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Jasc Paing Shop Pro 7
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The Sims 3

Tutorial: Creating Sims 3 Patterns with Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7

About This Tutorial

This tutorial has been created by Joshua "Flobi" Hatfield of flobi.com for the wonderful folks at thesimsresource.com.

The purpose of this tutorial is to take an image with 4 layers and create a viable The Sims 3 pattern having each layer representing each of the 4 recolorable colors by their opacity. This is designed to be an in-depth tutorial giving precise step-by-step instructions, however, it assumes a general understanding of Windows and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.

For this tutorial, I am using my vertical-fade.psp pattern which I have posted at the end of this tutorial as a bonus for anyone who finds this tutorial. Important: Using this tutorial, each layer represents a single color in the final package based on the opacity of the layer. The actual color/hue/brightness/etc. of the layer is irrelevant, only the opacity is used.

This tutorial is also available for Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

Prerequisites

You will need a general understanding of Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 and Windows.

Installing the DDS Plugin

Create the directory, Plugins, in C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7 (this path will be different if you specified a custom location during installation).

Download dds.8bi (http://www.fpsbanana.com/tools/download/650) and save it to C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\Plugins.

File->Preferrences->File Locations... Use the settings in the screenshot here and click OK.

Formating File For DDS Export

Layers->New Raster Layer... Use the settings in the screenshot here and click OK. (The name is unimportant and can be anything you choose.)

Click Flood Fill (a shortcut is the "F" key). Select solid (i.e. no pattern, not fading) black (#000000) as your color. Click in image to fill whole layer with solid black.

Layers-Arrange->Send to Bottom

Select topmost layer
Colors->Adjust->Brightness/Contrast... Set brightness to 255 and contrast to 100 and click OK .
Repeat last two steps for each layer

Selections->Select All

Hide all layers except the bottom two (in the Layer Palette, click the glasses so they have x's on all other layers).
Edit->Copy Merged
Edit->Paste->As New Image
Repeat last three steps for each layer - - .

Select each image in turn and execute Colors->Grey Scale (no screenshot because nothing visibly changed).

(At this point, you can close your original image, you may like to close without saving to preserve your original: .)

Colors->Combine Channel->Combine from RGB... Select the images representing the three lowest layers where the lowest layer is Red, the second from the bottom is Green and the second from the top is Blue. Click OK. (The top layer will be assigned to the alpha channel in a moment. This image will probably not look much like your original. That's okay.)

Select the image created by Combine from RGB, then click Masks->New->From Image... and select under Source window the image created from the topmost layer of the original image.

Masks->Save to Alpha Channel... Click OK . Name the channel Alpha and click OK . (no visual change to the image)

In the Layer Palette, select the Mask tab for the Background layer. Click the Enable Layer Mask Toggle

File->Save, select DDS * (*.dds). Choose a filename with the extension .dds and click Save . I named mine vertical-fade.dds.
Click Yes when it asks about merging the image.
The default settings for the NVIDIA dds Format dialog are fine, click Save.

Creating Pattern from DDS File

Download, install and open Sims 3 Workshop.

Click the square below RGB Mask Image (...Browse)
For each layer, check the checkbox and select a color
Enter a Title, Description, Category and Surface Type

Either Export as a sims3package or Upload to TSR . If you Upload to TSR, you will need to enter your TSR login information. I named mine vertical-fade.Sims3Pack which you can download here as a bonus for finding this tutorial!

Installing the Pattern in Your Game

If you exported it as a sims3package, you can open the folder in which you saved it and double-click the file to have The Sims 3 launcher automatically install it into your game.

Here are some screenshots of this pattern in the game:

Credits

I would like to thank the following people/groups without whom this tutorial would not be possible.

• Pegasussims, whose wonderful tutorial taught me so much in the process of getting here.
• All the people who worked on The Sims 3 Workshop. This is a wonderful tool and I am so excited to be able to use it to create and share with the community.
• The whole thesimsresource.com community who kept me entertained, occupied and informed in the terrible delay waiting for TS3 to come out.
• NVidia, I'm sure, who let us use the DDS plug-in for free.