GreenCats, may I request some tips on your awesome photo taking skills?
Do you use pose player? If so where do you get your poses from...
If you don't, how do you do it so beautifully? I've tried the moviemaker cheat but don't really know how to use it... or know what most poses are called!
GC, OMG Alanah is BEAUTIFUL an will be going in game post haste! It's a different kind of simmie I'm always looking for.
I'm also curious as to what photo editor you use for you pictures. Also do you use a lighting mod? I've still yet to try the pose pack thingy but maybe at some point I will be brave enough.
GreenCats, may I request some tips on your awesome photo taking skills?
Do you use pose player? If so where do you get your poses from...
If you don't, how do you do it so beautifully? I've tried the moviemaker cheat but don't really know how to use it... or know what most poses are called!
You seem to set the scene really well too!
Wow, what a compliment. Yes, of course. I definitely still have a lot to learn myself but I'll do my best to answer!
Yes, I use pose player. I check mysims3poses every now and then for updates. I'm currently sorting through all my poses and organising them by creator. I only have a few installed at a time otherwise it gets overwhelming. I'm currently really loving skylar, but I do just tend to pick and choose from lots of different creators. What I value most is interesting, realistic facial expressions. So many 'modelling' poses just give you sims who look dead behind the eyes.
For me another mod that's completely indispensable is this pose player add-on. It allows you to alter your posed sim's sight line for some poses, and a whole bunch of other useful stuff.
I think the EA animations can look cool. Seriphina always does beautiful things with them. I've never used the movie maker cheat though - I didn't even know about it until it was mentioned on your thread.
If I'm using more than one sim in a picture to tell a story I tend to mix pose player in with sims going about their everyday business - to add a bit of dynamism, you know? And if something looks robotic or unnatural or the sight lines don't match up properly there's no way I'm using it.
One thing that I believe you really do need pose player for is a decent full-on smile. I posted these two shots for comparison in another thread when Sadie and I were chatting. The second one uses pose player (it's a different sim, but you get the idea):
Sometimes you do just get lucky with what the game itself has to offer though. For example, for that shot of little Jane waving out of the window is just the 'dress up as a princess' interaction from the Generations costume box. I used 'constrainterrainelevation off' to create a little hill for her to stand on, then flattened it away so she was floating and moved the suitcases underneath her.
Thank you for the compliment on scene-setting. I do a lot of work building sets. Trees are my favourite background because they take seconds to dot about. That woodland wedding at the end of my wolf princess story was an absolute breeze to shoot, but it's not usually so quick and easy, at least for me. Many details go in that sometimes don't even get photographed - in the set I used for Princess Margaret's dinner, the walls were lined with period-specific 'paintings' (i.e. WA photos of patterns) that didn't even show up in the end because I zoomed in more than I had originally planned. I didn't mind though - I imagine that's what it's like on a movie set too, and it all adds to setting the mood for you even if it doesn't show up in the finished creation. This is the shot that caused me the most agony. I think it was over two of fiddling around in-game and cursing at my computer screen before I go the angle and lighting right:
One thing I've learned very, very recently (and you can see this in the change in clarity between my first two entries to your contest and my third I think) is that it really pays to build indoor sets. I do love photographing sunsets, distant terrain, (or auroras as above!) etc., but for clear close-ups and nuanced facial expression nothing is a safer bet than a well-lit indoor studio with buydebug lights and no windows.
Sorry, I'm waffling...anyways, I hope this helps...xxx
GC, OMG Alanah is BEAUTIFUL an will be going in game post haste! It's a different kind of simmie I'm always looking for.
I'm also curious as to what photo editor you use for you pictures. Also do you use a lighting mod? I've still yet to try the pose pack thingy but maybe at some point I will be brave enough.
Wow, thanks so much, Jenn. I hope you enjoy her! I made her as one of the poster girls for the contest advertised in my siggy
I use GIMP on my photos. It's like photoshop but free. I'm not very good at editing though, I don't really know what I'm doing. I usually just fiddle around a bit with the colour settings and maybe a few filters.
Yes, I do have a lighting mod. I was using this one and I've recently switched to Dream Dimension by burnt waffles (a lot of people favour Fresh Cut Day by the same creator, but I really don't like the clouds in that).
It shouldn't affect my modelling pictures too much though, at least not the recent ones, since it doesn't affect the way light behaves indoors at all - it's really just for prettier skies, better outdoor shadows, etc.
However, most of the time I'm indoors, especially now that I've worked out that this gives you more detail on your sims. All of those woodland scenes in my woolf princess story were actually shot indoors, in an indoor forest set I created and lit.
I do still struggle to get the lighting exactly right. For example, that headshot of my latest sim Alanah is quite good I think, but in the body shots she was too far away from the light or something so that it was lighting her up without really accentuating any of the details of her face. I guess being that bit more zoomed out wouldn't have helped either. Anyways, I have lots more still to learn, which isn't a bad thing :P
Let me know if you need any help with pose player. It's easy to use and can be a lot of fun and look great if you don't overuse it.
Thanks for stopping by and thank you again for the beautiful bathing suit! xx
You're welcome on the bathing suit, I thought it would be perfect for the type of sims you like to create. As to lighting mods, yeah I use Fresh Cut right now myself, with AS water. I think if I play in BP that I will use Dream Dimension.
Right now I've been trying to find a few online photo editors (thought about getting the adobe suite, but now that they want to do the subscription thing, no way. I have an old copy from when I was in school though) and keep ending up liking what comes with Imugur. I'm waiting for a larger HD for Gimp I think.
Honestly, I've learned a lot from you already. Heck it was due to you that I became a bit more comfortable with using skins...and led to my being able to ask other sims more questions about using CC, but the right way.
The pictures you do have show your sims quite well and I'm always impressed. Now I just have to figure out what is going on in my computer or my game to make things show up weird in Custard.
You're welcome on the bathing suit, I thought it would be perfect for the type of sims you like to create. As to lighting mods, yeah I use Fresh Cut right now myself, with AS water. I think if I play in BP that I will use Dream Dimension.
Right now I've been trying to find a few online photo editors (thought about getting the adobe suite, but now that they want to do the subscription thing, no way. I have an old copy from when I was in school though) and keep ending up liking what comes with Imugur. I'm waiting for a larger HD for Gimp I think.
Honestly, I've learned a lot from you already. Heck it was due to you that I became a bit more comfortable with using skins...and led to my being able to ask other sims more questions about using CC, but the right way.
The pictures you do have show your sims quite well and I'm always impressed. Now I just have to figure out what is going on in my computer or my game to make things show up weird in Custard.
Oh great! Yeh, I love the golden tint Fresh Cut gives everything - it's just something about the clouds that makes it not for me.
It's always so nice to hear that I helped get you comfortable using skins. I totally respect anyone who goes completely cc-free, but I just couldn't do without my ephemera default!
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were having weird custard issues. Is there anything I can do to help? xx
Beautiful romantic story. Great job with the sims. Left you a recommendation. Also recommended Alanah. She is stunning! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Beautiful romantic story. Great job with the sims. Left you a recommendation. Also recommended Alanah. She is stunning! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Thank you for getting back to me with such a detailed answer, I really appreciate it!
I have picked up lots of useful tips (and poses!) from your reply and so it means a lot to me! ^-^
Another question - what skins do you use? They always seem so "soft"
You're welcome - it was useful for me to write because it got me thinking about some things. My default replacement skin is this one by Ephemera. I like that it doesn't force features on the sims' faces the way some skins do.
Oh look it's a DOUBLE heir vote - one heir for each of my legacies!! The pictures all show the potential heirs at their current life stage and also aged up into YA - except the ones who are already YA (those are shown with their partners instead). I'd love it if you could vote for you favourite for each legacy...
Johnson Legacy
1. Richard (YA) and his wife Nina (YA). His traits are Athletic, Mooch, Clumsy, Childish, Neat. Hers are Athletic, Chlidish, Neat, Flirty, Commitment Issues. They both want to be International Super Spies (or whatever that LTW is called).
for johnson legacy - Katrina---definitely !!
Newfold Legacy (even harder to choose) - guess I would go for Ben + Daisy ... or John hard to decide, good luck
Comments
Thank you! *hugs*
Do you use pose player? If so where do you get your poses from...
If you don't, how do you do it so beautifully? I've tried the moviemaker cheat but don't really know how to use it... or know what most poses are called!
You seem to set the scene really well too!
I'm also curious as to what photo editor you use for you pictures. Also do you use a lighting mod? I've still yet to try the pose pack thingy but maybe at some point I will be brave enough.
Wow, what a compliment. Yes, of course. I definitely still have a lot to learn myself but I'll do my best to answer!
Yes, I use pose player. I check mysims3poses every now and then for updates. I'm currently sorting through all my poses and organising them by creator. I only have a few installed at a time otherwise it gets overwhelming. I'm currently really loving skylar, but I do just tend to pick and choose from lots of different creators. What I value most is interesting, realistic facial expressions. So many 'modelling' poses just give you sims who look dead behind the eyes.
For me another mod that's completely indispensable is this pose player add-on. It allows you to alter your posed sim's sight line for some poses, and a whole bunch of other useful stuff.
I think the EA animations can look cool. Seriphina always does beautiful things with them. I've never used the movie maker cheat though - I didn't even know about it until it was mentioned on your thread.
If I'm using more than one sim in a picture to tell a story I tend to mix pose player in with sims going about their everyday business - to add a bit of dynamism, you know? And if something looks robotic or unnatural or the sight lines don't match up properly there's no way I'm using it.
One thing that I believe you really do need pose player for is a decent full-on smile. I posted these two shots for comparison in another thread when Sadie and I were chatting. The second one uses pose player (it's a different sim, but you get the idea):
Sometimes you do just get lucky with what the game itself has to offer though. For example, for that shot of little Jane waving out of the window is just the 'dress up as a princess' interaction from the Generations costume box. I used 'constrainterrainelevation off' to create a little hill for her to stand on, then flattened it away so she was floating and moved the suitcases underneath her.
Thank you for the compliment on scene-setting. I do a lot of work building sets. Trees are my favourite background because they take seconds to dot about. That woodland wedding at the end of my wolf princess story was an absolute breeze to shoot, but it's not usually so quick and easy, at least for me. Many details go in that sometimes don't even get photographed - in the set I used for Princess Margaret's dinner, the walls were lined with period-specific 'paintings' (i.e. WA photos of patterns) that didn't even show up in the end because I zoomed in more than I had originally planned. I didn't mind though - I imagine that's what it's like on a movie set too, and it all adds to setting the mood for you even if it doesn't show up in the finished creation. This is the shot that caused me the most agony. I think it was over two of fiddling around in-game and cursing at my computer screen before I go the angle and lighting right:
One thing I've learned very, very recently (and you can see this in the change in clarity between my first two entries to your contest and my third I think) is that it really pays to build indoor sets. I do love photographing sunsets, distant terrain, (or auroras as above!) etc., but for clear close-ups and nuanced facial expression nothing is a safer bet than a well-lit indoor studio with buydebug lights and no windows.
Sorry, I'm waffling...anyways, I hope this helps...xxx
Wow, thanks so much, Jenn. I hope you enjoy her! I made her as one of the poster girls for the contest advertised in my siggy
I use GIMP on my photos. It's like photoshop but free. I'm not very good at editing though, I don't really know what I'm doing. I usually just fiddle around a bit with the colour settings and maybe a few filters.
Yes, I do have a lighting mod. I was using this one and I've recently switched to Dream Dimension by burnt waffles (a lot of people favour Fresh Cut Day by the same creator, but I really don't like the clouds in that).
It shouldn't affect my modelling pictures too much though, at least not the recent ones, since it doesn't affect the way light behaves indoors at all - it's really just for prettier skies, better outdoor shadows, etc.
However, most of the time I'm indoors, especially now that I've worked out that this gives you more detail on your sims. All of those woodland scenes in my woolf princess story were actually shot indoors, in an indoor forest set I created and lit.
I do still struggle to get the lighting exactly right. For example, that headshot of my latest sim Alanah is quite good I think, but in the body shots she was too far away from the light or something so that it was lighting her up without really accentuating any of the details of her face. I guess being that bit more zoomed out wouldn't have helped either. Anyways, I have lots more still to learn, which isn't a bad thing :P
Let me know if you need any help with pose player. It's easy to use and can be a lot of fun and look great if you don't overuse it.
Thanks for stopping by and thank you again for the beautiful bathing suit! xx
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase
Right now I've been trying to find a few online photo editors (thought about getting the adobe suite, but now that they want to do the subscription thing, no way. I have an old copy from when I was in school though) and keep ending up liking what comes with Imugur. I'm waiting for a larger HD for Gimp I think.
Honestly, I've learned a lot from you already. Heck it was due to you that I became a bit more comfortable with using skins...and led to my being able to ask other sims more questions about using CC, but the right way.
The pictures you do have show your sims quite well and I'm always impressed. Now I just have to figure out what is going on in my computer or my game to make things show up weird in Custard.
Oh great! Yeh, I love the golden tint Fresh Cut gives everything - it's just something about the clouds that makes it not for me.
It's always so nice to hear that I helped get you comfortable using skins. I totally respect anyone who goes completely cc-free, but I just couldn't do without my ephemera default!
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were having weird custard issues. Is there anything I can do to help? xx
Thanks very much, rose. Glad you like
Yes, I'm hoping the contest will be lots of fun xx
I have picked up lots of useful tips (and poses!) from your reply and so it means a lot to me! ^-^
Another question - what skins do you use? They always seem so "soft"
I am all caught up with rec's!
T
Thank you very much, yanti
You're welcome - it was useful for me to write because it got me thinking about some things. My default replacement skin is this one by Ephemera. I like that it doesn't force features on the sims' faces the way some skins do.
Thank you Taryn!
Johnson Legacy
1. Richard (YA) and his wife Nina (YA). His traits are Athletic, Mooch, Clumsy, Childish, Neat. Hers are Athletic, Chlidish, Neat, Flirty, Commitment Issues. They both want to be International Super Spies (or whatever that LTW is called).
2. Natlia (Teen): Insane, Over-Emotional, Eco-Friendly, Artistic.
3. Katrina (Child): Brave, Loves the Outdoors, Loves the Cold.
4. Preston (Child): Neurotic, Good, Ambitious.
Ben (YA) and his girlfriend Daisy
Alex (YA) and his girlfriend Kelsey
Jacob (Teen)
John (Teen)
Liana (Teen)
I'll go with Katrina and John!
Johnson legacy - Katrina.
Newfold Legacy (even harder to choose) - guess I would go for John... or Jacob. No, it'll have to be John lol.
Edit: Ooh, that's spooky, Brighty. I was slower at typing mine but we ended up choosing the same ones at the same time.
Then... Probably John.
So far...
Johnson
Katrina III
Preston II
Newfold
John III
Alex I
Liana I
for johnson legacy - Katrina---definitely !!
Newfold Legacy (even harder to choose) - guess I would go for Ben + Daisy ... or John
and
Daisy and Ben
Have fun!
Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy