SimPose 2: How to import a SimModel / Part 4

This is the fourth and last part of the “How to import a SimModel to SimPose 2″ Workshop.

First we will have a look back at the first three parts for a short summary.

Then i will show you how to bring all the different parts, the meshes and texture, into SimPose and finally save the complete model.

Check it out, this part of the workshop is the easiest…

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Summary of Parts 1 – 3!

In Part 1 i gave you a basic explanation of the required files and their formats.  I also gave you tips and hints about some typical problems, like hair and alpha-channels. This part is still most important to read. It makes you understand what’s going on.

In Part 2 i told you how to extract Body-, Face- and Hair-Meshes of a Sim to make it ready to be imported in SimPose. This step requires the tool SimPe and a little patience. I also told you how to organize SimPose-Files best.

Part 3 was dedicated to the textures that have to be prepared for SimPose. You learned how to avoid the use of SimPose’s “Texture Overlays” but create even better Textures anyway.

Now, in Part 4, we will put those files together in SimPose and save our SimModel.

Make sure all files are ready to go!

Like i already told you in Part 1 you will need the following 6 files:

• body.5gd (the body 3D-Mesh)
• body.bmp (the body texture/skin)
• face.5gd (the face 3D-Mesh)
• face.bmp (the face texture/skin)
• hair.5gd (the hair 3D-Mesh)
• hair.bmp (or 6tx, hair texture)

Make sure you have all these files collected in one and the same folder inside the SimPose Directory. Example: C:/Programs/SimPose2/myModels/BettyPrime

As you can see i will use my model Betty Prime for this workshop. I’m currently messing around with Betty in preparation for the upcoming Pleased Magazine “Pleased 5″.

SimPose 2 Character Tab!

Start SimPose and go to the “Character” Tab (1). This is the place where you bring all parts of a model together. Complete models can also be saved and loaded here.

In the “Model Selection” you can have up to 4 different SimModels which are called “Figures” (2). Every figure consists of at least 3 “Parts” (3), well you know: body, face, hair.

There is also a fourth slot for additional parts like glasses for example. I recommend to leave that slot alone for now…

Please also leave the “Position” (4) area alone! Unfinished – unstable – useless.

The mesh and texture area!

Set the “Model Selection” to “figure0″, which is the slot for our first Sim.

I always start with the Body-Part and put it into the first slot “part0″. But this is up to you, the order of the 3 Body-Parts is not important. For now, let’s start with the Body-Mesh of our sim.

1. Import the body.5gd

In the area “Mesh and texture(s)” click on the big button “Mesh” (1).

Go to the Body-Mesh you want to load (.5gd) and choose it. The shape of a Sim should appear on the stage.

It looks like this, depending on the Mesh you’ve chosen. Note that my Mesh is called “dressed.5gd” and the name appears on the Mesh-Button:

2. Import the face.5gd and hair.5gd!

Repeat the last step and load the face- and hair-meshes onto the stage:

In the “Model Selection” switch to “part1″, click the big Mesh-Button and choose your “face.5gd”.

The shape of the face (head) appears on the stage and you can select “part2″ from the menu to load the Hair-Mesh.

The model seems to be complete, it looks like this:

Texturize the Meshes!

Now we are going to fit the textures/skins – the .bmp-files – to the three meshes.

Which texture you do first is not important. Just take care that you put the right skin on the right Body-Part ;)

To practice a bit switch back to “part0″, the Body-Mesh (“dressed” in my case). See the screenshot above if you are not sure.

The “Base Texture”!

Now click on the big button “Base Texture” (1) in the “Mesh and texture(s)” area.

Go to your Body-Texture (body.bmp) and choose it. It appears on the body of the SimModel immediately (2):

Face and Hair!

Do you know what? Just repeat it, do the same for the Face and Hair:

Select “face” in the Part-Menu and load the texture (.bmp) into the “Base Texture” slot.

After that, select “hair” in the Part-Menu and load the Hair-Texture:

Note: I recommend to give all related files the same name. In this example my Body-Mesh is called “body” and the Body-Texture is also called “body”. Make it so detailed and easy as it should be.

How to save a SimModel in SimPose!

This wasn’t too hard, was it?

Better let us save the model quickly before SimPose crashes. Just use the “Save” button in the “Character Tab/Model Selection” to save complete Sims.

Note 1: Don’t change your file-structure and directories afterwards! SimPose will not be able to load a model after it has been moved on the computer.

Note 2: Save every other outfit of your model. Even when there are only little differences. It will help a lot. Also make sure to give proper file-names, like “BettyPrime-dressed-summerskirt” for example.

How to load more SimModels into SimPose 2!

You can have up to 4 Sim-Persons in SimPose at the same time to arrange a group of four.

Remember the “figure” slot in the “Model Selection”? It’s point 2 on the first screenshot, have a look.

When you set this to “figure1″ all slots in the “Mesh and texture(s)” area will be emptied and you can load the Meshes/Textures of another person – just like you did before with “figure0″.

The only thing that makes it really confusing is the strange numeration of the slots. Why the hell does it start at “0″ and not “1″?

But after a while you will figure this out as well.

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Ready for the next steps?

I’ve told you everything about managing a wonderful sims to appear in SimPose 2.

The rest is up to you, just take your time and practice a bit. Fool around with the things you’ve learned here and don’t start with an ambitioned project.

I will soon show you how to create nice poses and hopefully find enough time to write more tutorials for the MXM Master Class.

So long, write a comment, visit my other sites and/or follow me at twitter…

Stay tuned…

Written on 19.07.2008 by MaXsiM
Category: Resources
Tags: Part 6: SimPose, SimPose 2