, and who will do them? My roommates and I used to block out 2-3 hours every Sunday as “cleaning time” when we would all deep-clean the apartment together, but you might prefer to have assigned individual chores that you can do on your own time.

Guest policy. Overnight guests and partners are probably one of the biggest sources of tension in a roommate relationship. Namely, how long can you have a guest stay in the apartment with you before they need to start chipping in with the bills? Do you need to give the other roommates advance notice before a guest comes to stay for a while? How many days out of the month can someone’s partner stay over before they effectively become part of the household and need to pitch in with bills and chores? Is it even okay if someone’s partner is staying over constantly, or are you not cool with that at all? Are roommates allowed to give their partners a key to the apartment, or does everyone in the apartment need to be on board before that can happen? My roommates and I had a lot of long-term guests in our tiny Manhattan apartment, but that only went smoothly because everyone was 100% okay with having long-term guests, and we had a hard limit on how many days someone could stay out of the month before they needed to start putting money in our “toilet paper and dish soap” fund.

Shower schedule. If everyone in the apartment is working on a similar Monday-Friday, 9-5 schedule (which is less likely to be the case these days, but still), it’s important to work out a basic schedule for who gets to shower when in the mornings. There is nothing that will make you want to flip out on your roommate quite like being late for work because they took a 45-minute shower when you needed to get ready. If you don’t each have your own ensuite bathroom, figure out who gets the bathroom when in the mornings, or decide who is going to shower at night to avoid conflict.

Quiet hours. At what hours of the day is it inconsiderate for a roommate to be making noise or watching TV in common areas while people are trying to sleep? The answer may depend on the layout of the apartment, your individual work schedules, and how sensitive everyone is to noise. If you have roommates that work nights or are working from home during the day and need quiet for their conference calls, that’s something else to keep in mind.

Breaking the lease. What happens if something comes up, and one person needs to leave before the lease is over? How much notice do they need to give the other roommates? Is it the departing roommate’s responsibility to find someone to take over their bedroom, or would the remaining roommates rather choose who they are living with? If you all pitched in to make a big purchase together - like a couch or a kitchen table - how will that work if one person leaves the lease? And how will the damage deposit be handled? The majority of leases I’ve been on have not had all the original roommates stay until the end, and it was important to plan for that in advance so that no one felt like they’d been tricked into living with someone new that they never agreed to live with.

Above all, the secret to living with roommates is to communicate, and to try to be as considerate of others as you can. The way that you live and manage your finances directly affects your roommates’ quality of life, and everyone needs to put in some serious effort to make sure that everyone gets to enjoy the living space that they are paying for. The money stuff is especially important - talk to your roommates ahead of time about what costs you will be sharing and what costs you won’t, and make sure that you are setting aside the money you need for shared expenses each month so that no one is left holding the bag. And be sure to speak up if other roommates aren’t respecting your needs either - the occasional dirty coffee cup left in the sink or wine spilled on the rug is just a part of life and probably not worth fighting over, but if someone is consistently neglecting their chores, making huge messes, making lots of noise at night or failing to pay their fair share of household expenses, that’s a situation that you need to speak up about, so that you can all try to find a way to resolve the issue. Living with a friend, roommate or partner is all about finding a balance between accommodating other people and sticking up for yourself, and it’s a balance that will be become easier with time.

It’s also important to find time to just enjoy hanging out with your roommates. Yes, living with other people can be scary and stressful, and there may be times when you’re ready to scream because someone ate your ice cream without permission and no one remembered to buy more toilet paper, but there will also be good times, especially if you are living with someone you are already friends with. Some of the best memories of my early 20s were just from hanging out with my roommates - like the time that we got drunk on cheap wine and painted some silly paintings because we couldn’t afford to decorate the apartment properly, or the time we got a huge box of breakfast food from the local diner and stayed up all night watching Game of Thrones, or the time we had to spend all day taking all our IKEA furniture apart in the lobby and carrying it up to our walk-up piece by piece because none of us could lift the boxes, and we barely made it up the stairs because we were laughing so hard. Being young and kind of broke and living with your friends can be a very fun time in your life, and it’s important to enjoy it - hang out together, do silly things, enjoy making mistakes because none of you have any real idea what you’re doing. Just because you have financial responsibilities and a chore chart doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun. Best of luck to you! Miss Mentelle

#Anonymous

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vintagesimstress · 5 years ago

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I. Getting started

It seems like there's a whole bunch of people who'd like to learn how to make their own CC – so, without further ado, let's jump right into it! Thank you everyone for your feedback; I hope what you'll find here will meet your expectations.

This tutorial is intended for people who are at the absolute beginner level and the only thing they know about CC making is that they'd like to learn it. Of course you're not forbidden to use it if you've already got some experience, but just to warn you, I'll start with the very basics. Also, it'll be divided into many parts and I can't predict how quick I'll be with adding new ones, so please don't get too impatient!

It's intended to work as a complete, step-by step course, so in the later parts I'll assume that you're familiar with the previous ones. In case something isn't clear to you, please check first if that topic wasn't already explained before you say you don't understand what's going on.

So, let's start with the basic questions: what do you even need to get started and how much is it going to cost you?

Just to immediately calm you down: the answer to the 2nd question is 'almost nothing'.

What you need:

A 3-button-mouse

And that's the only thing you'll have to pay for, assuming you don't have one yet.

Blender 2.79

Blender is a 'free and open 3D creation software', as its slogan says. It's the place where the magic happens, where you mold your clay into whichever shape you want, in other words – where you mesh. A very important thing: you MUST download version 2.79, not 2.8. Why? Because only meshes created in pre-2.8 Blender can be read by S4S (see below). Why? No idea, we just have to accept it. Follow THIS link and download the version meant for your operating system. EDIT: Make sure you're really on version 2.79! It seems S4S will try to automatically download an even earlier version (2.70) for you, which doesn't have some options you'll need later.

Sims 4 Studio

Sims 4 Studio (aka S4S) is a fan-made program which enables you to import your mesh (and a bunch of other information, like textures, bump maps etc.) and change it into a nicely packaged .package file. You can download it HERE (again, choose your op system and scroll down a bit for a direct download link)

Free image editing software (unless you have Photoshop)

Yes, I know it sounds unbelievable, but you can actually make decent textures without Photoshop! You will need the following:

Paint.net

A very user-friendly program where 99% of your job can be done. Download HERE.

A set of custom plugins for paint.net

Useful for many things, absolutely necessary for making specular maps (we'll come back to it waaaaaay later). Download HERE.

A 'Normal Map Plus' custom plugin for paint.net

Necessary for making more detailed bump maps (again, we'll come back to it later). Download HERE.

GIMP

A not-so-user-friendly program that I'm still struggling with, so I try to avoid using it more often than necessary. However, it is necessary for turning those bump maps I mentioned earlier into normal maps, which can be read by your game. Download HERE (choose the 'download directly' option!).

Enough disc space for your creations

Your final package is one thing, but all the half-made meshes and textures you're going to create on the way are a completely different story. Trust me, your creations folder will grow very quickly. If you don't have much space on your PC, you should get yourself an external disc.

LOTS of patience

Getting your first creation ready is going to be a long and painful process. I've already mentioned it a couple of times, but making my very first dress work took me TWO MONTHS. Hopefully the whole experience will be less frustrating for you (because you'll have me :) ), but nevertheless, be prepared. Read everything carefully, pay attention to details, don't give up too easily and don't be too hard on yourself. It gets easier, I promise.

What you don't need:

Marvellous Designer

Another meshing software, used mostly by alpha CC creators, which looks cool, but has one big downside: it's horrendously overpriced. If you treat meshing as a hobby, then you probably don't feel like spending 50 euro/dollar per month on necessary software, therefore... Nope.

Photoshop

No hate to Photoshop; if you have it then cool, stick to it. But you don't need it, so we're going to go for free software instead.

A gaming PC with amazing specs

Let's just put it that way: if your computer can run TS4, it can run Blender and S4S. Till last month I was meshing on a laptop. I could have problems with TS4, but Blender? Never. So don't worry about it, you're fine.

(Next: II. Learning to mesh)

#tutorial

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