"Trompe-l'oeil" Painting-TV *UPD 06oct2008*
 

It's a painting!... No, it's a TV!... No, look, it's a painting!
It's the fabulous "Trompe-l'oeil" Painting-TV!!!

Some homes are just too luxury, or too classic, to allow placing a prosaic modern TV in your living room. But, on the other hand, just looking at paintings doesn't give much fun...
The perfect solution is the "Trompe-l'oeil" Painting-TV: it looks like a perfect copy of a painting (classic or modern, you choose), until you use your remote control to reveal the state-of-the-art plasma TV hidden under the canvas. Your guests will have a wonderful surprise when this painting suddenly turns into a hi-tech TV! Countless "Ohhh", "Aaah" and "Wow" guaranteed!


INTRODUCTION
This is quite an old project, dating back to May 2007, that I never finished... until today The main problem (that I soved only recently) was forcing the television to display a custom texture for the "screen off" state, instead of the default dark grey used for all the other TVs.
For those who don't know and are curious about it, "Trompe-l'œil" is French, and literally means "trick the eye"; in architecture, the "trompe-l'oeil" technique is quite a different thing than this object but nevertheless this object is supposed to trick the eye!


IN-GAME USAGE
Use this object as a standard wall-mounted TV; you can watch normal channels, movies (FT only) and weather forecasts (SSN only), and of course you can also work out in front of it. The Painting-TV uses the very same Maxis code, so there isn't anything special from this point of view. But when you turn it off, it reverts back to its "painting" appearance!
While buying it from the catalog (in the "TV & Computers" section), you can choose between two styles: a slim and linear modern frame with a city night view; or a baroque golden frame with the famous "Etoile" portrait by Degas.
NOTE: though the meshes of the two alternative frames are different, there is only one TV in the catalog; the two styles are selected by choosing a recolour.


GAME COMPATIBILITY
This TV is compatible with any game, from the base game to Apartment Life. You will find in the pie menu all the functions related to the EPs that you have installed, including watching movies (if you have Freetime) and weather forecasts (if you have Seasons).


RECOLOURS
As usual, my objects are a little particular .
The object contains two different meshes for the frame, but only one is displayed at a time. This is achieved by means of special textures that "hide" the unwanted mesh using a transparent Alpha channel.
In order to create a recolour for the frame, load the TV in Object Workshop and select the frame (classic or modern) that you want to create a recolour for. Depending on your choice, the resulting recolour package will contain a texture where the left part or the right part is transparent: just ignore the transparent part and recolour the visible part.



CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - COPYRIGHT
All the meshes have been derived from original Maxis meshes. The "City Landscape" painting is by Maxis, the "Etoile" painting is by Degas.
the internal code, and in particular the ability to use a custom "screen off" texture, is by me. DO NOT CLONE - DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE.


Poly Count: 868 faces, 789 vertices.

Thanks!

brilliant Perfect for putting over the fireplace.

Thanks very much!
As always:an exclusive, smart object.

This is a fantastic tv/painting/fantastatvpainting. Thank you for creating and sharing this!

Yessss! Now my luxurious witches and wizards can watch "TV" without me bitching about how unrealistic it is. Numenor, you're a genius -- I can only imagine all the work that went into this. Thanks so much, this is great for Victorian-era houses and whatnot.

Awesome, now my historical sims won't get bored!

Numenor,

It makes me wonder of the possibilities...

...like the paintings in the HarryPotter movies

What a wonderful and surprising creation.
Its just a great addition to any Sim's homes.
May I say your talent is so creative and so appreciative.
Thank You

Wow this is such a great idea!! you are very very clever, thank you so much for all the hard work and for sharing your creations.

This is FAB! I love stuff thats a little out of the ordinary
Thankyou!

Just one comment -- now that I've used it cost is $0, which means it doesn't satisfy sims' wants to buy an expensive TV. Any chance of changing that?

Also... it can't be moved up and down using the AL keys. No idea if THAT'S changeable or not, but it would be awesome

Thank you! I rarely ever place a TV in one of my victorian homes or castles because I don't think they go with the look I want to accomplish, but this is perfect.

Will your talent Ever stop amazing me ?!?!...I think NOT!! ...Too Cool a must have fo rsure and thanks for sharing :D

Thanks loads -- I hate the look of a TV and don't have one in my real living room, but my simmies do like it so!

Oh wow! T'is AMZAZING! Thanks so much

What a wonderful, versatile idea! Thank you so much for sharing!

This is awesome, it matches the painting from AL, don't you think?

Thank you for this "piece of art" :p

Thank you so much! I have, in the past, used Sgooby's Expensive TV with the fancy frame, but, like you said, the screen was just a big blank whole in the wall when off. I guess this solves that problem. Thanks for sharing!

Wow - very very cool. Thank you!

Excellent work yet again, Numenor! Finally my castles, mansions, vampire dens, etc. won't have to look retrofitted with modern technology!

I love this, wish I had in RL. Thanks

This is great for my mansions, you always give us what EA does not. I bow down to you in your awsomeness!!

You are a mod god! Thanks for creating yet another wonderful thing for our games,
esp thanks for sharing it with us! This actually made me sqeeeeeee!

ah, c'est tres beaux. Merci, monseiur.

Or, thanks! This rocks!