Quick question!

[hat_plays_sims]

Hey, so, you know the Du Lac Cotehardies? That's the AF and TF dresses. I just did those for CF and they're adorable. There's a Toddler conversion of the mesh, too. Is that overkill? It's semi-historically accurate, but dressing a toddler like that is... that's the tiny satin vest you by for your two-year-old when you get his picture taken. The baby's gonna wear that while the artist works on his portrait and then you're gonna take it off before he spits up on it.

And oh my god did you guys know we can have non-default baby outfits now? That is SO happening, let me tell you internets. Chris Hatch is amazing. (And I don't know why Maxis didn't give us different baby outfits. Babies exist so you can dress them in cute clothes that they'll outgrow in six weeks.)

Comments

[nathanialroyale]

I don't think that would be overkill, it's always great to find nice dresses for toddlers and kids ^__^

[hat_plays_sims]

And I have some coming! But they're more toddler appropriate-- they're Aligeth's Little Boy Blue with shoes on one of Cynnix's toddler meshes in Pooklet's naturals, Aelia's Autumn, and CuriousB's Any Color You Like actions. With... uh, at least two embroidery variations, I forget what I've done. Plus plenty of undecorated ones.

The trouble with the cotehardies is that most of them have belts. I can see lacing a toddler into a snug gown for a wedding or a coronation or a portrait, but the long dangly belts (some with metal buckles, the richer ones actually chains) seems to be asking for trouble. I know they're Sims, but apparently I worry about Sim toddler safety.

But they ARE done for girls, belts and all! And if Cynnix's laced-sleeve gown ever gets converted for Androgyny, I can do them, too.

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps you could do beltless versions for the toddlers, if you still have PSDs and such from the original project? (That makes the most sense to me, especially when I consider the likely result of a toddler + chain belt). Of course, that would make it impossible to texture reference ... but you can't do much texture referencing for these kinds of clothes anyway. You have to edit out the boob shading for the kids & toddlers, and the toddlers have a different texture size anyway ...

But in other words, YES, I think this is an awesome project, and I would download it in heartbeat! Thanks, Hat!

[morgaine2005.wordpress.com]

Er ... the above was me. I really shouldn't do this at 12:40 at night after taking a 2.5 hour drive. ;)

[hat_plays_sims]

Actually, texture size is meaningless-- it's a way to either get more detail (larger) or save space (smaller), and Cynnix kept the mapping exactly the same on her CU and PU gowns. I already fixed the breast shading for CF cotehardies (pulled pieces from the back) and made those, so they're DONE.

... I guess I could texture-reference the non-belt styles, and just make new textures for toddlers on the belted ones. Still kind of a pain in the butt, but what can you do? I'll see how the neckline and lacing looks on toddlers once I'm done with the current baby-clothes project. (BABY CLOTHES, Morgaine. Your peasants and princes can wear different baby clothes. Your babies can wear long gowns in the winter and just nappies or shirts in the summer. BABY CLOTHES. I may explode.) Ahem. If the neckline looks implausible or the tight laced cotehardie style looks wrong on toddlers, I may as well just reinvent the whole dang wheel and make original textures.

Don't get me wrong, I AM doing more toddler clothes. I've got 84 unisex kirtles done, diapers in 16 colors, and plans for shirts, smocks, and tunics, so the second-littlest Sims will not be neglected, I promise you that.

Male children, on the other hand, male children are getting the short shrift. I gotta get on that.

[eefje00704]

There's no such thing as overkill when it comes to outfits for the usually forgotten ages like toddlers, if you ask me.

[hat_plays_sims]

I've got lots of unreleased stuff for toddlers that'll go up soon, and more planned. I agree there's no kill like overkill, I just suddenly hate having to reinvent the wheel now that I've learned to texture-reference. *grins*

[oph3lia]

Cotehardies for all!

Says the person who hasn't touched The Sims 2 for months and is playing Dragon Age: Origins lol

[hat_plays_sims]

I'll make a test file and have a look, since there's demand for it. I may not end up doing it for assorted reasons stated above, but I'll at least LOOK. *grins*

And hey, I'd been away from my Simming computer for four months, so I hear you. I've been playing Bejeweled on my phone. That's been my game.

[eien_herrison]

Can't say on the Cotehardies, but OH YES new non-default baby clothes (I also did a little experiement with the Wardrobe Wrangler and they can also be townified and show up randomly when the babies are born -- Vidcund was my nice little tester when I did that).

[hat_plays_sims]

... TOWNIFIED custom baby clothes? I mean, I can't think why it wouldn't work, but holy crap! (Suddenly I wonder why, besides dearth of meshes, we can't choose baby hair the same way.)

You might know-- if you have a winterwear outfit planned for your baby and walk outside with them... do they change clothes? It's one of the things I need to test but so far I've made diapers and beaten on some long gown textures that I haven't even run color actions over yet.

[eien_herrison]

Indeed -- it's very simple to do (if you can townify non-baby clothes you can townify baby clothes and if you allow me some time, I can pop my townified stuff in as I've got an impending birth in a family I'm playing). I randomly decided to try it because I remembered WW had a checkbox for baby clothing -- made copies of the original clothing, went on a mass-townify spree, and tried it out.

I know theraven was looking at allowing baby hair as custom meshes, but they're a bit inundated with editing baby clothes to be non-default (I know I'd love baby hair which doesn't have to involve editing skintones).

I don't think babies would automatically change in to winterwear if taken outside -- I don't think toddlers do, do they? (My thoughts/assumption/experience says you have to manually change them, so it'd stand to reason that babies would have to be manually changed too.)

Edit: Might be a bit small, but non-default townified baby clothes. Baby #3 is wearing my current default, but the other three are wearing non-default stuff.

[hat_plays_sims]

It makes perfect sense that you could townie-enable toddler clothes. I'ma have to do that with my diapers and my shirts and smocks and such. (Not so sure about the kirtles I'm working on.) Seriously the whole thing has me cackling like a mad scientist and wishing I understood the stand-alone-mesh process-- there's a blanket by Tenshii Akari I'd love to have as a non-default I could set for winterwear, but nobody's mad it custom yet.

I think toddlers change to winterwear when adults do. Next time I'm in-game I'll futz with it and see what happens, but today is going to be spent on baby kirtles. I've got a couple nice white ones that could work for christening gowns for normal games, and the rest just look nice and warm.

... Is it me or is that a picture of a pregnant Sim?

[eien_herrison]

I've had townie-enabled toddler clothing for ages, and it really doesn't take long to do. I am wondering if (if) I could somehow make the baby clothes applicable for different categories. I've got some stand-alone diapers which look too cold for everyday use, but would look nice in an 'underwear' category (likewise some snowsuits which could be shifted to outwerwear).

Yeah, sorry, should have made it clearer/indicated more. On the sidebar there's four babies, and all but one is wearing non-default clothing (baby #3 is in default clothing). This was taken just as the birth started, so no opportunity to go in and change clothes.

Edit: Okay, okay, I am trying not to get all hyper but placing baby clothing in different categories does work. You do need something to manually change a baby's clothing (like the Sim Blender) and anything other than everyday will be completely randomised, but...you can have a baby who has an everyday, underwear, and outerwear outfits (and all non-default).

[hat_plays_sims]

... Toddler. I meant baby. I've got townie-enabled clothes out the wazoo, because my game is Medieval and I hide pretty much all the Maxis clothes. I just type faster than I brain. (And I put stuff in formalwear for toddlers sometimes.)

Ah! I see them now. How did townie-enabling baby things work out? I've got a notepad file full of stuff to test.

Do babies get changed into outerwear in the winter when a parent walks through the door or are they immune from those Put Outfit On Me checks? Do you have anything like Inge's formalsign or Pescado's clothing tool? I really don't mind making babies selectable for five seconds to run them through the clothing tool's Pick New Clothes thing, but I've never tried it for babies so I don't know if the option is grayed out. And I'm gonna be in Body Shop for the foreseeable future, making Stuffs, or I'd just go check these things myself.

Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[(Anonymous)]

Hello Hat!

Uhm... How do I start this now... We haven't talked before, as I usually only lurk on your journal, and you probably haven't heard of me either. (If you're curious, my sims home is here: http://w11.zetaboards.com/SynapticSims_Lair/index/) But I really wouldn't mind customizing that blanket by Tenshii Akari for you. If it's a body mesh, that is. Why? Even though I don't play a medieval game myself, I just LOVE your creations (those hair recolours...) and this would just be my way to say "Thank you" for everything. :)

Best wishes,
JeanGrey

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[hat_plays_sims]

I would be insanely grateful, I really would! And hey, every baby could use a blanket, right? I'll be doing 82 solid colors, and that's not strictly a Medieval thing, right there.

I'm so glad you've enjoyed my hair dumps! Hair recolors are something I didn't think I'd ever be able to do when I started messing around with custom content.

The Tenshii Akari blanket is a body mesh (I think we're a ways away from custom hair for Sim babies, but I think it's a shorter ways than it used to be), and basically I only need it as a custom body mesh with a single recolor, instead of a default body mesh, which happens in the usual way. You can find the mesh here, and I prefer the one without the hat. Sure, a swaddled baby can't play with the danglemaster, but at least they look warm in the winter.

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[jeangreysummers]

(Now I can finally put that journal to a good use, heh.)

Oh, it's a baby mesh? That's going to be interesting, as I've not worked with baby meshes before. But I already got an idea how the customizing could work, so... *crosses fingers in hope for not having promised too much*

I'll be back later to let you know to where my efforts on this have taken me (and if they've taken me anywhere at all).

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[hat_plays_sims]

Yep! Chris Hatch has a mod out now that lets babies have different outfits. I just made a mess of gowns and diapers and have fired up my game to see what I can do with them. (7 gigs of content does not load quickly but I need to look at my buy and build stuff and see if there's anything I can purge, anyway.) But so far, it looks like they can be treated just like any other body mesh-- the age has to be set for babies in SimPE, but that's easy enough. The big challenge is recoloring blind in Body Shop.

I look forward to seeing how things work out! Like, a lot! (Seriously I've made sixteen diapers, eighty-three baby gowns, and the same gowns with coifs (lilyturtle did some mesh combining for me), and I have plans for short smocks with and without booties, too. Color actions mean that babies are quickly going to have more clothes than toddlers, if I don't get on with my toddler-clothes plans.)

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[lilyturtle]

I was going to give you that mesh too, wasn't I? I already have a mesh and recolor done, I can send it to you if you want.

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[hat_plays_sims]

Hey, I'll take it from wherever I can get it! And recolor it a million times! (Any chance of a blanket-with-coif mesh? I've got two of my triplets in gowns with coifs and one in a gown without a coif, and the baby with the naked head just looks cold. Poor little Matisse.)

Thank you so much!

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[lilyturtle]

Sure thing Hat! I'll send it over with everything else. ^^

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[hat_plays_sims]

Opened Photoshop, checked the new UV map against the old textures. The only part that doesn't line up?

ONE row of polys at the very bottom.

Easy fix! *stretches everything slightly, saves new pngs* I'll be done by lunchtime.

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[lilyturtle]

Yay, I'm glad it's working out! :) I'll get on those fixes asap

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[jeangreysummers]

Am I too late for the party? I was just about to upload my version. But when you got it already from lilyturtle, my version's obsolete then.

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[hat_plays_sims]

Alas, I think a little. I just fired my game up to check my recolors.

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[jeangreysummers]

Oh, well... Maybe next time, then :) But it was a nice distraction from that one hairstyle that hates me obviously (throwing errors at me and making the mesh disappear while I want to recolour it in Bodyshop really isn't nice).

Re: Customizing Tenshii Akari blanket

[hat_plays_sims]

I have a wishlist a mile long if you want more distractions, but if your game isn't Medieval it might not be up your alley.

Good luck with your hair! I'd offer advice but I really have no idea what would make it do that in Bodyshop. I sometimes get disappearing meshes if I move things around-- it won't read a project when the mesh isn't in the same folder it was in when the project was created-- but if you haven't done that I'm out of ideas.