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fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:30 PM
Default Changing an alpha
I'm having a good go at this tonight. Now I haven't done any of this before so bear with me.

Am I right in thinking, I can make white parts black to get rid of bits, but I can't add white bits to extend it.e.g, make a skirt or top longer, or perhaps change the shape of a bra from plunge to balconette? Make briefs into boxers, that kind of thing?

Can I paint more white to make something a different shape, that is the question?
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Miniie
Lab Assistant
#2 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:36 PM
Yes. That is the general idea, but It depends. If its something skin tight, then you can remove and add as much as you like without any problems really. Well, except for the bumpmaps. If it's not then you'll have the problem of the Mesh shape showing underneath your custom content.

You can definitely do the plunge to balconette easily, just makes sure that you edit change the bumpmap as well I hope you understand. I suck at explaining. English isn't my first language.
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#3 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:38 PM
oh no, bumpmaps, now I have to go work out how to do those, lol. I just want my sims to have new knickers and bra, lmao.

Thanks Miniie, you're always helpful

Is bumpmaps the alpha pattern?
Is it the new layer I'll be adding?
or something else that is going to give me a headache for a couple of hours or weeks or months, lol?
RoguePilot
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:39 PM
It depends on the mesh.

If you cut back the alpha on any mesh which extends over another or sticks out will simply show a flesh coloured item of clothing.

However, if you have a smooth mesh with no built in lumps, you can extend or cut bach the alpha as much as you want. Although you may have to kill the bump maps.

Check out the swimsuits I have been putting together. I would be fully able to extend these to full cover bodysuits for the advanced speedos. (Now thats an idea)

Edit: As Miniie said.
Something, something, something, Darkside
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#5 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:45 PM
No, I was trying to add a lacy trim top the edge of the bra. Perhaps as a learner I will go for the plainish type ones with no ruffles for now. I really just need to see if I can make it work at all first, then go deeper into it. At least I know I can change the shape now by extending as well as reducing.
RoguePilot
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by fluttereyes
Is bumpmaps the alpha pattern?
Is it the new layer I'll be adding?
or something else that is going to give me a headache for a couple of hours or weeks or months, lol?


You have to go looking for the bumpmap with postal in FullBuild2.package.

At the moment we can only do default replacements.

I'm putting together bumpmaps flattened at the seams for my own usage, I may be able to upload a set at some point.
Something, something, something, Darkside
HystericalParoxysm
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
#7 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:50 PM
Unfortunately, the way bump maps work, they're linked on the mesh itself. So in order to change a bump map (as a non-replacement), you'd have to duplicate the mesh. This is incredibly stupid. But it will require non-default meshes as well as textures. Right now, defaults are the only way to go with bumps.
my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
Miniie
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 5:55 PM
fluttereyes, Relax! lol Bumpmaps are really easy to do. Hell, if you don't really want to bother with them you can just fill the whole texture with grey. It will have a "no-bumpmap look"

If you extract your textures with Delphy's CTU tool, it does it for you. They are two separate files. The bump map is the gray file. The alpha is usually the one that is black with the bra, or whatever in white. I haven't tried editing clothe for the TS3 yet since i'm waiting for a non-replacement mod.

Don't worry it's REALLY easy. It's just a matter of making somethings lighter or darker.
This is a TS2 Tutorial, but it still applies:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=268418

I can't wait to see what you come up with!
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#9 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 6:01 PM
Thanks all, I can't even edit the alpha though, photoshop won't let me touch it. I tried cutting and pasting to new layer, but have no clue how I would make that the new alpha channel. None of the tutorials cover this. I think I'll go to the sims 2 section and see how it was done over there.

I'll go for plain, I just want to change the shape of the bras and pants in the game. I can add a pattern to it later. I'm only doing this for me at the moment and not working on something to upload or anything
Miniie
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 7:00 PM Last edited by Miniie : 14th Jul 2009 at 7:23 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by fluttereyes
Thanks all, I can't even edit the alpha though, photoshop won't let me touch it. I tried cutting and pasting to new layer, but have no clue how I would make that the new alpha channel. None of the tutorials cover this. I think I'll go to the sims 2 section and see how it was done over there.

I'll go for plain, I just want to change the shape of the bras and pants in the game. I can add a pattern to it later. I'm only doing this for me at the moment and not working on something to upload or anything


What do you mean? It wont let you touch it? Is the layer locked?
It think it's easier to create a layer above the original alpha and paint over it in black what you want to remove. Incase you make a mistake, you can easily go back. You can also make a copy of the alpha layer.

Yeah, check out the TS2 Alpha tutorials.

I'm also going to check it out though. I haven't touched clothe in TS3 so things might be different. I'll be back.
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#11 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 7:29 PM
I made a copy of it then worked on it, then realised I didn't know how to make the copy the alpha. I'm using a tutorial here http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...ew_Base_Texture

It isn't difficult when you work out what you're doing. You'll find it really easy as you've done it before. This is my first time. I'm just about to try to replace the alpha with my new layer, I thought I'd take a break first though for five minutes.

I'll let you know how I get on with it, if it works, no more plain old fashioned bras
Miniie
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 7:58 PM
Hey! Alright, I've found out something that was different than it was in TS2. To edit the Alpha channel open up the main texture.
Click where it says Channels, and scroll down. You should see the Alpha Channel. Click on it to make it active, and you can edit it from there. You can duplicate it there and hide it to have a backup Alpha, incase you mess up.

If you want i can make a tutorial for you if you are still confused
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#13 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 8:19 PM
No, I got it. That tutorial is really good. I'm just about to try it in game, well once I import it into CTU and make a package of it. I'm optimistic, thanks.
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#14 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 9:15 PM
Well I did it all from start to finish using two tutorials. Got the alpha back into CTU, made a .package of it and it didn't show in game. Same problem that happened when I tried to create eyes. I just can't work out what I'm doing wrong here, I'm following the instructions carefully

Anyone able to help me please?
Miniie
Lab Assistant
#15 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 9:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by fluttereyes
Well I did it all from start to finish using two tutorials. Got the alpha back into CTU, made a .package of it and it didn't show in game. Same problem that happened when I tried to create eyes. I just can't work out what I'm doing wrong here, I'm following the instructions carefully

Anyone able to help me please?


Hey, did you delete your SimCompositorCache.package from My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3?

Also, make sure you are adding the correct Type, Group, and Instance
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#16 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 10:20 PM
Yes Miniie, I did all that. I just checked again and it is showing but its showing as the old alpha style and not the one I fixed.

I've attached it here if you want to take a look for me, it clearly shows a totally different alpha to the plain bra in game, yet it shows up as the old one.

Please excuse the rubbishness of the bra, it was a first attempt just to see if I could do it

I'd be happy for anyone to look at this and see where I went wrong
Attached files:
File Type: rar  FrillEdgedBra.rar (1.4 KB, 11 downloads) - View custom content
Miniie
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 11:40 PM
Hey. I looked at your package and the only thing in there is a unk file. Not any actual textures (dds files)? Can you upload the actual texture .dds files and i'll try to package them myself, and see if that works.
I don't use the CTU tool to package my textures, so i wouldn't know how to do it.

Do you have S3PE or Postal?
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#18 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 7:49 AM Last edited by fluttereyes : 15th Jul 2009 at 8:17 AM.
Ok I managed to get it packaged and it showed up in the game. Problem is you could see the black bits where I had taken away from the alpha and you couldn't see the white bits I had added


By fluttereyes at 2009-07-15

The new package is here
Attached files:
File Type: rar  FrillEdgedBra.rar (41.5 KB, 8 downloads) - View custom content
daluved1
Mother Function
retired moderator
#19 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 9:00 AM
fluttereyes, no offense but from reading your posts, I don't think you're editing the alpha and/or saving it right. Can you upload the .dds file and as soon as I find some wi-fi, I'll take a look at it

And disregard what I posted in the other thread.
"Holy Shift! Check out the asymptotes on that mother function!"
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#20 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 9:40 AM Last edited by fluttereyes : 15th Jul 2009 at 9:57 AM.
Here's the .dds file. I followed the instructions on the tutorial for replacing base textures, but I must be missing a step somewhere.

Absolutely no offense taken at all. I obviously need the help. I'm just happy you're going to take a look at it for me.

In the meantime I'll start from scratch and see if it turns out the same way. I did find an issue in the tutorial I used for the alpha, it was in saving, I couldn't get alt+del or ctrl+del to work so I used alt-gr+del and that seemed to work, now I'm not so sure

I think the issue is in the saving, it doesn't seem to have replaced the original base texture, trying to work out why now
Attached files:
File Type: rar  FrillEdgedBra.rar (42.1 KB, 7 downloads) - View custom content
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#21 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 10:27 AM Last edited by fluttereyes : 15th Jul 2009 at 10:43 AM.
Panic over. My mistake was in not going back over the entire thing after replacing the alpha. It's crap but it works. Now I can go ahead and really play with this, now that I know what I'm doing. Thanks to all who tried to help me here, I appreciate it.


By fluttereyes at 2009-07-15

WooHoo I did it
Miniie
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 11:09 AM
Wow nice! I'm glad you figured it out! That looks awesome, first try and all.
*wipes sweat

Edit:
Hey, what does it look like if you try to change the color for it on the CASt
fluttereyes
Scholar
Original Poster
#23 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 11:38 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Miniie
Wow nice! I'm glad you figured it out! That looks awesome, first try and all.
*wipes sweat

Edit:
Hey, what does it look like if you try to change the color for it on the CASt


That is the colour changed, it's one of the leather patterns. The basic one look like the first one but with not so deep a v at the front and with the black bits gone, lol.

I'm going to set about trying to create some good stuff, I have my own site and want to put some cc on there, its a fun site not as professional as this
daluved1
Mother Function
retired moderator
#24 Old 15th Jul 2009 at 3:51 PM
That's pretty! I'm glad you got it
"Holy Shift! Check out the asymptotes on that mother function!"
Twinkledoll
Test Subject
#25 Old 17th Jul 2009 at 12:43 PM
Hi, I'm having the same problem, could you tell me exactly what you did?
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