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Post by mauvemorn on Oct 9, 2023 5:24:02 GMT -5
How to make LODs
When you zoom out in Live mode, the game engine has to render more objects.
To speed up this process, each of them changes to a more simplified version.
These versions are called LODs, which stands for Level of detail. For hair and most other items, there are four of them, hence 4 .blend files in the folder.
The main distinction between LODs is the polycount of 3D models inside them.
Polycount is the number of units ( in this case, triangles ) the mesh is made of.
LODs may also contain different number of meshgroups and be affected by different bones, but that generally does not happen with hair items, so you do not need to study them.
In CAS, you always see LOD 0, regardless of your graphics settings.
To check them, you need to change graphics settings to the lowest, restart the game and go into Live mode.
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| Prepare meshes:
- Open LOD 0.blend file with your hair;
- To prevent yourself from accidentally overwriting LOD 0, File - Save as, choose LOD 1, replace it;
- Select the base shape, switch to the Material tab. Assigning a texture will give you a better idea of when decimation becomes too destructive;
- Click on the yellow dot next to Base color, choose Image texture;
- Click on Open and choose any of your diffuse textures;
- With the base shape selected, Shift-click on the last hat chop to select all three meshgroups;
- If you did not do it before, switch to Edit mode, select everything with A, Mesh - Merge - By distance. This will prevent the mesh from ripping along borders.
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| Make LOD 1 - 3:
- With all three meshgroups still selected, in Modifiers tab add Decimate;
- Copy it to selected;
- Alt-click and drag the main value. Stop before the mesh changes its shape too much or the textures start distorting;
- You do not need to apply the modifier. Just File - Save. LOD 1 is done;
- While holding Alt, continue dragging the value down until the mesh more or less retains its shape;
- File - Save as, replace LOD 2. LOD 2 is done;
- Continue reducing the polycount, stop before it starts sinking into the scalp or distorting dramatically;
- File - Save as, replace LOD 3. LOD 3 is done.
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Post by mauvemorn on Oct 10, 2023 4:06:19 GMT -5
How to replace and import resources back into .package
Replace resources:
- Open the folder with resources;
- In a different window, open your Downloads folder ( or any other place downloaded files are saved by default );
- Using Shift* and Ctrl**, select all .png files you made ( all 24 diffuse, two specular, normal, and shadow maps );
- Drag them into the folder with resources;
- It will ask if you would like to replace 28 files, say yes. If there's less, you may have named something the wrong way.
* Hold Shift to select all files from the first selected one to the last;
** Ctrl-click to add or remove a specific file to the selection;
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| How to proceed depends on what you made and how.
Look through the red text first to find your situation and follow along.
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| If you made all LODs and hat chops:
3 meshgroups in each LOD:
- In Sims 4 Studio main menu, click on My projects and open your original hair.package file ( the one with your reference );
- Ctrl Shift C to open the console, paste studio.importall to import everything in;
- Change tags in Categories in a way that makes sense, not forgetting to apply them to all swatches.
If you made no hat chops:
1 meshgroup in each LOD:
- In Sims 4 Studio main menu choose Create CAS Standalone, click on CAS, filter content by Hair and 1 meshgroup;
- The buzzcuts have no LODs, so not suitable in this case. Cottage living has two hairstyles with hats made of one meshgroup. If you will replace all textures and meshes, the file will become base game compatible. If you don't have this pack, choose any earrings instead. However, before cloning them, open hair.package with My projects, Tools - Color palette, Import color palette;
- It it is the hair, Shift-click on it to select all swatches. If earrings, select only one swatch;
- Click Next, replace hair.package;
- If it is earrings, Tools - Color palette, choose Apply palette to package;
- Ctrl Shift C to open the console, paste studio.importall to import everything in;
- If it was earrings, recategorize to Hair;
- Change tags in Categories in a way that makes sense, not forgetting to apply them to all swatches.
If you made no hat chops and no LODs:
1 meshgroup in LOD 0:
- In Sims 4 Studio main menu choose Create CAS Standalone, click on CAS, paste ymHair_BuzzCutNatural into the search bar, find the one for the right frame, Shift-click on it to select all swatches, click Next, replace hair.package;
- Ctrl Shift C to open the console, paste studio.importall to import everything in;
- Change tags in Categories in a way that makes sense, not forgetting to apply them to all swatches;
- By default, the hair will disappear when a sim wears a hat. If you want it to stay, edit Region Map.
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Post by mauvemorn on Oct 10, 2023 4:36:23 GMT -5
Final testing
On the highest graphics settings, in CAS: - Check if you're happy with the intensity of the shine;
- Check the placement of the shadow on the face. If it looks odd on the neck or along the hairline, use a soft brush and white color to make it fade slower;
- If the hair and the head look darker than the rest of the sim, the normal map's transparency was not preserved ( this can happen with incorrectly saved .dds files, not .png, so if you made yours the way I explained, this should not happen );
- May as well look through all swatches to make sure all of them were replaced;
- Unless you've already done that, put a few different hats on the sim to see how it works with hat chops.
| On the lowest graphics settings, in Live mode:
- If you made LODs, zoom out to preview them. If the item distorts dramatically, it is affected by a bone that was not present in the original LOD. You need to either clone something that is affected by it, or remove the bone;
- Check how a sim hold objects and interacts with other sims to be sure everything is perfect.
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Post by mauvemorn on Oct 10, 2023 5:24:46 GMT -5
Copyrights and distribution
For personal use, you can do whatever you want with other people's intellectual property. The rules exist for the distribution.
If converting premade hair from other creators to The Sims 4, make sure to check if they allow it in their Terms of Use or the License agreement. If you will violate them and be discovered, whoever holds the rights to this item might send you or a file-sharing website a DMCA takedown ( basically, "remove this file or we will sue" ). Nobody will sue you, no matter what, because this costs a lot of money that they may not be able to get back from you. However, a hosting website has the money, so it makes sense for them to comply and remove your files or even your account.
If an item belongs to the company, they most likely wouldn't even care to send you a takedown. While it is against the rules, they loose nothing and can still benefit from a free promo.
If it belongs to a custom content creator, they most likely will discover the theft and make it known to your audience. While the majority of The Sims 4 players do not care about the effort creators put into making CC, it will still damage your reputation. Highly advise to never take anything made by CC creators without explicit permission. Do not want people to steal from you, do not steal from others. I would also advise to refrain from buying content from file sharing websites unless it is clear that the uploader made it ( for example, if they have a link to their Second life/IMVU/etc store ). Nobody makes dozens of game-ready hair meshes just in case someone might buy them on sketchfab, those are always made for a game with an audience of people ready to pay. No link, don't risk.
I used this hair from F o r t n i t e for educational purposes and will not be sharing it. If you would like to follow along or have it in your game, google its name ( can be seen in this screenshot ) and you will find it on Deviantart. |
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Post by mauvemorn on Oct 10, 2023 6:15:34 GMT -5
How to follow this tutorial in Blender 2.7x
If your computer cannot run Blender 3+, you can still follow this tutorial in an older version of Blender.
Key differences:
- Instead of Blender 3.6, get 2.76b. You can also get 2.79, it seems to work fine with Sims 4 Studio Beta;
- Selection in the viewport is done with RMB;
- Textures are plugged in the Texture tab;
- Knife tool and Mesh - Merge - By distance ( called Remove doubles ) are in the Tools panel;
- X-ray is called Limit selection to visible;
- Generate data levels is at the bottom of the modifier;
- You must always use Clean with All groups after transferring weights;
- Mesh - Faces - Tris to quads instead of Face - Tris to quads;
- Mesh - Edges - Edge split instead of Mesh - Split - Face by edges.
If I missed anything, don't hesitate to ask.
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