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Tutorial: Creating Sims 3 Patterns with Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

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 Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

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 Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.

Prerequisites

You will need a general understanding of Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and Windows.

Installing the DDS Plugin

Create the directory, Plugins, in C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 (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\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2\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. (If you cannot find Flood Fill, it shares button space with Color Changer , so you can click the arrow next to it and select Flood Fill from there. Alternatively, you can press "F" on your keyboard.)

Layers->Arrange->Send to Bottom

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

Selections->Select All
Selections->Clip to Canvas

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

Select each image in turn and execute Image->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: .)

Image->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 Layers->New Mask Layer->From Image... and select under Source window the image created from the topmost layer of the original image.

Layers->Load/Save Mask->Save Mask to Alpha Channel... name the channel Alpha and click OK . (no visual change to the image)

In the Layer Palette, on the mask layer click the eye to make the layer not visible

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.