Suggestion: a dictionary with the technical terms?
Feb 21, 2016 16:11:41 GMT -5
dltn43, fufu508, and 4 more like this
Post by Lanti on Feb 21, 2016 16:11:41 GMT -5
I've been going through the forum and the tutorials and I see there are a lot of technichal terms that sometimes take a lot of explaining, so I thought perhaps we could use a dictionary for these terms. Things like baking, unwrapping, LOD, TOU, shadow, mesh. From the most simple to the more complicated ones, so that it would benefit users of all leves. Perhaps a thread to which everyone could contribute, like with term definitions and definition requests in the comments, so the thread would be constantly updated with them and it wouldn't depend on only one person.
I don't know, perhaps I'm the only one who thinks like that, or maybe it already exists (if it does, I couldn't find it). Just a suggestion.
EDIT – May, 14 --------------------------------------------------------------
So, here are my first suggestions and also some definitions I could dig up. If anyone sees a mistake or wants to contribute, just leave a reply below.
Alpha: it's one of the channels of an image, editable in some softwares such as Photoshop. It's used to edit Specular Maps and Bump Maps.
Blender: software used for 3D modeling and UV mapping, among others. It's where meshes are created and edited, conversions are done, and textures are mapped.
Blend File: a file extension for the Blender software.
Bump Map: it's an image layered on top of the texture of clothes and objects to give them a 3D effect, such as a small hole in the wood or wrinkles on fabric. It has an effect similar to embossing, changing the way the light reacts to the area. In a .package, it will be in the form of a DDS file and look all grey. It can be edited to match your texture and to maximize its effect. There can be more than one per package and it can also be refered to as a Normal Map.
Color Swatch: usually used to refer to the little colored squares or thumbnails in an item to indicate its different swatches. It can be seen in Sims 4 Studio and also in the game. It can also refer to an specific color used in an editing software.
Conversion: taking an item made for one Sims game and adapting it for use in another one, such as Sims 2 to Sims 4.
DDS: a file extension that has several uses in .packages. It is a 2D layout and can be textures, specular maps and bump maps.
Footprint: the information inside an object that tells the game where it is placed in an environment and how much space it occupies. It is the area below such object and can be edited. [?]
LOD: the Level of Definition of a Mesh. Every mesh has several levels of detail for when you zoom in and out of the object. They are defined by numbers, the LOD 0 being the most detailed one. When editing a mesh, you must edit all of its LODs or it will transform into the old mesh when viewed from a different distance.
Mesh: the 3D model of any item.
Normal Map: similar to a Bump Map, but has a different method of editing.
Polycount: the number of polygons a mesh contains. The higher the count, the heavier the item and the harder it is for the game to display it.
Recolor: taking an item's texture, changing its appearance in any way, and creating a new .package from it. It's mostly done in a way where the mesh is not included in the new .package, so users will need to have both the original and new .packages.
RLES: it's the name of the file that contains the Specular Map in a CAS part package. When extracted from the package, it will turn into two files: the Specular Overlay and the Specular Mask. Both are editable as .png and should be imported back to the .package as .png.
Specs: the same as Specular Map [?]
Specular Map: it's an image layered on top of the texture on clothes and objects to give them shine. Some areas will have more shine and some less, such as a belt and pants. Inside a package, you can identify the specular as the RLES file in clothing and as a DDS file in objects. These maps can be edited to match your texture and to maximize its effect. There is only one per package.
Swatch: a texture option in a item, with different colors or patterns.
Texture: the part of an object or clothing item that contains its appearance, such as patterns and colors.
ToU: Terms of Use for custom content established by its creator. Most creators publish them in their websites and pages, defining what they allow and don't allow others to do to their work.
UV Map: UV mapping is a way to apply a 2D image on to a 3D model, and we do it by putting each one of the faces of our model on a 2D layout that we can color. It is produced by a 3D modeling software, such as Blender, and when finished and extracted, will become the texture we edit when recoloring.
Suggestions:
Blob sheet
Bone
Geometry
Mapping
Occluder
Phong
Phong alpha
Shading
Shadow
Shadow map
Spine
I don't know, perhaps I'm the only one who thinks like that, or maybe it already exists (if it does, I couldn't find it). Just a suggestion.
EDIT – May, 14 --------------------------------------------------------------
So, here are my first suggestions and also some definitions I could dig up. If anyone sees a mistake or wants to contribute, just leave a reply below.
Alpha: it's one of the channels of an image, editable in some softwares such as Photoshop. It's used to edit Specular Maps and Bump Maps.
Blender: software used for 3D modeling and UV mapping, among others. It's where meshes are created and edited, conversions are done, and textures are mapped.
Blend File: a file extension for the Blender software.
Bump Map: it's an image layered on top of the texture of clothes and objects to give them a 3D effect, such as a small hole in the wood or wrinkles on fabric. It has an effect similar to embossing, changing the way the light reacts to the area. In a .package, it will be in the form of a DDS file and look all grey. It can be edited to match your texture and to maximize its effect. There can be more than one per package and it can also be refered to as a Normal Map.
Color Swatch: usually used to refer to the little colored squares or thumbnails in an item to indicate its different swatches. It can be seen in Sims 4 Studio and also in the game. It can also refer to an specific color used in an editing software.
Conversion: taking an item made for one Sims game and adapting it for use in another one, such as Sims 2 to Sims 4.
DDS: a file extension that has several uses in .packages. It is a 2D layout and can be textures, specular maps and bump maps.
Footprint: the information inside an object that tells the game where it is placed in an environment and how much space it occupies. It is the area below such object and can be edited. [?]
LOD: the Level of Definition of a Mesh. Every mesh has several levels of detail for when you zoom in and out of the object. They are defined by numbers, the LOD 0 being the most detailed one. When editing a mesh, you must edit all of its LODs or it will transform into the old mesh when viewed from a different distance.
Mesh: the 3D model of any item.
Normal Map: similar to a Bump Map, but has a different method of editing.
Polycount: the number of polygons a mesh contains. The higher the count, the heavier the item and the harder it is for the game to display it.
Recolor: taking an item's texture, changing its appearance in any way, and creating a new .package from it. It's mostly done in a way where the mesh is not included in the new .package, so users will need to have both the original and new .packages.
RLES: it's the name of the file that contains the Specular Map in a CAS part package. When extracted from the package, it will turn into two files: the Specular Overlay and the Specular Mask. Both are editable as .png and should be imported back to the .package as .png.
Specs: the same as Specular Map [?]
Specular Map: it's an image layered on top of the texture on clothes and objects to give them shine. Some areas will have more shine and some less, such as a belt and pants. Inside a package, you can identify the specular as the RLES file in clothing and as a DDS file in objects. These maps can be edited to match your texture and to maximize its effect. There is only one per package.
Swatch: a texture option in a item, with different colors or patterns.
Texture: the part of an object or clothing item that contains its appearance, such as patterns and colors.
ToU: Terms of Use for custom content established by its creator. Most creators publish them in their websites and pages, defining what they allow and don't allow others to do to their work.
UV Map: UV mapping is a way to apply a 2D image on to a 3D model, and we do it by putting each one of the faces of our model on a 2D layout that we can color. It is produced by a 3D modeling software, such as Blender, and when finished and extracted, will become the texture we edit when recoloring.
Suggestions:
Blob sheet
Bone
Geometry
Mapping
Occluder
Phong
Phong alpha
Shading
Shadow
Shadow map
Spine
