"Im New & Need Help!"

Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:33 pm

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Hello Unbounders! I am putting together a group of tutorials for those commonly asked questions you see or those commonly made mistakes. I will be covering all the basics from Uploading an Image to downloading CC & Mods.
As I post new tutorials, I will update the first page with a direct link to the tutorial so you will be able to click on what you are looking for and will be directly taken to the tutorial of your choice.

If there is something in the tutorial that you have questions about or I didn't cover for you, Please feel free to ask and I will be more than happy to answer your question. You can also request a tutorial and I will try my best to put one together for you if I feel it is something that will be useful for other simmers. Don't be shy if you have a question or request!

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Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:34 pm

Will be updating this with a ton more stuff.

Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:51 pm

I love the "Guide for the Clueless" part. I think this will be really helpful! : "Im New & Need Help!" 4179419588

:

Wed Jul 18, 2012 5:57 am

Yeah, this is a cool idea, I'm sure it'll help a bunch of people !

Btw mvande, I love the How I Met Your Mother gifs in your siggy "Im New & Need Help!" 650269930

Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:21 am

There is a ton more to come, I just figured If to it each day instead of overwhelming myself in one day to get it all together. On the flip side...I finished all my Sensation stuff today so I can finish this sooner than expected

Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:56 am

Very awesome and helpful idea "Im New & Need Help!" 650269930

Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:28 am

@Georgie: :Thanks:

Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:19 pm

How to Enhance the quality of my Photo?

Well first things first! If you havnt already, you need to go in game and while in "edit town" mode, go to 'Options" Once you go in options you will be changing all your setting to HIGH. You should also make sure your screen resolution is on the highest possible. Why? Well because your screen resolution is the biggest part that plays into your graphics looking fantabulous :P. If you are using a laptop with a smaller screen resolution naturally, Your graphics will only be able to be "OKAY" and maybe "Good". I play on a rather large screen so my graphics are what you would consider awesome sauce :3

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So we have ... Ick, okay, good and Awesome sauce graphics :P Got it? Good! Everyone should be able to get to "Okay" graphics with these minor adjustments in your "Options". If you are running around with Ick graphics then you should not go any further into the modeling world until you have taken care of this step.

Lighting Tips & Tricks -
ALWAYS make sure you have good lighting on your model! It is important not to have what I call "raccoon face" when taking photo's. What is racoon face you may ask? Let me graph this out for you...

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Raccoon face commonly happens when you take photo's of your sim out in the sunlight, or standing under a ceiling light. I would like to first say that I think ceiling lights are EVIL ;) Now that it has been said I will explain why...If you use ivisible lights and put them infront of your model, you get a better quality looking photo (no raccoon look), and nice rounded appearance on the sides of the body (adding depth).

Proper Lighting

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Wait did I say "Invisible lights"? What the heck is an invisible light you ask? So when you are in game and you press "ctrl + Shift + C" all at the same time you will have this snazzy grey bar appear at the top of you sims screen. When this bar appears you should type in "Buydebug" this will now give you this really cool "?" mark option where you will be able to locate invisible lights. How the invisible light works...You can see the light while in build and buy mode but as soon as you go into Live mode they will POOF but still illuminate the light. Now that is genuis?

Finding Invisible Lights:

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Invisible Light set up:

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SAVE YOUR IMAGE AS .PNG -
Omg this is such an easy thing to forget and makes a HUGE Differnce. So images already come as .JPG and that is "meh okay". When you save your image as a .PNG this will sharpen up your image and make the quality appear better.

How do I save my image as .PNG? -
Well once you are done editing your image in GIMP, PS, Paint or what the Diablo...Picnik :S When you "Save as" you will change the part that says ".JPG" to ".PNG". SIMPLE AS THAT!

Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:58 pm

You should also add the imagehosting site [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] as well, Bliss...
It's the one I know from experience that will not show white lines for transparent uploads.

Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:22 am

Yea I just added the one's that I use. Im not really a fan of imageshack but it an option ^^

Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:21 pm

I tend to use photobucket to upload my pictures, think it turns out good (also supports transparent backgrounds) but I'm going to try out Flickr and see what my pictures are like then "Im New & Need Help!" 650269930

Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:47 am

Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:58 pm

Any request for the next tut?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:37 pm

My sims look horrible outside, any suggestions?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:45 pm

sweetstop7 wrote:My sims look horrible outside, any suggestions?

Im assuming as far as lighting?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:00 pm

Bliss wrote:

sweetstop7 wrote:My sims look horrible outside, any suggestions?

Im assuming as far as lighting?

yes

Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:33 am

sweetstop7 wrote:

Bliss wrote:

sweetstop7 wrote:My sims look horrible outside, any suggestions?

Im assuming as far as lighting?

yes

Have you seen this yet? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I have not yet tried that way, But it does look promising. The way I do my outdoor pics is either at sunset or night. For one thing, sun set photo's def add the extra pop to the photo with a dramatic sky and if you just add about 2 invisible lights directly in front of your sim, it will illuminate her enough to get rid of the weird shadows. I stay away from mid day photo's unless I can get my model to face the sun and keep from casting a shadow on her face.

Mon Aug 13, 2012 1:11 pm

Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:26 pm

Bliss, how do you get an image code for a forum when using flickr? I've recently decided to switch around lately, and I'm loving the quality of the several things flickr can do; but I was just wondering how to get the image code for posting.

Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:01 pm

what is the size of your room? not the lot.

Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:05 pm

giseledrianna.costa wrote:what is the size of your room? not the lot.

Here ya go -

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But honestly, it can be any white wall. As long as you can properly light it up "Im New & Need Help!" 650269930

Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:07 pm

Scruffy19 wrote:Bliss, how do you get an image code for a forum when using flickr? I've recently decided to switch around lately, and I'm loving the quality of the several things flickr can do; but I was just wondering how to get the image code for posting.

Does this help?

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Thu Aug 23, 2012 2:35 pm

Yes... Yes it does! "Im New & Need Help!" 650269930

Thanks!

Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:39 pm

Thanks that helps a lot!

Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:55 am

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If you are new to forums or computers in general you may not yet know how to post an imgae to a forum. The first thing you need to know is that you must use an "Image hosting" website to upload the photo you are wanting to post.

Photo Size - 640 Width - When posting a photo to a forum, you normally have to follow a size requirement so you do not break the thread. ONLY Some forums request that you post a certain size but some forums like "Unbound" will automatclly resize it for you. When uploading an image on a image hosting site, almost all sites will give you size options to upload the image as.

A lot of people use sites like "Photobucket" to upload images which will also keep the images you have uploaded stored to your account to manage or delete. The fact that photobucket allows you to make collages with your images or just let the images remain on your account are all pro's to siging up.

However the "Con's" to photobucket and this is MY PERSONAL OPINION is that you have to sign-up for an account to upload an image, the [IMG] Codes are rather long, The quality of the photo's is just standard and they have limitations to certain photo's you can upload if your account is set to "PUBLIC VIEW".

I am a personal fan of three particular Image hosting sites...

FLICKR - Submitting photo's for competitions I use "Flickr". Why? Well if you have never used Flickr then you are missing out on an amazing image hosting site...Flickr not only allows you choose from a varity of sizes to post your image as but it also enhances the quality of a photo. While you DO have to sign up to use Flickr the only thing I have found about Flickr that is a down side, is that you CANNOT upload images with transparent backgrounds without it replacing it with a black background. Also it only allows you to have a certain amount of Photo's on your account at a time. I believe if you are not a paying customer than you can only have 200 images at a time? I would give Flickr a 9/10 Star rating Overall.

IMGUR - When needing to upload banners, Photo's of my creations or any other simpe stuff I want to keep track of...I use "IMGUR". You do have to sign up to use "IMGUR" but it does allow you to upload as many images as you want, short [img] codes, organize them into folders and it does give you 3 size options. However the quality is not as great as sites like "Flickr" but it is still a great site and easy to use. I would give IMGUR a 7/10 Rating Overall.

TINYPIC - My last choice for image upload is "TINYPIC" The greatest thing about this site is that YOU DONT have to sign up to use this site. TINYPIC also generates short [IMG] Codes and allows you to upload the image in a varity of sizes. The ONLY Con's I can really think of when it comes to TINYPIC is that you have to type in a generated code before you upload an image to ensure you are human. TINYPIC also has about the same quality standards as IMGRU. I use TINPIC to upload images like "Winner signatures", temporary Banners, etc. This gives you the option to give a code to someone else and not have to keep track of it in your own image uploading sites.

Uploding an Image:

Go to TINYPIC
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Click Browse and choose the Photo you want to upload.

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Now select the size you want to upload the image as. If you do not want it to re-size just leave it on "Default"

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Verify you are human by typing it what is asks you to.

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Now copy the [IMG] code

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Paste the code to the forum and you are DONE!

Other Image hosting sites:

IMGUR - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Flickr - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Photobucket - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]