I am working on trying to convert an All-In-One Computer (TS4_TS2).

There is no tower to load discs for the play computer game option; nor do I know what would happen if the computer needed to be repaired although I suspect a screwdriver would appear to fix some invisible part of the computer.
I would appreciate if someone could steer me to simple animation tutorials for computers and how to remove/replace animations or behaviours. Perhaps this All-In-One Computer doesn't need to break down?

If there is anything else I also need to take into account, I would appreciate if you could advise me.

Thank you in advance for any help and assistance.

For animated items, the easiest is to find one of the objects that's already animated and use the available skeleton and animations for your object, then making sure the placement of the various animated pieces are in the relative places of the proper joints, if that makes sense. Items like the CD or screwdriver are accessories and will spawn into the sims' hands when needed. It's not always easy for converted meshes, because they may not have the right piece in the right place. Either you just have to go with it, or you'll have to do a bit of remeshing.

It is possible to reshape the skeleton, but I'm no expert there (I know there's a tutorial by Echo, but it went over my head the last time I read it, and I haven't looked into it again since).

Animated objects are not too unlike clothes or accessories, in that you'll have to extract the mesh with the skeleton, and then connect the new mesh to the skeleton via the bone/joint assignments. If you've made simpler animated items before, like drawers, it's very similar. There's fewer bone assignments, and occasionally morphs. Objects can sometimes be a bit tricky to work with, but in my opinion it's easier than doing bone assignments on for instance a long hair, or fixing unruly bone assignments on a body mesh. Usually there are few bones so in many cases objects can be a good intro to how bone assignments work (the manual way of doing it).

This is how you assign bones
https://serenity-fall.dreamwidth.org/1813.html
(yes, hair tutorial - but it shows how to manually assign and is quite detailed with the pictures)
- Most objects tend to use 100% for whatever bones the vertices are assigned to - you can mark a single vertex on the original mesh and choose "show" to check which bone the vertex is assigned to.
- If you use Milkshape, make sure to copy over the comments from the original mesh. The "NumSknWeights:3" shown is just for when you use blended weights. If all are 100% to one bone, it can be set to 1.

Echo's tutorial:
https://modthesims.info/t/239160
(This is more for making a completely new animation/object, not for making something like a computer, or an item that already has existing animations ingame)

Armoire:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=93105
(this one is old, haven't looked through it so possible it's got some old info)

The Unimesh tutorials could probably help a bit if you need it for export/import and such.

For export/import to and from SimPE and Milkshape, you use Unimesh (same as when making clothes). Right-click the GMDC in the Resource View for the options.

Anyway... Quick what to do:

- In SimPE, export the mesh you want the animations from (Unimesh/GMDC), and have an OBJ mesh of the mesh you want to transfer the animations to
- In Milkshape, import the animated mesh, then import the OBJ (NOT the other way around!)
- Align the OBJ mesh to the animated mesh. You can click "show skeleton" to see where the joints are. Don't move the joints or the mesh of the animated mesh (I usually mark the vertices and click hide, because it makes the mesh unselectable).
- When you're happy with how it looks, unhide the animated mesh.
- Use the "draw vertices with bone colors" tick button (you can use this on and off, since you can't see marked vertices with it on), then mark vertices on the OBJ mesh, and assign in a way so it closely resembles the animated mesh. Sometimes you'll have to skip parts if they aren't modeled to be animated, or if there isn't enough geometry (you'll figure this out with testing).
- When you've assigned all the vertices, copy over the comments to the proper groups.
- Save the file (so it's easier to go back and change things)
- Export as Unimesh
- Import via the GMDC in SimPE.

Hello @simmer22
I appreciate all your time and effort for this reply.
I have printed off your reply and advice for reference and will start working through the tutorials you have suggested and let you know I get on.
Thank you.