How to use Sims 4 Studio's slot editor
Feb 23, 2016 8:43:33 GMT -5
girlfromverona, Asyli, and 31 more like this
Post by orangemittens on Feb 23, 2016 8:43:33 GMT -5
Introduction
This tutorial will show you the features of Studio's slot editor and how to use them.
What you will need
Sims 4 Studio 2.7.0.0 (Jackpot) or above.
Instructions
1. Create your mesh as usual. When you have imported it into the .package and you're ready to create your slots click the Rig/Slots tab.
2. If the item already has a deco slot and you want to add more click on the deco slot line and then click the Copy button. If your item, like this bookcase, has no slots then first click one of the other slot lines. When you do the slot editor portion will open below the list of slots.
3. The first number you will need is the slot height. This is easily found in Blender. Open your mesh in Blender and click into Edit mode. select a single vertex that is on the level of the surface you want to add slots to. Click the n key on your keyboard to bring up the side bar menu if it is not already showing. Scroll to the top to get to the Transform section. Place your mouse in the Z line there and copy the number.
5. Back in Studio click the Add button to add a new slot (or the Copy button if your item already has a deco slot to copy). When you click the Add button a new slot will be created and it will be set at 0 for x, y, and z placing it at the origin.
6. If you have copied a pre-existing slot Studio will name your new copy correctly and in sequential numeric order. If you are adding a slot you will need to name it yourself. The EA convention for deco slots is as follows:
small slots _deco_sml_1
medium slots _deco_med_1
large slots _deco_lrg_1
Depending on what size slot you want your first added slot should have one of these three names. Type the name into the Name field as shown below. Then paste your z value into the z field.
7. Click the Copy button and Studio will add a new slot to the .package and it will be correctly named and in sequential numeric order. The slot you copied will be de-selected and the new slot will be the selected slot. It will be located in the exact same place as the slot you copied. Small deco slots will show up as bright yellow cylinders that are the same size as the EA toothbrush holder. Medium deco slots will show up as deep blue cylinders that are twice the size of the small slot cylinder. Large deco slots are red cylinders that are three times the size of the small slot cylinder.
8. Move the second slot over by typing into the x line. This will move the item to the right if you type a positive number in and to the left if you type a negative number in. The small slot cylinders are sized such that 0.125 is the amount to type if you want the deco slots to be directly next to one another but not touching...you can type in whatever you want though. You will not see the slot move to the new position until you mouse click somewhere outside of the number field. This allows Studio to know that you are done adding numbers into the field and it will move the slot to the position you entered.
As seen below this results in two slots directly next to one another with one selected and the other not selected. Because this bookcase isn't a standard depth at the top a y value of 0 is causing the two slots to be hovering in the air in front of the shelf and they need to be moved backwards so they sit on it instead.
9. To position two slots at once both will need to be selected. To select multiple slots at once hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and right mouse click the slots you want to select. When holding the shift key down any slot you click will be added to your selection. As slots are added they will become brightly colored instead of partly translucent. Once you have selected the slots you want to move click the Transform button to get the Transform pop up box.
10. Determining what value to put in for y here can be done mathematically in Blender by calculating the correct number based on the y value of the vertices on the front of the shelf and the y value of the vertices on the back of the shelf. I've described that method elsewhere. It can also be done by moving a bone in Blender to the position you want the slot to be in. Alternatively, you can do what I did here and make a wild guess. Studio's slot editor has two ways of determining how to position slots:
Move - this will move the slots to the exact location you enter into the x, y, and z, fields. If you have multiple slots selected and you enter a value into all three fields at once all the selected slots will be moved to the exact same location. Since this is obviously not what's wanted you should only put a number into one or two of the fields at a time when using the Move feature with multiple slots selected. Note that the exact location of a single point in Studio is the same as the location in Blender.
Offset - this will move the slots by the exact amount you enter into the x, y, and z fields. This will be discussed more a little further on.
Since I didn't want to bother going back to Blender I took a guess, selected Move, and entered a value into the y field. Since I wanted the slots to move away from me I selected a number greater than 0. In Studio's slot editor the larger the y value is the further away from you the slot will be as you are looking directly at your mesh.
11. My guess didn't turn out too badly but my plan is to set this row of slots down the middle of the surface and this y value places them too far back on the shelf. To correct this I can click the Transform button again to get the Transform pop up. This time, since I just want to scooch them both a little further forward, I select Offset instead of Move. 0.1 is a fairly small number to move them by and, because I want them to move toward me I put a - sign in front.
Note: when using Offset a negative y value will move the slot forward and a positive y value will move the slot backward.
Note 2: If you are using the offset feature and you're guesstimating how much to offset and you don't like where the slots end up just click the Transform button again to bring up the Transform popup. Studio will retain your last settings in the pop up so all you need to do to reverse what you did is add a negative sign to the number if it didn't have one or delete the negative sign if it did. This will cause the slot to move in the opposite direction by the same amount you offset it thus returning it to the original position.
12. Offsetting the slots by -0.1 moved them a little too far forward so I can correct that by offsetting them again and putting in a smaller value with no negative sign. This will move them a little bit backward. As you use the slot editor you will soon come to be familiar with how much a slot will move based on the number you type in. Before settling in to work on an item seriously try playing around by entering values in with offset selected to get used to how far a given value will make things move.
13. That offset did the trick and the slots are centered nicely on the shelf. Next, to add another slot, I first de-select one of the slots by right mouse clicking on the other one. As long as the Shift key is not held down this will cause the slot you click on to be selected and all others to be de-selected. Since my plan is to create a new slot on the other side of the middle slot I select the slot on the right hand side.
Once just a single slot is selected click the Copy button. Studio will create a new slot in the same position as the one you copied and it will be selected. Again, it will be correctly named and in sequential numeric order.
14. To get it on the opposite side of the middle slot just add a negative sign in front of the number.
15. Continue adding slots in this row until the slots reach from one end of the surface to another. If you want them to line up as shown below just continue adding 0.125 to the x value of the one you copied. Once you have a middle row finished click on the first slot line in the list, hold down the shift key and click on the last slot line in the list. This will cause all the slots to be selected.
16. Keep holding down the Shift key and click Copy. This will create a copy of all the selected slots and bring up the Transform pop up. You can use either the Move selection if you know exactly where you want the slots to go (if you use this feature with many slots selected you should only fill in one of the fields or else you will end up with slots that are on top of each other) or the offset selection if you know how much you want the slots to move by. In this case, I want to offset this row so it is in front of the other row.
17. That resulted in the slots hanging over the edge of the front of the shelf so I reversed that by clicking the Transform button and removing the negative sign from the number in the y field. This returned the slots to their original position and I can repeat the offset using a smaller number so the slots won't move quite so far forward.
18. Having created a front row I then repeated step 15 to select my original middle row of slots. Holding down the Shift key and clicking Copy duplicated that row again and then I offset it by the same amount but with no negative sign. This moved the copied slots into position behind the middle row. The end result is three rows of slots. As you can see the slot cylinders overlap somewhat. This means that in the game objects the size of the toothbrush holder will clip each other if all the slots are used at once. This is fine and allows players a lot of flexibility in placing items on the shelf.
19. I repeat the above steps to create all the slots on the next shelf. I then selected all the slots on the second shelf, got the z value for the shelf below, and used Move to position the copies on the shelf below. This resulted in most slots being in a good position but the front row was hanging off. This is easily corrected by selecting the unwanted slots and clicking Delete to remove them.
20. A little fine tuning moved them into good position. Because the shelf below this one is exactly the same depth and width I can just copy all of these slots, get the z value of the shelf below, and Move them to the new z position.
21. Step 20 can be repeated for the last shelf because it's the same size as the other two. This results in a bookcase item with 114 small deco slots.
22. To add medium slots next just click on one of the small slots and copy it. Change the name by typing med into the name field to replace the sml. Doing so will cause the copied slot to change to a medium slot and this will be indicated by a dark blue cylinder twice the size of the yellow small slot cylinders. It will be selected and the small slot you copied will be deselected.
23. Once you click out of the name field Studio will automatically renumber the medium slot. Since this is the first medium slot in the .package Studio has renumbered it to number 1. If there were already medium slots in the .package Studio would renumber it so it was added to the bottom of the medium slot list. You can then begin positioning your medium slots as you did the small slots.
This tutorial has gone over the various features of Studio's slot editor and if you have questions please post them in the thread below.
It is important to note that if you are adding slots on a default override object that you should renumber your rig and slot resources and update the references to them in the Object Definition resource. This will insure that your new rig and slot resources do not override an EA rig/slot resource pair that is referenced by objects other than the one you mean your pair to override. Studio has a one click option to carry out this important step in the Tools/Modding menu:
Remember too that if you put slots this close together you will need to turn the bb.move objects on cheat on in order for them to all be in use at the same time.
This tutorial will show you the features of Studio's slot editor and how to use them.
What you will need
Sims 4 Studio 2.7.0.0 (Jackpot) or above.
Instructions
1. Create your mesh as usual. When you have imported it into the .package and you're ready to create your slots click the Rig/Slots tab.
2. If the item already has a deco slot and you want to add more click on the deco slot line and then click the Copy button. If your item, like this bookcase, has no slots then first click one of the other slot lines. When you do the slot editor portion will open below the list of slots.
3. The first number you will need is the slot height. This is easily found in Blender. Open your mesh in Blender and click into Edit mode. select a single vertex that is on the level of the surface you want to add slots to. Click the n key on your keyboard to bring up the side bar menu if it is not already showing. Scroll to the top to get to the Transform section. Place your mouse in the Z line there and copy the number.
5. Back in Studio click the Add button to add a new slot (or the Copy button if your item already has a deco slot to copy). When you click the Add button a new slot will be created and it will be set at 0 for x, y, and z placing it at the origin.
6. If you have copied a pre-existing slot Studio will name your new copy correctly and in sequential numeric order. If you are adding a slot you will need to name it yourself. The EA convention for deco slots is as follows:
small slots _deco_sml_1
medium slots _deco_med_1
large slots _deco_lrg_1
Depending on what size slot you want your first added slot should have one of these three names. Type the name into the Name field as shown below. Then paste your z value into the z field.
7. Click the Copy button and Studio will add a new slot to the .package and it will be correctly named and in sequential numeric order. The slot you copied will be de-selected and the new slot will be the selected slot. It will be located in the exact same place as the slot you copied. Small deco slots will show up as bright yellow cylinders that are the same size as the EA toothbrush holder. Medium deco slots will show up as deep blue cylinders that are twice the size of the small slot cylinder. Large deco slots are red cylinders that are three times the size of the small slot cylinder.
8. Move the second slot over by typing into the x line. This will move the item to the right if you type a positive number in and to the left if you type a negative number in. The small slot cylinders are sized such that 0.125 is the amount to type if you want the deco slots to be directly next to one another but not touching...you can type in whatever you want though. You will not see the slot move to the new position until you mouse click somewhere outside of the number field. This allows Studio to know that you are done adding numbers into the field and it will move the slot to the position you entered.
As seen below this results in two slots directly next to one another with one selected and the other not selected. Because this bookcase isn't a standard depth at the top a y value of 0 is causing the two slots to be hovering in the air in front of the shelf and they need to be moved backwards so they sit on it instead.
9. To position two slots at once both will need to be selected. To select multiple slots at once hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and right mouse click the slots you want to select. When holding the shift key down any slot you click will be added to your selection. As slots are added they will become brightly colored instead of partly translucent. Once you have selected the slots you want to move click the Transform button to get the Transform pop up box.
10. Determining what value to put in for y here can be done mathematically in Blender by calculating the correct number based on the y value of the vertices on the front of the shelf and the y value of the vertices on the back of the shelf. I've described that method elsewhere. It can also be done by moving a bone in Blender to the position you want the slot to be in. Alternatively, you can do what I did here and make a wild guess. Studio's slot editor has two ways of determining how to position slots:
Move - this will move the slots to the exact location you enter into the x, y, and z, fields. If you have multiple slots selected and you enter a value into all three fields at once all the selected slots will be moved to the exact same location. Since this is obviously not what's wanted you should only put a number into one or two of the fields at a time when using the Move feature with multiple slots selected. Note that the exact location of a single point in Studio is the same as the location in Blender.
Offset - this will move the slots by the exact amount you enter into the x, y, and z fields. This will be discussed more a little further on.
Since I didn't want to bother going back to Blender I took a guess, selected Move, and entered a value into the y field. Since I wanted the slots to move away from me I selected a number greater than 0. In Studio's slot editor the larger the y value is the further away from you the slot will be as you are looking directly at your mesh.
11. My guess didn't turn out too badly but my plan is to set this row of slots down the middle of the surface and this y value places them too far back on the shelf. To correct this I can click the Transform button again to get the Transform pop up. This time, since I just want to scooch them both a little further forward, I select Offset instead of Move. 0.1 is a fairly small number to move them by and, because I want them to move toward me I put a - sign in front.
Note: when using Offset a negative y value will move the slot forward and a positive y value will move the slot backward.
Note 2: If you are using the offset feature and you're guesstimating how much to offset and you don't like where the slots end up just click the Transform button again to bring up the Transform popup. Studio will retain your last settings in the pop up so all you need to do to reverse what you did is add a negative sign to the number if it didn't have one or delete the negative sign if it did. This will cause the slot to move in the opposite direction by the same amount you offset it thus returning it to the original position.
12. Offsetting the slots by -0.1 moved them a little too far forward so I can correct that by offsetting them again and putting in a smaller value with no negative sign. This will move them a little bit backward. As you use the slot editor you will soon come to be familiar with how much a slot will move based on the number you type in. Before settling in to work on an item seriously try playing around by entering values in with offset selected to get used to how far a given value will make things move.
13. That offset did the trick and the slots are centered nicely on the shelf. Next, to add another slot, I first de-select one of the slots by right mouse clicking on the other one. As long as the Shift key is not held down this will cause the slot you click on to be selected and all others to be de-selected. Since my plan is to create a new slot on the other side of the middle slot I select the slot on the right hand side.
Once just a single slot is selected click the Copy button. Studio will create a new slot in the same position as the one you copied and it will be selected. Again, it will be correctly named and in sequential numeric order.
14. To get it on the opposite side of the middle slot just add a negative sign in front of the number.
15. Continue adding slots in this row until the slots reach from one end of the surface to another. If you want them to line up as shown below just continue adding 0.125 to the x value of the one you copied. Once you have a middle row finished click on the first slot line in the list, hold down the shift key and click on the last slot line in the list. This will cause all the slots to be selected.
16. Keep holding down the Shift key and click Copy. This will create a copy of all the selected slots and bring up the Transform pop up. You can use either the Move selection if you know exactly where you want the slots to go (if you use this feature with many slots selected you should only fill in one of the fields or else you will end up with slots that are on top of each other) or the offset selection if you know how much you want the slots to move by. In this case, I want to offset this row so it is in front of the other row.
17. That resulted in the slots hanging over the edge of the front of the shelf so I reversed that by clicking the Transform button and removing the negative sign from the number in the y field. This returned the slots to their original position and I can repeat the offset using a smaller number so the slots won't move quite so far forward.
18. Having created a front row I then repeated step 15 to select my original middle row of slots. Holding down the Shift key and clicking Copy duplicated that row again and then I offset it by the same amount but with no negative sign. This moved the copied slots into position behind the middle row. The end result is three rows of slots. As you can see the slot cylinders overlap somewhat. This means that in the game objects the size of the toothbrush holder will clip each other if all the slots are used at once. This is fine and allows players a lot of flexibility in placing items on the shelf.
19. I repeat the above steps to create all the slots on the next shelf. I then selected all the slots on the second shelf, got the z value for the shelf below, and used Move to position the copies on the shelf below. This resulted in most slots being in a good position but the front row was hanging off. This is easily corrected by selecting the unwanted slots and clicking Delete to remove them.
20. A little fine tuning moved them into good position. Because the shelf below this one is exactly the same depth and width I can just copy all of these slots, get the z value of the shelf below, and Move them to the new z position.
21. Step 20 can be repeated for the last shelf because it's the same size as the other two. This results in a bookcase item with 114 small deco slots.
22. To add medium slots next just click on one of the small slots and copy it. Change the name by typing med into the name field to replace the sml. Doing so will cause the copied slot to change to a medium slot and this will be indicated by a dark blue cylinder twice the size of the yellow small slot cylinders. It will be selected and the small slot you copied will be deselected.
23. Once you click out of the name field Studio will automatically renumber the medium slot. Since this is the first medium slot in the .package Studio has renumbered it to number 1. If there were already medium slots in the .package Studio would renumber it so it was added to the bottom of the medium slot list. You can then begin positioning your medium slots as you did the small slots.
This tutorial has gone over the various features of Studio's slot editor and if you have questions please post them in the thread below.
It is important to note that if you are adding slots on a default override object that you should renumber your rig and slot resources and update the references to them in the Object Definition resource. This will insure that your new rig and slot resources do not override an EA rig/slot resource pair that is referenced by objects other than the one you mean your pair to override. Studio has a one click option to carry out this important step in the Tools/Modding menu:
Remember too that if you put slots this close together you will need to turn the bb.move objects on cheat on in order for them to all be in use at the same time.
