So... I've been parked in front of the computer for 3 days straight with instant noodles and frustration as my only source of energy.
But... I finally figured it out!!! How to make plants for TS3.
I've just messed around with it, and made some grasses and flowers. It's not done yet. Need to add thumbnails and such, and some other minor fixes, like lowering the wild grass, since it's floating midair.
But anyways! Have a look and let me know what you think. This is the first thing I've ever EVER made for The Sims... ever... Ah, the confusion at first...

I think I went a bit overboard with the tulips... <-< But it was a good way to practice the steps. I also made ferns in three different sizes, 4 different colors of heather, some low grass and 2 kinds of wildlooking grass/weeds.
The photos aren't anything fancy, but you get a general idea of how it looks.




(Hope I inserted the images correctly... Never posted here before)

Edit: Oh, btw, if this post should be in another section... sorry xD Didn't know where to put it.

First of all, they look very nice, a bit out of proportion maybe, but I'm no expert, what do I know.

Are we talking about objects in SpeedTree format here, right? They are not existing "trees"
recolored, right? Care to share how you created them? Sorry for the interrogation ^^

About the forum section, your choice seems good to me (Object Creation comes to mind too).

EDIT: maybe it's better to use a spoiler tag for the images, so the page is more readable and short ^^

Thank you for your feedback! When you say out of proportion, do you mean the texture itself... like... the size of the individual plants, or just the area it takes up?

Yes, they are speedtree format. I cloned the heather from the basegame in S3PE , exported the .tree (spt?) file and the plantheather_composite_d.dds , made a .tga from that dds, then changed it as I wanted, copied it to the dds, then I opened up the speedtree file and changed it until I was satisfied, made sure to add the .tga file I just made as the composite map, and imported both the .tree and .dds back to the package,
Then I used S3OC to change the package ID, or whatever it's called, so it's not a duplicate of the original heather.

Not sure if I explained that in a good way. Oh, well!

The only "issue" I can imagine some would find with these, is that it's 2d, so the texture is always facing the player, and some might not like that. I started out with this idea that I wanted to make fields with wheat and other kinds of grains, and some meadows, so it doesn't matter than much to me if they aren't solid 3d objects.

I'll try to add a spoiler thingy. Didn't think of that before.

Oh, I see, so you didn't change the mesh (the shape of the object), you just changed the texture
(since these are basically 2d objects). In that case I'm a bit less impressed, no offence, but don't
get me wrong, you still did a good job nonetheless and I commend you. With "changing the speedtree"
you mean something like this http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=548625, i.e. simply
changing the references to the images, or you learned something more about that format?

With "out of proportion" I meant that the flowers seemed too tall to me (compared to the bench),
but, I repeat, what do I know.

Haha, well... Sorry, if it's not impressing. Wasn't my goal anyhow. I did change the texture, but I also had to change the mesh. But that's easy enough. Just change the numbers and the program does the job for you.
Also changed the wind parameters a bit. Didn't fancy the way the texture was rocking back and forth in the wind. Had to go. :P

Yeah, I've read that post, but that only got me halfway. Had to go through 2 days of trial and error before I got the hang of it. I never used any of the software before either so I was quite confused. But essentially, I did it like that.

I do agree that the flowers are a bit tall, but like I said, none of these things are done. Some are floating a bit above ground too. I'll go back and fix them later on. I was just impatient and wanted to see how they'd all look ingame! :D
I would prefer if the tulips were only halfway up the back of the bench. That way you could still see it across a flowerbed, if you place it in a park or such.

Can you elaborate? What program? You edited the _SPT resource with an hex editor, didn't you?
Or maybe you mean "change the numbers" to make a new object instead of a replacement?


How?

Keep up the good work. Not many people, AFAIK, took an interest on trees and flora.

The program I'm using to edit the .spt / .tree files is Speedtree 4.1. I just open them up and you have a bunch of numbers you can change to sculpt the tree/plant/whatever it is your making. I don't go into the hex-editor other than if something went bonkers and I have to manually correct it. The hex-file is by automation edited if you set the composite map in the program (speetree 4.1), so no need to change the texture name manually.

Just give me a while and I can take a few snapshots of what I mean. I'm apparently not that good at explaining with words, haha!

Edit: Oh, right! Wind parameters... I just set the 'leaf rock angle scalar' to zero and it stops rocking back and forth.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd....b688f7d4c4d626c

### I'm apparently not that good at explaining with words, haha!

Nah, it's my fault, I was surprised because I though you were doing all that through hex editing alone.

I actually like that there's a lot of tulips, I think it gives it a nice over-grown, wild-flower look, which would be perfect for meadows.

So... This is what I do...

I copy a .package file I want to clone, to a new folder, change it's name and copy the texture I want to use. In this case I want to make a field of rapes.



I then open the .package in S3PE and export the _spt and IMG, but first I rename the IMG to plantRapeField_composite_d and change the instance number.



I then open up the .dds file I got from the IMG and save it as both a .dds and a .tga after I've edited the texture. The .dds is for the .package. The .tga is for the Speedtree program.
The name of the .tga file should be 'plantRapeField_composite_d' so it matches the name of the IMG in the package file.
If I save the .dds with mipmaps I get a weird, black outline on the texture, so I save it with no mipmaps.



My folder now looks like this.



Now I open up the .spt/.tree file, click on the 'global' tab, set the composite map to the .tga file I just made, change any parameters if need be, and save it. This will edit the hex code for you by automation.



After that, I import the files to the .package again, save it, renumber it in S3OC, and import it to the game, to see if it works.





Something I noticed, is that sometimes, the plant floats or sinks halfway into the ground, and I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with the size of the leaves (the texture is leaves in Speedtree) or the size of the whole plant itself. Have yet to figured out how it's all connected. I just have to mess around with the height of the branches, and see what helps. If you set it to ground level in Speedtree, it might end up floating or sinking, depending or what parameters you use. (I suspect at least. I'm not sure about this)


Those specks that float around in midair, is the texture from the composite map. I placed it too low on the top part, so had to go back and change that. A good way too see where the middle is, is to make a black and white background in the photo editing program you use. Or, at least this is what I do.



Ok, all done! Pjuh.
I probably made it too detailed, but I thought, if anyone else reads this and want to give it a go on their own, this might help.

I was thinking of Holland/Netherlands when I made them. Those plantations are quite thick with tulips. :lovestruc

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...e6a&oe=5573A434

BEAUTIFUL

I downsized the tulips a bit. They are now about halfway up the back of the bench. The tulips I know of are quite tall, so I'm not sure if I'd want them to be any lower than this... Thoughts?

This makes me long for easter...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd....6cbaa215ed13360

If you are going for realism, maybe you can compare a real picture of a tulip field
containing a (average height) person with a screenshot of your tulips containing a Sim.

For those without that software, I found this: http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Speed_Tree_Format
Now, I've only read that very quickly and I'm not even sure if that's the exact same format
used in TS3, but I thought to share that information if there's someone interested.
EDIT: Yep, it's exactly the same format and SpeedTree version.

I'm done with the tulips. They're a perfect height, in my opinion. I know of tulips that barely grow past your ankle and some that reach your hips, so this somewhere in between that.



I'm going to upload these soon. Just gotta read through the guidelines and such first.

Plaaaaaaants!!

Hope you can upload these, they are lovely

They are uploaded. I'm just waiting for the moderators to approve it. Hopefully they will! :P

Congrats! And the screenshots you used are very nice too ^^

Is there's any chance to put also a lower-res version?
A 30MB texture seems a tad extreme to me and, I think, can lead to performance issues.
Try to get a size comparable to that of official trees/flowers.
I hope you take this as constructive criticism.

EDIT: other than the high resolution, you didn't use any DXT compression for the image,
that's another reason why the file is so big. Trees/flowers seems to use DXT-5 (that makes
sense, being basically overlays). And there are no mip-maps either (I guess they are used
to automatically scale the image when the object is rendered from various distances).

I noticed (I only checked the package for the orange tulips) that you are overriding the _IMG for the
plantHeather_selfish_blahblahblah (your image use the same InstanceId of the plant you cloned).
Since you didn't make any change to that, there's no need to change the InstanceId, you can directly
delete that resource from your packages to save a bit of memory and also because it's not a good idea
to override an official resource needlessly.

Hey do you plan to upload the weeds aswell? I love this scenery

@MissRosehip : please read my previous message.

Simply using DXT-5 compression reduces the texture from about 30MB to about 10MB (MipMaps included).

I'm not an expert on graphics, but I tried the following with Gimp:
- scaling the image to 512x1024 with no/linear/cubic/sinc(Lanczos3) interpolation reduce the size from about 10MB to about 680KB.
I can't tell which kind of interpolation guarantees the minimal quality loss.

The heather you used as base for your tulip has a texture of 128x256 and its filesize is only 43KB.
Let's see what happens reducing the tulip texture to that resolution: down to 43KB.

Let's try some comparisons (keep in mind that my graphics settings aren't maxed out). From left to right:
- your original version 1024x2048/NoDXTCompression/NoMipMaps,
- 512x1024 DXT5/MipMaps
- 128x256 DXT5/MipMaps

At those 2 distances, the main difference seems the color and the flowers' border/contour, I think that both can be explained by the scaling.





The 128x256 version looks very bad with a close-up, but maybe that's the result of the scaling.

EDIT: actually, no, I don't think that depends by the scaling. The image looks pretty clear if looked with
a graphic editor, I guess that if you change the texture resolution (like for other TS3 objects) you also
have to change some settings, but my very limited knowledge of the _SPT format doesn't allow me to find that.

All screenshots will auto-explode after you've read the message.


EDIT2: If you want I'll help you to fix the footprint.
It's not a big deal, it's just for having the "green outline" for placing/moving
the object of the right size (even if it seems the size/shape of SpeedTrees
can have some randomness). Oh, what the hell, I'll tell you anyway:
- use Grid on the FPTP resource
- click on the plus sign on "ChunkEntries"
- click on the plus sign on "[0] ChunkEntries"
- click on the plus sign on "RCOLBlock"
- click on the plus sign on "FootprintAreas"
- click on the plus sign on "[0] FootprintAreas"
- change the settings for "Lower" and "Upper"

I think the values are rounded to the closest half-tile size, so for example
the current settings gives you a footprint of 0.5x0.5 tiles (or maybe even a smaller one).
If you use something like [-1, -1] for Lower and [1, 1] for Upper you should get
a 2x2 tiles footprint (assuming the mesh or whatever is called for "trees" is centered
at [0, 0]). But, I repeat, it's not a big deal, especially for this kind of objects
for which the orientation/size doesn't really matters.

Hmm... Well... I made the texture a high-res one because that's what I wanted. And you can see the lego-ish tulips in the background if you resize it just one step down...
I tried using mip maps but I got a weird white outline around the texture where the transparency started, so I just removed them completely, and the problem went away. I just did whatever worked, since I don't know much about picture editing and formats and compression-stuff.

About the shelfshadow thingy, you're correct. I should have removed that from the package. I didn't even come to think of it. I could do an update later on and remove them. I will try adding some kind of compression to the composite IMG, and see what the results are. If they turn blocky and such, I'll just leave it as is.
If you want to make a lowres, compressed, mipmaped version, you're free to do so.

I wonder if the tulips even need a footprint, since they are passable anyways? Does the heather have a footprint? Hmm...
If it improves the gameplay somehow (routing or whatnot) then I will consider adding that to an update.


@lolalule

Yep I'm planning on uploading some weeds and such, as soon as I'm done with them. Right now I'm making different crops, like wheat and flax.

The footprint is required to place the object, but, since - like you said - the field is
routable, making it bigger would only be an aesthetic thing.

Can you please tell me if there are specific settings in the SpeedTree software about
the texture size (width and height I guess)? If yes, would you mind attach here the .tree
file of the orange tulip with different settings (let's say 510x1024) so I can compare the
two files to understand where they differ (a kind of reverse engineering thingy).

Oh, ok. I thought what you meant by the footprint is the green box that shows up ingame. I never paid it much attention, so not sure if all trees and plants had one or not. Oh well...

I'm not sure what you're asking for. The texture the original heather have is 128*256. All I did was make it larger so it would be more detailed. I then imported it to SpeedTree and the size of the leaves are the same, but the texture is a higher resolution. The size of the leaves are changed in one of the tabs in the program. Or you could change the size of the whole thing. But if that thing is a tree, you also enlarge the branches and the trunk. The heather actually is a tree, but both branches and trunk is invisible somehow.




I have no idea how to go about changing the... what would you call it... like.. the frame or mesh the texture is attached to. Those white squares. It would be wonderful if I could figure out how to make them rectangular for example, but I think that's just how SpeedTree is designed. Probably not an option for rectangular leaves.
If I make a texture in a different ratio than 128*256, SpeedTree just morphs it back to the ratio it wants. So if I added a texture that was, lets say, 256*1024, it would be squished together to 256*512 by SpeedTree.

This thread motivated me ...
A mammoth tree - its twice as high as the highest trees in the game.

Its just a wip and there will be changes for the texture (its too red). Making costum trees is a lot of fun!
But as far as I know I have to do the billboards manually, might be a ton of work. And then theres this season stuff I have to test...

Wonderful!
Yeah, trees seem a lot more complicated to make than some flowers. You need billboards and separate textures for winter (if you have seasons). I haven't attempted to make it yet, so your process would be nice to read about.