2 questions early in the process

[lucy kemnitzer]

I have not seen any discussion of how SimPe treats different proprietary 3d files, so I don't know if I have a problem from the beginning. I have bumped my head against several 3d programs but the first one I could actually make anything happen in is Sketchup. Nobody seems to be using Sketchup with Sims 2 items, so I don't know -- will SimPe burp the mesh right back if I just follow the tutorial directions given for Maya, Wings 3D, or Milkshape?

And another question. The object set I'm working on is a little set of shapes meant to be combined and stacked to make false fronts for stucco houses. I'm having a bit of trouble deciding which object to clone for them. Does it even matter, with the great variety of OMSPs available these days?

[bluetexasbonnie]

Lucy -
I don't know anything about the various 3-d programs, but I would expect that as long as sketchup can save the file in a format that SimPe recognizes (like .obj) then it should work okay.

As to your false fronts, I do have some real experience.

My first suggestion is to make your 'new' fronts as windows (no you can't stack, but there are other advantages). The big advantage with this approach is play-ability. Your 'false fronts' go down with the walls, come up with the walls and just generally 'behave'. Here (http://thesorceressandcompany.com/Forum/index.php?topic=371.0) is an example that I have finished of a window series that gives a totally new look to your old walls. If you decide to go that route, let me know & I'll share a few observations on windows that has made my life easier with the unique shapes.

Alternately, if you want something more sculptural/stand alone than the window -- consider columns. Their big advantage is that most (all?) are set up with the LOD-90 files that allows them to show in the neighborhood view. I don't know if they will work with the OMSPs out there, but they do raise and lower using Fat D's (http://modthesims2.com/member.php?u=26526) upshift and downshift.

Good luck!

[HystericalParoxysm]

Free Sketchup doesn't save in a format that anything but Sketchup can use. It's also more of a polygon sketching program rather than actual 3D modelling - I don't think you can do anything with mapping in it, for instance. You could pay for Sketchup but it's pricey to get the full version, and you're not going to find any support for it here as nobody uses it. I'd really recommend spending more time learning Milkshape or Wings.

[lucy kemnitzer]

Thanks to both of you. I was afraid of that with the sketchup files.

Bonnie, I really don't want to do it the windows method: I thought of that, but I want to be able to pile them and combine them indefinitely, using a small number of shapes (I have either four or six now, depending on how difficult it is to turn the asymmetrical end pieces) to make a large number of effects, and to make false fronts of different heights and lengths within the game instead of having to have that many premade objects.