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Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Aug 2014 at 6:03 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 21st Oct 2014 at 1:31 AM. Reason: We have categories now!
Default PSD files for custom eyes + eye recolor tutorial!
Hello there, my lovely Simmer friends!
Well basically, I savagely tore out some eyes from a texture file in one of the CAS demo package files.
And while I can't run the TS4 demo, I know of many people here who can and who may want a nifty custom eye tutorial and resources. So in these PSDs I have all the layers that you will need (and one extra) for recoloring an eye. But wait, it doesn't stop there! When I was creating these templates, I noticed some awkwardness around the edges. So I've darkened the edges of the eye quite a bit to help the textures stay nice and pretty. These templates are also grayscale (for coloring!) and I've packaged both versions of the eye (with the only difference being the position of the white "spotlight").

As for the tutorial, I will be going over:
- How to use the red layers packaged in the PSD
- Gaussian blurring
- Blend modes (Namely "overlay")

What will probably end up being added? ::

- a "How-To" on adding these textures to Color Magic. You see, I'm just discovering this tool myself. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

I also know that some GIMP users must be out here, but *apparently* PSD files are supported out of the box in (recent versions of) GIMP. Let's hope, heh heh.

Prerequisites:
- Photoshop (which is what I'll be using in this tut) or the GIMP
- Some vary basic knowledge of image editors

(Now, before I start the tutorial, I'll be putting captions UNDERNEATH the images. So you all don't get confused).

1. Open up Photoshop and open one of the zipped templates I have provided. I will be using the one that ends with "Right" in this tutorial, but the only difference is that the two templates are mirrored.


This is what your PS will look like upon opening. Don't worry... yet.

2. Go to your LAYERS tab and unclick the little eyes beside the top two layers:


Now it's less of an eyestrain!

3. I'll admit that I didn't capture this shot well. Basically you will keep your layers the way they are and modify the Secondary/Design blank layer included (not pictured). I'm into putting circles around the pupils that are either a darker shade than the "main" color or a complementary shade to the main color. To select a circular selection, there's a rectangle select tool to the left of the main PS window. You will need to right click and do the "Ellipse select" and you can optionally make it a 1:1 ratio in the top pane (which is what I did.


After doing this step, I hid the original layer because I didn't need it at that moment.

4. On your MAIN color layer, you can just choose to fill the entire layer with whatever color you're wanting.
(You can choose "Fill" from the "EDIT" pane in the top toolbar)


Awesome! now you can have color. *Throws confetti*

5. I know we're doing a lot of layer switching, but trust me on this one. Now you'll need to switch to the secondary color and deselect everything. Now you can go to "Filter" -> "Blur" -> "Gaussian Blur" and select that. Use the slider carefully. You want your secondary texture to be smooth but not transparent.


I find that the blur radius is happiest between 1.0 and 5.0 ... give or take

6. Now it's time to see what your tireless effort has yielded you. Make the base, grayscale layer visible (by clicking the eye icon). Merge your Secondary and Main color layers through "Layer" -> "Merge" and then set the blend mode (which can be found in the small toolbar above the list of layers) to Overlay. If you feel like the texture is too bright like this, you may want to try setting the layer to Multiply, however from what I've seen "Overlay" works for most mid to dark colors.


You can see the secondary color as a darker blue ring around the pupil.

7. Oh, but we're not done yet.
You need to make the RED layers visible again. Do that and your texture should look like:



8. Now you need to use the magic wand tool. It's found on your lefthand toolbar and it's sort of like a stick with sparks coming out of it. If you're unsure, hovering over the icons may help.

9. Select your red "spotlight" on the pupil. Make the red layer invisible and without clicking anything on your texture, move over to the layer with your colors. Go to "Edit" -> "Clear" and that will give you back a decent looking spotlight.


There's a dotted line around the spotlight. In this scenario that area has been selected.

10. Repeat with the red surrounding your eye on the color layer.

11. Hide/delete the red layers so they're not visible anymore.


The product, as seen when zoomed in to fit the window.


The final product magnified by 200 (so you can actually see it).

This is only the beginning of what you can do with texturing eyes.
You can also choose to omit the secondary layer and do a single color throughout for an extreme "Maxis-y" look.


Getting these into your game:
Astraea Nevermore has written a nifty tutorial that focuses on getting eyes into the game (as default replacements).

When you export the .dds (as mentioned in the tutorial), you'll need to open it up in Photoshop/etc. and you can simply place your recolors over the existing eyes without having to resize or do anything like that.
Attached files:
File Type: 7z  [LW]RecolorableEyesTS4_PSD.7z (10.5 KB, 593 downloads) - View custom content
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Instructor
#2 Old 20th Aug 2014 at 12:09 AM
great tuts!! cheers!! thanks for this

"Keep Calm and Play with STYLE"
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Lab Assistant
#3 Old 20th Aug 2014 at 4:19 AM
this is excellent, now we just need one for skins!!
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Original Poster
#4 Old 20th Aug 2014 at 5:14 AM Last edited by LoonehWannabe : 20th Aug 2014 at 5:51 AM.
@MrDensilter: Thank you !!

@gh0stic: Skins actually seem to be VERY interesting. I've found replacements for noses, mouths, and eyes that add extra details. These files are in grayscale and only include one element (nose, eyes, mouth).
As far as recolors go, I have some hunches but I'm not quite sure. You see, the CAS Demo refuses to run (well, it runs in the background ) so I can't... really see how the skins work.
I believe another MTS user (tedw) has created a replacement for the blue, so it's possible.

EDIT: Anyone who's interested in taking a gander at recoloring the skins, take a look here.
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 20th Aug 2014 at 5:53 PM
@LoonehWannabe: Yea, I've been poking around as much as I can in the Demo files and haven't found out anything more than you or anyone else as it seems. I'm just itching to make new skins because EA did let us down a tad with them. When 9/2 rolls around I'll be the happiest S.O.B for more of an opportunity to recolor skins at long last.
Thank you for the links! Much appreciated! :D
Instructor
#6 Old 21st Aug 2014 at 9:24 PM
Quote: Originally posted by LoonehWannabe
@MrDensilter: Thank you !!

@gh0stic: Skins actually seem to be VERY interesting. I've found replacements for noses, mouths, and eyes that add extra details. These files are in grayscale and only include one element (nose, eyes, mouth).
As far as recolors go, I have some hunches but I'm not quite sure. You see, the CAS Demo refuses to run (well, it runs in the background ) so I can't... really see how the skins work.
I believe another MTS user (tedw) has created a replacement for the blue, so it's possible.

EDIT: Anyone who's interested in taking a gander at recoloring the skins, take a look here.


I had that the first time I ran it...I used ALT+Tab to cycle through your running programs and select it that way, after that it runs fine. (Assuming you are on a Windows machine).

FifthAce2007

My Sims 2 creations are no longer supported. Regardless of what the individual post says, feel free to clone, recolour, chuck on a bonfire or mix in a blender! Just credit me/this site with the upload, and upload here only, thanks
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Original Poster
#7 Old 21st Aug 2014 at 11:37 PM
Quote: Originally posted by FifthAce2007
I had that the first time I ran it...I used ALT+Tab to cycle through your running programs and select it that way, after that it runs fine. (Assuming you are on a Windows machine).

Well I don't know what I did, but it started running so woohoo!

(Also added a link to a helpful off-site tutorial on getting them into the game)
Test Subject
#8 Old 12th May 2016 at 1:31 AM
Can anyone help me, when I try and save this as a DDS it is saying 'Image height and width must be multiple of 4' this is my first time doing eye recolors.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 12th May 2016 at 12:02 PM Last edited by Esmeralda : 12th May 2016 at 2:12 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by ericaassunta
Can anyone help me, when I try and save this as a DDS it is saying 'Image height and width must be multiple of 4' this is my first time doing eye recolors.

This tutorial is very old and uses an obsolete tool (Color Magic) which hasn't worked since late 2014, so you can no longer use it to add your eyes to the game. You can, however, still use the part you're referring to, the making of the eye texture itself. That texture can not be saved as a .dds file (wrong dimensions for .dds) because its purpose is not to save it as a .dds but as a .psd which is then pasted onto an exported copy of a default eye texture (which is in .dds format).

So, make your eye texture as is explained here, then flatten it and and save as psd. Then follow this custom eyes tutorial using Sims 4 Studio which is a tool that is kept up to date: http://sims4studio.com/thread/720/m...one-eye-recolor . That tool will export a default eye texture which you open in Photoshop or GIMP and paste your new eye texture onto. You then save that as a .dds file, and import it back into Sims 4 Studio, which will save your new eye as a .package file. Good luck!
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