Post by Mathcope on May 7, 2016 13:35:00 GMT -5
Introduction
This tutorial will show you how to make a new coffee table mesh. It will cover several things, as the creation of the mesh in blender, the mapping and unwrapping, importing into Studio and Creating the textures and swatches. With the objectives clear we will split the tutorial in different parts.
What you will need
Sims 4 Studio
Blender 2.70
2d editor, in this tutorial will be shown how to work with Photoshop, however you can use the one you’re used to. Other good options are Gimp and Paint.net although I haven’t tried them myself I heard good things about them.
Instructions
I. Creating the new object mesh.
1. Open the Sims 4 Studio and enter you creator name if you haven’t done it yet. Select “Create 3d mesh” in the list.
2. Click the “Object” button.
3. Now a search bar will show up to you. There, type the name “coffee”, it will show all the objects that have a name referring to it. As we want to make a coffee table we will have to clone something equal or similar to it. We will clone the first coffee table that shows in the list. When you have it selected, press the next button.
4. The 3d view will show up, as well with the object catalog. Now you have to choose a name, description and the price you would like your object to have.
5. Now we need to export the original model of this object as a reference for your new mesh. For that, go to the mesh tab.
6. Now, click the export button, a new window will show up asking you to name the object. Name it, for example “original” and save it somewhere safe in your computer.
7. Open the file you just save, it will open it in blender. You will see something like this. Look at the right list of items. The last 3 ones are the objects in the 3d view, you have one per mesh. For example there is one for the table, one for the large shadow and one for the tiny little shadows in the legs. (The shadow objects are just planes)
8. In the lower part of the 3dview you will see the “add” button, click it and a list will appear. Click mesh on that list.
9. Another list will show up, select “Cube” this time.
10. A cube will display in the 3d view. We will use this as a guide for our mesh but is recommendable to start with primitives since they have low poly count.
This is the part when thigs may get complicated if it is your first attempt making new meshes as we will start to play with blender until we get the shape we want. If it is your first attempt I’d recommend you to read first THIS tutorial in the forum. It will give you a better base before trying this one. I will explain the steps but I won’t go further into the blender controls and things like that.
11. Go to edit mode (TAB button). Now new tools will display in the lower part.
12. Select the vertices selection and press the Z button in your keyboard. This will allow you to see in wireframe view, allowing seeing through your object. What you need to do now is scale the box we made to match the table we are using as a reference. To do this press “A” on your keyboard, your object will turn fully yellow indicating everything is selected.
Now press the “S” button on your keyboard, this is the short cut for Scale. After you do this you will notice that moving your mouse will scale the object making it bigger or smaller. What we want to limit that scale. While in the scale mode, press X. This will limit the scale on the X axis, if you are in the front view you will notice your object will increase or decrease by the sides, with the original model of the coffee table on your back try to match the sides.
You have to do the exact same process with the Y and Z axis, until you match the limits of the table. For this particular mesh this part we’re doing will not be the top of the table, so I lower it a little. You will understand this as the tutorial continues.
13. Now we will keep working on the mesh. I will show you now how to make a hole in the cube we just made. First, switch back to solid mode. You can do this by pressing the “Z” button again.
14. Choose face selection as you can see in the picture. What we will do now is select the top and the bottom of the cube. Once you have it selected press the “I” button on your keyboard, this is the shortcut for “insert”. What this will do is insert faces into the faces of the box making kind of a frame around it. When you think the thickness of the “frame” is enough press enter.
15. Now we will select the new faces that we just made, select the top and the bottom one.
16. Once you have them selected press the “X” button on your keyboard, this will display a deleting menu; you will have to choose faces. The faces will disappear and you will notice there is a hole in the mesh. However, it looks really bad, we will fix this now.
17. Enter into edit mode again, pressing the tab button or selecting from the list.
18. Choose edge selection.
19. Select the two edges as shown in the picture; we will connect them making a new face, so we will get a clean hole. Remember you can hide the original model by clicking the “eye” on the list at the right side, that will help you see better your model.
20. Once you have them selected press the “F” button on your keyboard, this will make a new face, connecting those edges. You have to do this with all the four sides of your mesh.
Once you finish you will have something like this.
21. For the next parts of the mesh we will repeat the steps we did you make the cube. This time we will resize it to look something like in the picture. We want to make a row of boxes that will act as the surface of our table. If this is not clear you will understand with the pictures.
Once you resized the mesh you can move it around pressing the “G” button, you can also limit the axis to match the perfect location.
22. Now as we want to fill all the length of the table with these small boxes we will copy the one we just made. This will guarantee that all of them look the same. Go to the object mode.
Normally, to do a duplicate in blender we use Shift+D, however as almost all of them we will need in the future to have the same UV map, we’ll also use the Alt+D option, what this do is make a copy that is linked to the original, so once you edit the original, the other ones will be edited too.
We will use the Shift+D option to copy the first one and make a second one as shown in the picture.
23. Now copy the second one you just made and use the Alt+D option, use it for all of them until you get to almost the end. For the last one you have to use the Shift+D option. This is because when we make the Uv map in the next part of the tutorial we will make the first and the last one of the small tables to have different location in the Uv. However the “in middle” ones will have the same.
24. Now we will create the legs of our table, you have to follow the same steps as the first box we made. For now make one leg and place it where you want. I used the wireframe view to help me out when doing it.
25. Once you have your leg where you want. Go to the wrench icon. Select add modifier and choose “mirror”
26. The options of the modifier will show up, you need to check as shown in the picture. The X and Y axis. There shouldn’t be a problem as it is, but if the mirror doesn’t apply correctly choose the mirror object you need. In this case we will select the first cube, that is named “cube”. DON’T CLICK APPLY YET; WE WILL DO IT AFTER THE UV MAPPING.
27. Now for the final part of the mesh, I will make a new box that connects the legs in the bottom, you can do it following the first steps as well. I’ve positioned it as shown below.
28. We will make a new mirror modifier as we did with the legs, however this time check only the X axis. Don’t apply it yet as we did before.
With this, we’ve finished our coffe table mesh. In the next tutorial that you can find HERE, I will show you how to map the object and unwrap it.
This tutorial will show you how to make a new coffee table mesh. It will cover several things, as the creation of the mesh in blender, the mapping and unwrapping, importing into Studio and Creating the textures and swatches. With the objectives clear we will split the tutorial in different parts.
What you will need
Sims 4 Studio
Blender 2.70
2d editor, in this tutorial will be shown how to work with Photoshop, however you can use the one you’re used to. Other good options are Gimp and Paint.net although I haven’t tried them myself I heard good things about them.
Instructions
I. Creating the new object mesh.
1. Open the Sims 4 Studio and enter you creator name if you haven’t done it yet. Select “Create 3d mesh” in the list.
2. Click the “Object” button.
3. Now a search bar will show up to you. There, type the name “coffee”, it will show all the objects that have a name referring to it. As we want to make a coffee table we will have to clone something equal or similar to it. We will clone the first coffee table that shows in the list. When you have it selected, press the next button.
4. The 3d view will show up, as well with the object catalog. Now you have to choose a name, description and the price you would like your object to have.
5. Now we need to export the original model of this object as a reference for your new mesh. For that, go to the mesh tab.
6. Now, click the export button, a new window will show up asking you to name the object. Name it, for example “original” and save it somewhere safe in your computer.
7. Open the file you just save, it will open it in blender. You will see something like this. Look at the right list of items. The last 3 ones are the objects in the 3d view, you have one per mesh. For example there is one for the table, one for the large shadow and one for the tiny little shadows in the legs. (The shadow objects are just planes)
8. In the lower part of the 3dview you will see the “add” button, click it and a list will appear. Click mesh on that list.
9. Another list will show up, select “Cube” this time.
10. A cube will display in the 3d view. We will use this as a guide for our mesh but is recommendable to start with primitives since they have low poly count.
This is the part when thigs may get complicated if it is your first attempt making new meshes as we will start to play with blender until we get the shape we want. If it is your first attempt I’d recommend you to read first THIS tutorial in the forum. It will give you a better base before trying this one. I will explain the steps but I won’t go further into the blender controls and things like that.
11. Go to edit mode (TAB button). Now new tools will display in the lower part.
12. Select the vertices selection and press the Z button in your keyboard. This will allow you to see in wireframe view, allowing seeing through your object. What you need to do now is scale the box we made to match the table we are using as a reference. To do this press “A” on your keyboard, your object will turn fully yellow indicating everything is selected.
Now press the “S” button on your keyboard, this is the short cut for Scale. After you do this you will notice that moving your mouse will scale the object making it bigger or smaller. What we want to limit that scale. While in the scale mode, press X. This will limit the scale on the X axis, if you are in the front view you will notice your object will increase or decrease by the sides, with the original model of the coffee table on your back try to match the sides.
You have to do the exact same process with the Y and Z axis, until you match the limits of the table. For this particular mesh this part we’re doing will not be the top of the table, so I lower it a little. You will understand this as the tutorial continues.
13. Now we will keep working on the mesh. I will show you now how to make a hole in the cube we just made. First, switch back to solid mode. You can do this by pressing the “Z” button again.
14. Choose face selection as you can see in the picture. What we will do now is select the top and the bottom of the cube. Once you have it selected press the “I” button on your keyboard, this is the shortcut for “insert”. What this will do is insert faces into the faces of the box making kind of a frame around it. When you think the thickness of the “frame” is enough press enter.
15. Now we will select the new faces that we just made, select the top and the bottom one.
16. Once you have them selected press the “X” button on your keyboard, this will display a deleting menu; you will have to choose faces. The faces will disappear and you will notice there is a hole in the mesh. However, it looks really bad, we will fix this now.
17. Enter into edit mode again, pressing the tab button or selecting from the list.
18. Choose edge selection.
19. Select the two edges as shown in the picture; we will connect them making a new face, so we will get a clean hole. Remember you can hide the original model by clicking the “eye” on the list at the right side, that will help you see better your model.
20. Once you have them selected press the “F” button on your keyboard, this will make a new face, connecting those edges. You have to do this with all the four sides of your mesh.
Once you finish you will have something like this.
21. For the next parts of the mesh we will repeat the steps we did you make the cube. This time we will resize it to look something like in the picture. We want to make a row of boxes that will act as the surface of our table. If this is not clear you will understand with the pictures.
Once you resized the mesh you can move it around pressing the “G” button, you can also limit the axis to match the perfect location.
22. Now as we want to fill all the length of the table with these small boxes we will copy the one we just made. This will guarantee that all of them look the same. Go to the object mode.
Normally, to do a duplicate in blender we use Shift+D, however as almost all of them we will need in the future to have the same UV map, we’ll also use the Alt+D option, what this do is make a copy that is linked to the original, so once you edit the original, the other ones will be edited too.
We will use the Shift+D option to copy the first one and make a second one as shown in the picture.
23. Now copy the second one you just made and use the Alt+D option, use it for all of them until you get to almost the end. For the last one you have to use the Shift+D option. This is because when we make the Uv map in the next part of the tutorial we will make the first and the last one of the small tables to have different location in the Uv. However the “in middle” ones will have the same.
24. Now we will create the legs of our table, you have to follow the same steps as the first box we made. For now make one leg and place it where you want. I used the wireframe view to help me out when doing it.
25. Once you have your leg where you want. Go to the wrench icon. Select add modifier and choose “mirror”
26. The options of the modifier will show up, you need to check as shown in the picture. The X and Y axis. There shouldn’t be a problem as it is, but if the mirror doesn’t apply correctly choose the mirror object you need. In this case we will select the first cube, that is named “cube”. DON’T CLICK APPLY YET; WE WILL DO IT AFTER THE UV MAPPING.
27. Now for the final part of the mesh, I will make a new box that connects the legs in the bottom, you can do it following the first steps as well. I’ve positioned it as shown below.
28. We will make a new mirror modifier as we did with the legs, however this time check only the X axis. Don’t apply it yet as we did before.
With this, we’ve finished our coffe table mesh. In the next tutorial that you can find HERE, I will show you how to map the object and unwrap it.