Topic: Pose Creating with Blender Version 2.63

Making Poses in Blender

Okay, so people keep asking me “How do you make poses?” and I give them a link to the best tutorial I’ve found, but it seems it’s missing some important details. So I’m going to tell you every step of the way how to create custom poses for The Sims 3. I use Blender because Blender is free and easy and doesn't hate me.

What this tutorial will NOT teach you:
-How to update poses for the pose list.
-How to install pose player/mods folder.

What you will need:
Blender 2.63 I S3PE I io_s3py_animation I Pose Rigs I Base Poses I Pose Player by Cmomoney


Step 1: Installation
Install all of the above. Install Blender & S3PE according to the instructions. Extract the Base Poses, and Rig files and save them in a folder placed somewhere easily found. Place the io_s3py_animation.zip in the same place. DO NOT UNZIP the s3py animation. Place the zip into the folder. [I placed mine on my desktop and named it Stuff for Poses, you can separate them into different folders]

To install plug-in:
Open Blender

Go to File>User Preferences>Add-Ons>Install Addon and go to the location of the io_s3py_animation.zip and click “Install Addon”. Search for the zip in the search bar and check the little box to the right and close the window.

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User Preferences:
Next, go to File>Open and open the afRig.blend file.

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You should get something that looks like this.

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Next, hold Ctrl + U and a small window will pop up. Select “Save User Settings”. Now every time you open Blender, your rig will already be open. [If you want to make poses for a male, child, toddler, horse, etc. you will have to open the rig the same way you did the afRig.blend, but you do not have to save it]

Close Blender.


Step 2: Preparation
Open S3PE.

Click File>Open and choose the base for the pose you are making. Right click and go to Export and rename [at the very bottom, past Import and Export]. Name the pose whatever you like [be sure to start the pose with the whatever the base starts with. a=teen-elder, c=child, p=toddler, etc. [Example: a_posename_nameofcreator01]

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Close S3PE.

Step 3: Creating your pose
Open Blender.

Go to File>Import>Sims 3 Animation and open the animation file you just made.

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Pose your rig. Right-Click the different joints to move them.

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R-Rotate
RR-Flip
G-Grab
Mouse scroll bar - zoom
Shift+Mouse scroll bar-Move Up/Down
Ctrl+Scroll Bar - Move Left/Right [Mvande]
[You can click the mouse scroll bar and drag to rotate your camera view]

When your pose is finished, click A and make sure all the joints are highlighted. Click ‘I’ and select LocRot. This locks your pose.

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Go to File>Export>Sims 3 Animation and type in the name of your pose [SAME name as what you put in S3PE].

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It will take you back to where you imported the animation, double click the original animation to save over it and close Blender. There should be two animations in your poses folder now. [One is a backup. This is NOT the pose]

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Step 4: Packaging your animation
Open S3PE and your Pose folder [the folder you saved your animation in].

Drag the animation from your working folder to the S3PE window. Click ‘OK’ in the window that pops up. [DO NOT DRAG THE BACKUP FILE]

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You should have one file open in S3PE. This is the pose you just made. Right click on the file and select Export>To Package.

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Save the package in your mods folder where the rest of your poses are located. [Name the package the same as you named it when you first made the animation]

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Now, close S3PE and the pose folder. Start up your game and you can now test your pose [assuming you saved it in your Mods folder]. Click on the pose player and select “Pose by Name”. Type in the name of the pose you are testing. [Example: Type a_posename_nameofcreator01] You must type in the exact name of the pose. If it doesn’t work the first time, try retyping it.

My pose.
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Now, check out your pose and if everything is the way you want it to be take a screenshot [Press C] for the image you want to use for the pose list. I always place the sim on a white or black background because it’s easier to see the pose IMO, but you can build a set if you’d like. Whatever you prefer.

Now you can close your game and get your poses ready to update to a pose list. I will make another tutorial soon explaining this.

IF your pose didn’t turn out the way you were hoping it would, go to your mods folder and delete the package. Open Blender and import the animation file [not the backup]. You can then edit your pose however you like and follow the steps again starting with creating your pose. If you think your pose is unfixable, replace your animation with the backup [rename the backup and erase everything after CLIP and replace]. Just open that in Blender and you can start over.

Feel free to post any questions here. If you’re getting any errors or something you don’t understand please post a screenshot or a question.

Link to a tutorial for adding thumbnails and pose list: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nom nom nom.

Thank you for this. This will be very helpful to simmers wanting to make poses <3

Great tutorial Pepper!

Thanks guys :D Glad I could help.

I recognize that pose! The Vision pose right?

Yeah :D

I opened Render, rolled the mouse, but the objects did not turn, it just zoom in and zoom out. Help me, pls!

To turn the model you can either click on the "View" button at the bottom of the model screen, or hold down the scroll button and move your mouse.

Rolling the mouse just zooms in and out.
Holding Shift+rolling the mouse scroll button moves up and down.
Holding Ctrl + Rolling the mouse scroll button moves left and right.

Thanks you! I did it! ><

XD Yay!!!

Hi this has been super helpful right now I am at the step where it says to import the animation but I don't have an option that says sims3 animation please help!

Did the addon in step one install properly? Make sure the file you downloaded remains zipped or it won't work.

Thankyou for the tutorial!

You're welcome XD

Thanks so much for the tutorial

:D

I just tried this for the first time and for some reason my pose isn't working in game...
Any idea what that could be? Everything else was really helpful.

What is it doing when you test the pose? Is your sim just standing there or do they look like a starfish?

If they are just standing there, more than likely it's one of the following:
-You forgot to place the pose in your mods folder
-The tag was misspelled or changed in one of the steps

If they are posing like a starfish, it could be:
-You forgot to lock the pose before exporting
-You used the backup file instead of the animation file

I know I've done all of these numerous times, so just be sure to double check everything and if it isn't any of those just let me know what it's doing and we can try to figure it out from there.

Ooh... Thanks for the help.

Hey
Great Tutorial! Thank you so much! But Just one tiny question...
On the left side of Blender, under "Dope Summary" It's blank there for me. Could this be the reason my sim is standing like a starfish? and do you know how to fix this if it's the reason why? Thank you!

'**EDIT: Nevermind, Haha. Anyway Great tutorial Thank you

Thanks this helped a lot.

Hey Pepper. I have read you don't need CLIP files anymore. Am I right?

I wouldn't know. I haven't used the updated version of Blender and haven't really made poses in a while.  

Thats okay I figured it out Did you ever make high fashion poses with the mouth open? I'm finding it impossible