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Official MTS 2017 Calendar Contest: The Sims 4
Use your creativity to showcase your sims in a shot fitting for each month of the year. The picture should be a landscape or build/decor picture without sims representing the "feel" of a particular month. Have the living room decorated for Christmas? Take a picture! Have a pumpkin patch to visit for Halloween? Take a picture! Please use northern hemisphere seasons.
Rules
1. 1 picture per entry. You may only enter a month one time but may enter 2 separate months. (If you enter twice, you need to submit two different posts)
2. Only 15 entrants per month. Please no place holders. Each spot is only filled once the picture, that meets all the rules, has been submitted.
3. CC is allowed. However, please make sure to follow MTS rules for CC; no pay content.
4. Pictures must be 1000 (width) x 750 (height).
5. Minor photoeditting is permitted to create weather effects since TS4 does not have anything to simulate weather at this time. Your picture must still look like a game picture though so blurring, drawing objects/accessories/etc in, adding borders, etc is not permitted. For further details, please see the info button at the bottom of the rules list.
6. When posting your picture, please make sure to include the month it belongs to.
7. Sims 4 only. For Sims 2 version, please go here and for Sims 3, please go here.
8. REMEMBER: This is a PG-13 Forum! Your entries may not include adult content, pornography, or other inappropriate content.
Photoshop Rules
Typically these contests do not permit photoshopping but since TS4 doesn’t have all the fancy in-game advantages that TS2 and TS3 have, we’re gonna alter that rule a little to help you with your seasonal stuff. So, you may edit your image to add seasonally appropriate weather effects. This could be as simple as adding a few faint white dots to look like gently falling snow or as detailed as hand painting storm clouds with lightning bolts or drawing orangey-red leaves to trees. You may also adjust the lighting/brightness, saturation and perhaps add a faint tint to your image if your chosen weather effect isn’t suited to the day-glo green scenery of the game. Remember you can also experiment with taking your picture at different times of day for different lighting effects.
The important points to note are:
Whatever weather related edits you make should blend well and must look like it’s part of the game. That means no copy and pasting a sky from a real life photograph and if you plan to fiddle with the brightness, saturation or add a tint, it must still look like a game pic, so shouldn’t be too washed out or neon etc.
No photoshopping of the actual sims please (except if you’re doing something that edits the whole image like adjusting brightness).
No photoshopping anything that can’t be described as a seasonally appropriate weather effect. That means no adding objects, accessories, borders, or text etc.
This is absolutely not a requirement. If you can make your image without adding outside weather effects, you’re more than welcome to do so and you won’t be judged any differently.
This quick before and after example is intended to show you what effects can be added and how they can be used. It’s not perfect (excuse the wonky rain!) but should give you an idea of the levels of editing that would be considered acceptable. If you're unsure, please just ask.
Effects Used:
Brightness/contrast
Slightly de-saturated
Slight tint/colour change
Shaded clouds
Drawn on rain
How to Enter
1. Pick a month and take a picture to represent that month.
2. Upload the picture to any image host - Tinypic, Photobucket, Flickr, ModYourPanties, etc
3. Start a new post on this thread - click Go Advanced, and you can click the little "Insert Image" icon in the toolbar, or just copy-paste the image location into some [img] tags. Make sure to include which month your picture is for.
4. Submit your post - doing so will submit your entry.
5. If you want to do two entries, you need two separate posts.
Duration/Time Period
The contest begins November 1st, as soon as this is posted. Contestants will have until November 30th to post pictures. However, if a month fills up before that date, that month will be closed for new entries and judging.
Contestants
15 per month maximum
Judging and Scoring
Judging will be done by a panel MTS Staff and these are the things that the panel will be looking out for when entries are judged.
Theme - Does your picture represent the month you chose?
Creativity - Originality of idea
Style - Use of space, props, is it pretty?
Rules - CC adherence, no editing, inclusion of month
Prizes
A sticker for both winners AND participants, like these.
A calendar will be made for download with each winning month.
And, of course, the blue ribbons for each month’s winner.
Questions
Q: I already entered 2 separate months for TS4. Can I compete in the TS2/TS3 calendar as well?
A: Yes, you may. You're more than welcome to submit for all the contests, giving you 6 chances to win!
The picture you post will be your final shot - make it good. Posting a random picture of a christmas tree, easter bunny, yourself, etc to reserve a spot is not allowed and it will be deleted.
Once your post has been added to the table, it may not be changed. Do not change the picture, you may not delete it and enter a new month instead, etc. If you choose to delete your entry, you are removing yourself from the contest and no further entries will be permitted from you.
If anyone is notified that they have used pay content, their entries will be disqualified. The spots they had will NOT be held.
Want a specific style of house or community building? Why not take a look at my profile and see what I build and then come ask me to make it!
I really enjoyed participating last year in this contest and have been searching for new things to do in TS4. Happened to stumble upon this on my one day off for a while, so wanted to go ahead and get an entry out. I found it was quite challenging this time around to not utilize any Sims in the photo, but fun all the way. Unfortunately, I feel resizing the photo did not go well with the size it was initially, but in any case, here is my first entry. I'll definitely at a second entry, but it will probably not be until later next week.
October
setting up Halloween party
Sims, like life, is very unpredictable. One minute you're eating four day old pizza, and then the repo-man steals your only sofa and you're in tears. ...then the food poison kicks in.
Here's my second entry, this one is for the month of May
Sims, like life, is very unpredictable. One minute you're eating four day old pizza, and then the repo-man steals your only sofa and you're in tears. ...then the food poison kicks in.
@no.[666]bicycle
Both of your images are the wrong size so I cannot enter you into the contest at the moment. Please can you resize them to 1000x750 pixels.
@tscammell The entry for September has a sim in it, so I cannot enter it into the competition, sorry.
Want a specific style of house or community building? Why not take a look at my profile and see what I build and then come ask me to make it!
@no.[666]bicycle
Both of your images are the wrong size so I cannot enter you into the contest at the moment. Please can you resize them to 1000x750 pixels.
@tscammell The entry for September has a sim in it, so I cannot enter it into the competition, sorry.
Is the deadline going to be extended if not all months get an entry, to allow others to (hopefully) enter? I would hate for there to not be enough entries to make a calendar.
Sims, like life, is very unpredictable. One minute you're eating four day old pizza, and then the repo-man steals your only sofa and you're in tears. ...then the food poison kicks in.
We still have another 10 days to run. Why not encourage your friends to enter?
Oh trust me, I have begged my closest friend who plays sims to enter... no such luck... I will keep at it though!
Sims, like life, is very unpredictable. One minute you're eating four day old pizza, and then the repo-man steals your only sofa and you're in tears. ...then the food poison kicks in.