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Skinning with Paint Shop Pro |
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Keyboard shortcuts |
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d |
Deformation tool |
| Ctl + Shft + 3 |
Decrease to 256 colors |
| Ctl + L |
Paste as a new layer |
| Ctl + R |
Rotate |
| Ctl + Z |
Undo |
| Ctl + Alt + Z |
Redo |
| Shft + R |
Crop |
| Shft + D |
Duplicate image |
| The
tools are explained here. I Had
worked up my own but got disconnected from the internet
so couldn't save. I lost a full page worth of work
and I don't have the time to do it all over again.
Bummer. |
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Key points:
- You can only deform an image that is on its own layer
- Always duplicate (Shft + D) the base nude and close the
original--this way you never overwrite your original files and find
yourself looking for them again online
- You can only use layers on an image that is 16-million colors
(24-bit) so if you're unable to paste a layer or create a new layer
check your color settings under Colors>Increase color depth
If 16-million is greyed-out (ghosted) then your problem is something
else but invariably it will be that your image isn't in 16-million
colors
- Sims skins will only show up if they are in 256-color (8-bit)
mode. Ctl + Shft + 3 will open a dialogue box with the options
to decrease the colors to 256. It will also bring up a warning
about layers being merged if you proceed with the color
decrease. It's okay. Just be sure to leave the image open
after decreasing the colors if you plan to work on it more.
- When decreasing the colors to view my skin in SimShow or SimPose-ium
I hit Ctl + Shft + 3, okay the layer merge, okay the color
decrease, save the file and Leave It Open. Immediately after
saving the file I hit Ctl + Z to undo the color decrease and bring
back my layers so I can make more changes if necessary.
- The .psp file format will preserve your layers. If you find
you don't have time to finish a skin, save it in .psp format so that
your layers will still be there when you re-open the file to edit it
further
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| Let's begin
First thing's first. You need the nude skin bases. I have
saved them in .jpg format so you start out with 16-million colors.
You can download them here.
When I am ready to make a new skin I open up the three skin tones for the
body type I am going to use. These are the steps I follow:
- Go to File>Browse (or hit Ctl + B) to bring up the image browser
- Go to the folder the base skins are kept in
- Select the three tones I am going to use by clicking on each one
while holding down the Ctl key
- Right click and select Open
- Click on the title bar of an image to make it active then hit Shft +
D to make a duplicate
- Repeat this step for the other two skin tones and close all the
original images--this way you don't overwrite the originals
Now you've got your nude bases open. I work on the light skin
base because it's good for my shading cheat (which I'll delve into later
in the tutorial). Minimize the other two bases by clicking on the
underscore in the upper right hand corner. |
| Layers
Now it's time to begin putting on the "clothes." There
are a couple ways to do this. Either you start from scratch or you
copy and paste outfits onto your base. I'll discuss both methods for
the sake of being thorough. =o) In my opinion the easiest
clothes to copy and paste are those that are pictured on hangers or
folded, rather than on models.
To keep this page to a minimum for download time I will put each method
on it's own page.
You can find the copy and paste method
here.
You can find the method which starts from
scratch here. |
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