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- Bodyshop - Skinning From The Inside Out
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- Bodyshop - Skinning From The Inside Out
#1
31st Jul 2005 at 12:34 AM
Last edited by tiggerypum : 23rd Nov 2006 at 12:30 AM.
Reason: fixed pics
Posts: 921
Thanks: 5724 in 61 Posts
Skinning From The Inside Out
Just finished a new tutorial. Let me know if you see any mistakes or room for improvement, please?Before you start skinning, it’s helpful to understand how all the components of a sim go together. I’ll be focusing on sims, but many of the concepts here apply equally to objects. Let’s start from the beginning. This is a picture of a skeleton in Maya, a 3D animation program. All sims have these skeletons – they are used to drive the animations. The sims themselves have different sizes, obviously, and depending on the skeleton size, the object animations will be different sometimes, as well. And while the skeletons are the same size for Young Adult, Adult, and Elder, the animations associated with them are different (just watch they way they walk!) No matter what you do to the outside, the skeleton isn’t going to change – even if you stretch skeleton. Straaaaange things will happen!
Here is our model, Simthia. She’s going to essentially stand here in various states of doneness to illustrate the layers of sim that are over the skeleton. Each one has different properties and reasons for being, and it’s important to know how they work together.
This is what’s called a UV map. When you see talk about polygons, these are them. This map is actually on the sim’s skin, as it’s the shape of the body, not the clothes. Simthia’s UV map only looks like it’s on her clothes, but it is an indication of where each part of the clothing mesh goes over her body curves. Each place where the lines intersect is an actual point, some of them project more than others, which is why you may draw a nice straight line on your clothing texture file, and when the sim puts the clothes on, there’s a jagged edge. (Note: a .rar file with the body UV maps for all ages has been added to the attachments at the end of this post.)
Here’s the reason I mention the importance of the UV map when skinning. The UV map, as I said, has angles. These angles are smoothed out a bit in body shop, and more in the game. A lot of the smoothness you see in-game is an optical illusion created by the shading and highlighting on the texture file, the bump maps, and other in-game lighting. If you become familiar with the UV maps, you can better take advantage of the angles so that your creations are smoothed realistically. Here you can see some lovely straight and perfect lines as they appear on the texture (which is 2D) and how they change when they’re laid over the three dimensional shape of the sim.
And while we’re here, I’d also like to show how the image changes as it goes from Body Shop into the game. What you see in Body Shop is not what you get, unfortunately, so it’s always good to check it out in-game. (BTW, this is why we ask that you submit in-game screenshots for your uploads at MTS2) This is also why, if you copy and paste something onto a texture, it can become distorted when it’s actually applied to the skin. Imagine taking a bathing suit with a geometric print and stretching it over a basketball, and you’ll get the idea. If you lay the texture file for the UV map over the texture for your skin and make it transparent enough only just to see, you can use it as a frame of reference as to where you need to distort your 2D image so it works in 3D.
Now what we have here is an illustration of the mesh of Simthia’s outfit. The mesh is the actual shape. No changing of alpha or texture files is going to alter this. Imagine the plastic display cover for a doll – it’s shaped to fit over that doll, so you can’t just remove it from one doll and fit it over a different one. And you can paint on it, but you’re still going to see the shape of it on the parts that aren’t painted. So the mesh for an outfit for one particular gender and age can’t just be copied and pasted to another, and simply blacking out the alpha file is going to cause the sim’s skintone to jump out and fill in the blanks, leaving flesh-colored bumps. The only place you can change the shape of an outfit by changing the alpha is wherever the mesh is skintight.
Now, this is the texture file for Simthia’s pants. As you can see, it’s an illustration that includes lines, shading, and highlights, which gives it the illusion of being three dimensional. In reality, it’s two dimensional and stretchy and flexible, just like swimsuit or t-shirt knit fabrics in real life. It will get laid over the mesh and stretched to fit. This is how a single texture can be used for fit, normal, and fat sims, and why, if you copy and paste something onto, say, a shirt, it sometimes gets distorted when it shows up on the sim. If you open up a texture file for an outfit that has visible side seams, you’re going to find them on only one half of the outfit (to allow for expansion) and also why the color extends beyond the edges a smidge.
This is the second file that comprises the texture – the alpha file. It’s sort of like a mask, with the white parts allowing the texture to show through, and the black parts blocking it out. Some outfits will have grey, which allows a part of the texture to show through. You’ll see this in something like eyeshadow files, because it can also give a fade-out effect.
Now here’s the interesting phenomenon I mentioned before – the skintone jumping out to the mesh. I’ve blurred poor Simthia a bit to protect the sensibilities of delicate users, but you can see how the shading and highlighting that makes the skin itself pops right out to the clothing mesh when the alpha file for the clothes is completely blacked out. If you’ve ever tried fiddling with the alpha files and wondered why you got those funny bumps, well, here is exactly what happened to you.
So you see, your sim is built from the inside out. Over the skeleton is the UV map – the polygons that make the sim 3-dimensional. Over those polygons that make your sim is the clothing mesh (or hair mesh or glasses or anything else that’s bigger than the sim’s body or head), and the texture is just the fabric laid over it. While they work together, each element has its own unique function, so alterations to one may or may not affect the others (and if they do, it might not be what you’re looking for.)
Attached files:
Skinning Inside Out Tutorial.rar (453.1 KB, 1247 downloads) - View custom content | ||
Size Packed Ratio Date Time Attr CRC Meth Ver ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skinning Inside Out Tutorial.doc 654848 463903 70% 30-07-05 19:04 .....A. A35FA54C m3e 2.9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 654848 463903 70% |
||
UVmaps.rar (419.3 KB, 766 downloads) |
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#2
31st Jul 2005 at 12:59 AM
Posts: 491
Thanks: 5849 in 26 Posts
Wow ... that's awesome! You explained it so well!
I'm a complete noob at all of this, and you somehow managed to help me understand what all those thingamawhidgets are ... UVmap, alpha file, etc.
I suddenly don't feel as clueless anymore, lol!
I'm a complete noob at all of this, and you somehow managed to help me understand what all those thingamawhidgets are ... UVmap, alpha file, etc.
I suddenly don't feel as clueless anymore, lol!
Test Subject
Lab Assistant
#4
3rd Aug 2005 at 9:31 PM
Posts: 111
thanks for sharing. Can't wait for the next tutorial
I'm a beginner in skinning
I'm a beginner in skinning
#5
3rd Aug 2005 at 9:49 PM
Posts: 188
Thanks: 349 in 7 Posts
Thanks for the great Tutorial! I'll put it to good use! Soon, anyway...
#6
28th Sep 2005 at 4:39 PM
Posts: n/a
Thank you - I'm gradually getting the idea.
By the way - does anyone know of a way to view modified skins outside of BodyShop or without going through the whole CAF/CAS thing in-game. I'd like to take a peek at how they would look in-game if poss. I read somewhere about SimShow but I think that is for the original Sims, not for "The Sims 2"?
By the way - does anyone know of a way to view modified skins outside of BodyShop or without going through the whole CAF/CAS thing in-game. I'd like to take a peek at how they would look in-game if poss. I read somewhere about SimShow but I think that is for the original Sims, not for "The Sims 2"?
#7
29th Sep 2005 at 2:42 AM
Posts: 201
Thanks: 294 in 7 Posts
Hey Faylen you rock in your tutorials! Thank you very much!
"...one person's cult is another's religion; all religions begin life as cults. An alternative definition is that a cult is a religion which you happen to dislike." Anthony Campbell
"...one person's cult is another's religion; all religions begin life as cults. An alternative definition is that a cult is a religion which you happen to dislike." Anthony Campbell
#8
29th Sep 2005 at 3:53 PM
Posts: 921
Thanks: 5724 in 61 Posts
I sure wish there were a way to do the in-game view without getting out of body shop. It would certainly make tutorial-writing easier. Even if there were a way to keep the game and BS running at the same time. (I know >why< that can't be done, but I wish it could, anyway.)
"Living well is the best revenge. . ." George Bernard Shaw
"Living well is the best revenge. . ." George Bernard Shaw
#9
11th Oct 2005 at 11:05 PM
Posts: 57
Thanks: 28 in 1 Posts
Thanks for the tutorial, but your images seem to have conked out. I'd really appreciate an update.
#10
4th Nov 2005 at 11:51 PM
Posts: n/a
masterduurk - I also noticed the images are missing. Thankfully, they are still there in the Word Document in the downloadable .rar. file ...
#11
14th Dec 2005 at 3:20 PM
Posts: 921
Thanks: 5724 in 61 Posts
All better now. Sorry it took so long - only got on here today.
"Living well is the best revenge. . ." George Bernard Shaw
"Living well is the best revenge. . ." George Bernard Shaw
#14
5th Jan 2006 at 7:01 AM
Posts: 3
Thanks for the down to basics tutorial. I wsa getting bored withe the game until I started trying to figure out the different ways to create custom content and stretch the limits. I am still very very very new to all of this but your tutorials (all of them) as well as the amazing building tutorials on this site have renewed my interest. I'm sure I'll be saved from bordom now for a millenia!
P.S. thanx again! u rawk!
P.S. thanx again! u rawk!
#15
7th Jan 2006 at 12:39 PM
Posts: 34
Thanks: 652 in 7 Posts
Thanks, i just started and that was a great explaination for a beginer
#16
2nd Feb 2006 at 6:20 PM
Posts: 16
Thanks: 120 in 1 Posts
Thank you for helping me, Faylen, im sorry that i botherd so much in that chat :sorry: , but vharshyde really, really hurt my feelings :sadpanda: . i guess he propably said some things about me after i left. i understand now but im gonna make a long top transparent that overlaps a skirt so it creates the illusion of a dress with more than one layer. thanks again for being the only nice one in that chat. the reason that i wanna make the dress so badly is that my favourate teacher in our school recently got married and i really liked her dress so i wanted to make one just like that and its my last year that im gonna have class with her... ive been with her for seven years...
so thanks
:valentine sweet :puppy: puppy
so thanks
:valentine sweet :puppy: puppy
~boys are like lava lamps... fun to watch but not too bright~
#17
14th Apr 2006 at 4:11 AM
Posts: 11
wow... that is pretty cool....
#18
22nd Nov 2006 at 7:46 PM
Posts: 16
Where are all of the pictures? all but a few are "x"ed out.
#19
23rd Nov 2006 at 12:32 AM
They were all below the article, but I put them back in place, the thumbs server had changed. So they all work again.
"Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." - Ronald E. Osborn
"Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." - Ronald E. Osborn
Please do NOT PM me with requests, creation questions, or game help questions. Click for help:
Game Help | Create | Content List | Where Can I Find?
Game Help | Create | Content List | Where Can I Find?
#20
15th Jan 2007 at 1:58 PM
Posts: 544
Thank you very much for a good explanation. I want to learn about skinning, this will be very useful.
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1st place in SimCity's Most Eligible Bachelor 2009
2nd in Wicked/Angel male models
2nd in The Ultimate Maxis Sim Makeover
2nd in Bollywood's Next Idol
3rd in Miss Curves
Lab Assistant
#21
23rd May 2007 at 1:33 PM
Posts: 103
At long last i'm here also. Time to learn how to create and recreate my favorite costumes for my themed hoods. Thanks so much.
HollyEtta
HollyEtta
Test Subject
#22
29th Jun 2007 at 12:08 PM
Posts: 1
A question. How do you change the meshes?? Is there a tutorial for doing this or something?? Cause it would realy help me out.
#23
16th Jul 2007 at 2:20 AM
Posts: 33
Thanks: 762 in 11 Posts
So THAT'S how that works!
I've been playing Sims 2 for a while now, but I only recently got the guts to try my hand at skinning and meshing.
...I have a lot to learn, lol.
"Girls have gotta be either sexy or smart, not both. That's why for every ounce of ugly you are, you need to read one book. Now, would you like me to drive you to the library?" -Taylor Geiman
I've been playing Sims 2 for a while now, but I only recently got the guts to try my hand at skinning and meshing.
...I have a lot to learn, lol.
"Girls have gotta be either sexy or smart, not both. That's why for every ounce of ugly you are, you need to read one book. Now, would you like me to drive you to the library?" -Taylor Geiman
Test Subject
#24
17th Aug 2007 at 11:57 PM
Posts: 1
misshapen tops
uhmnn... i dont know exactly how to say this.. but some of the tops in the adult female everyday clothing thingy are.. misshapen.. they have jagged edges. at first, it was only two or three items, now its a whole bunch... i was wondering if u could help me with that...?
#25
11th Aug 2008 at 2:55 AM
Posts: 73
Thanks: 1530 in 19 Posts
Thanks for the tutorial! I've tried my hand at recoloring clothing, to have the skin tone pop out with the mesh, and other times had it come out just how I wanted it. This makes it so much simplier to understand how things work, and what they actually mean.
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