Welcome to my ongoing CC object recoloring adventures using SimPE!!!

After quite a few mess ups today and this evening, I've finally succeeded at recoloring a custom object!

I'm so excited, as I've been wanting to do this for so long, especially since I opened up Sugah's Place.

One of my fave paintings is Kate's (of Parsimonious) Arabatica.
I've always like the size, the way it hangs and it's unique style.

Here is my very first recolored custom content.

Overlook Cafe



I'm going to attempt a few more tomorrow, just to make sure this success wasn't a FLUKE!
There's a Holy Simoly couch or two I love...

FABULOUS my dear friend! It turned out FANTASTIC!

Thank you, Z.
I was about ready to give up yesterday, as I attempted numerous times and was at it for hours upon hours.
Then, something Ed had said a few times and Donna (over at T2S) stuck in my head.
I knew, at that point, I had to be missing a crucial step.
Turns out, I found a different tutorial that helped me get thru the last of it and FINALLY, I was able to manage the painting recolor!

I'm sure there will be far more involved, complicated custom recolors, so I'll stick with the easy stuff for awhile.

Anyhoo, I am very excited about the possibilities and will start offering goodies other than Maxis stuff towards the end of this month.
YESSS!

Great job, Sugah. It looks great!

Sugah -

No one would EVER know that's your first custom recolor.

It's GORGEOUS Dahling.

I have one question.........where can we download???


btw......must share tutorial......must share..........

Thank you, ladies. I appreciate the positive feedback MUCHO!

There were several SimPE tutorials, Hunter. I had slight issues (for different reasons) with a couple of them.
The two that came recommended were by Numenor (MTS2 here) and Damian (at BPS here).
The one that ended up helping me decipher what step I was missing, that seemed most clear, concise and easy to follow, however, was here. I don't even know who wrote it!?!

Ed had good luck with the Damian tutorial. I think it was a combination of all three that worked for me, actually...esp. having found the LAST one.
They are ALL quite good and ALL have images (I'm a visual learner, so I need the screenshots, for sure).
I've printed each of them out and have started a TUTORIALS folder myself!

As far as making the "Overlook Cafe" available for downloading, I most certainly would be happy to, m'lady. I'm so glad you like it.
I thought I'd recolor a few more of Kate's Arabatica, then offer them as exclusive gifts to Basic, if that's okay.
Will get to that upon my return from E. Texas!

Sugah Sim wrote:

As far as making the "Overlook Cafe" available for downloading, I most certainly would be happy to, m'lady. I'm so glad you like it.
I thought I'd recolor a few more of Kate's Arabatica, then offer them as exclusive gifts to Basic, if that's okay.

DUH!!!

Okay, that was a no brainer. I admit. Double duh.

Let me know what you think of the tutorials, m'lady. I'm curious to learn which you like best, if you end up trying 'em.
I wish you good luck with them. Bon chance, cherie!!!

I have always loved Holy Simoly's Bijoux wicker set...very beachy!

Here is my first crack at recoloring the Bijoux love seat.



I see a flaw IN GAME when I look at the love seat close up. You can't see it as much in this close up screenshot, but there's a skinny orange line on either side of the wicker, where the arrow is.
I think I overshot it in PSP7 a bit. Will know better next time!



What do you think, my peeps? Back to the old drawing board???

WOW! My dear sweet Sugah, it looks AWESOME! I love this set also!

I don't know if there is something wrong with my eyes, but I don't see the line you pointed at my dear... I think it looks PERFECT right now!

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment AND for your positive feedback, Z. I truly appreciate it MUCHO!

Quote :

...but I don't see the line you pointed at, my dear...

It's the weirdest thing. It shows up a bit more in the game than it does in the screenshots.
Not sure why, but I'm glad you can't see it! Works for me!

Okay...my next attempt was a recolor of Kate's (@ Parsimonious) Very Tikki set.
I'm rather disappointed, as I REALLY thought I nailed this one, but it didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped.

I call this Very Tikki Summer Stripes (I know...not very original, lol)



The wall (though not new) is mine, as are the paintings, arm chair, loveseat and sofa recolors.
For some reason, the table lamp doesn't show up in game, though it shows up in the catalog.
(When I put it on the table, it remains Kate's original. Not sure what I did there... Didn't bother to snap a photo of it.)

Anyhoo, I'm rather disappointed as the stripes look sorta distorted and smudged IN GAME. I don't know why.
Upon getting closer (at certain angles), the stripes looked normal. It's still not acceptable, though, as the set has to look good from a distance, too.

COULD IT BE MY GRAPHICS CARD? I don't have a good one in the puter I create on.
In looking at the screenshot, the stripes don't appear as badly warped as they do in game. Hmmm...
Weird stuff!

I also attempted to do Kate's Sanctuary set, but for some reason the arm chair was the only one that showed up recolored ... NOT the loveseat or sofa.
I like that set mucho, too, and will try and post images later with my progress (or lack thereof, lol).

Back to the drawing board, folks. I am trying to do some custom recolors for this weekend's update.

Wow! You're getting so adventurous. Very cool that you're branching into custom objects now, and I must say, for being a beginner, your recolors are looking fab. I don't see half the mistakes you point out (though you did mention they were more noticeable ingame, but if your first custom recolors are this good, then honey, you're really going places! Great job so far!

Ari, thank you! I appreciate your generous comments very much. You have always been so supportive of me and my little hobby.
I'm grateful for that.

I'm glad you can't see the mistakes I'm referring to. That's good news!

What I might request from someone, is to download my Very Tikki Summer Stripes set who has a good graphics card.
This way, if the stripes still appear warped and smudged looking, I'll know I definitely need to go back to the drawing board.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by this thread and give your opinion, my friend.

Just an update on my ongoing struggle to get this whole cc recoloring thing down.

Inspired by my uncertainty as to whether my crappy graphics situation was the culprit in puter #2 (regarding why my Very Tikki Summer Stripes set appears warped and smudged in game),
I decided to FINALLY reinstall The Sims 2 in my main puter, where I have a fabulous graphics card.

Here is a screenshot of my newest recolor taken in my better puter #1:
(Forgive the boring wall, icky floor and lack of coordinating decor on the coffee table, as I have no downloads installed except the Very Tikki set!)



As you can see, the stripes still seem crooked and not quite right. Dang it!

Upon a closer, aerial view, I discovered this:



See how something seems to be going on with the mesh, since there are two cone-like bends that make it look warped???
I can't describe it exactly, but I can SEE what the problem is in the loveseat and couch.

When you look at the arm chair, it is NOT the same issue with the mesh:



The lines are perfectly straight, as they're supposed to be.

What I'm wondering is, because of this, if it will only be noticable with striped textures.
Kate used a flowered texture in her original, and it looks perfectly fine, of course.

I'm going to try it. I have a few pretty textures that might work for this mesh.
Let's hope so, as I REALLY like the Very Tikki set!!!

Gonna try one more time before dinner. I shall return...

I can see it now. It certainly has something to do with the mesh of the cushion. The cone oddities are symmetrical. Weird. I wonder what the deal is. Stripes just bend around it. It would tricky to find a pattern that doesn't warp.

It's awfully cute Sugah.

I hope you can figure out the issue with the curving! I hate that when you find meshes you want to use and there's an issue with them.

Thank you for your input, ladies.
I'm in agreeance with you, Ari. I'm thinking it might be challenging to find a pattern for the texture that DOESN'T warp.
I'm going to use a floral, abstract or batik fabric next time and see what happens.

It's frustrating, Hunter. That's for sure.

This next issue is really perplexing.

I mentioned Kate's Sanctuary set. Here's what her original set looks like.



This is the weirdest thing. I'm doing everything correctly, recoloring-wise.
However, TWICE now I've tried and TWICE the arm chair recolors just fine, but the couch and loveseat do NOT.
I don't understand why. They don't seem any different than the arm chair, except their sizes differ, of course.

Anyhoo, this is my little Sanctuary Batik arm chair with a recolor of Kate's Statement Artwork (found here).

Sanctuary Batik



Close up of the Batik chairs.



Again, I'm bummed, cause I really like this set. This time, I have NO IDEA why the couch and loveseat aren't recoloring like the arm chair is.
I feel like I'm in some freaky SimPE Twilight Zone.

Oh well. I guess I'll go join Snacky for awhile. He's doing a Sudoku puzzle. I promised him I'd sit with him and do a crossword puzzle, as I hate numbers.

Thanks again for your comments, my friends. I'm going to try something else later tonight.

WISH ME LUCK!!!

Uh.......I understand your frustrations Sugah - but all I see is AWESOME!!! Honestly......I'm foaming at the mouth ready to download these items M'Lady!!!

Can you say PERFECT for a Basic photo shoot?????

Hunter wrote:

Uh.......I understand your frustrations Sugah - but all I see is AWESOME!!! Honestly......I'm foaming at the mouth ready to download these items M'Lady!!!

Can you say PERFECT for a Basic photo shoot?????

Thank you, my dear friend. You are most generous and kind, as always. I'm glad you like what I've done so far.
I still have a way to go, of course.
One day, I'll be able to take requests for cc recolors and would be thrilled to do special items just for your Basic photo shoots!

I've been thinking of contacting Kate with my Sanctuary couch/loveseat problem, even though I know she's extremely busy running Parsimonious.
Still, it might be worth a try... (Although I recently learned she is somewhat out of commission, as she is moving to a new country, FYI!)

I found some really neat living room sets by Adele, who allows her meshes to be included with recolors, and am going to try a few things today.
Except for a little beach bungalow, I have NOTHING for this week's Sugah's Place update. Sigh.

I've been working on recoloring Adele's beautiful Amelia living room set, which she offers at MTS2 here.

Here is what I've come up with so far. (Again, please forgive the walls and flooring. I only have Maxis stuff currently.)

Amelia in Cinnamon



Close up of couch and art



Details of the pillows



I've done the furniture and painting, so far, but still need to do the coffee & end tables.
I'm not crazy about this painting, as I don't think it coordinates very well with my Cinnamon set.

What do you think???
(The dark, bold wall is throwing me off, as I know it's taking away from the living room set. I definitely need to make some coordinating walls/floors for this, if I offer it at Sugah's this weekend!!!)

Added later @ 5:50pm:
Okay, I went ahead and created a new painting and a wall & floor for this set.
I tried to recolor the coffee table, but couldn't get it to pull up in SimPE. Not sure why...

Anyhoo, I've change the name of the set. It didn't look "cinnamon-y" enough.

Amelia Softly Burnt Sienna set



Close up of painting



Now, what I'd like to know is...
Do you feel it is okay to offer at Sugah's Place?
I think it turned out fairly well, even though I wish I could've recolored the coffee table to match.

Thank you for your input, as always. I appreciate it greatly.
Stay tuned for more recoloring adventures...

I think you can offer ALL of it Sugah!!!



I WANT!!!!



Here's the thing Girlfriend - you've done a really fine job with the items you've done........and you've only just begun!!! I'm always pleased with the quality of the content you bring to us. (So pleased with this new stuff in face that I would like it for photoshoots) And you know what I think of imperfections on our earlier trials - show them so that others can watch your progress. Imperfections, whether it be with our looks, things we say - things we create are unique to us. That makes them beautiful. Honestly.

That's fantastic!!

You did an incredible job.

I have the set, I may download it myself when you offer it.

Love to get my hands on the texture you used on the pillows.

Once again, you did fantastic.

I appreciate your words of support, encouragement AND your very generous compliments, H & E...MUCHO.

Hunter, you're right.
Sharing the imperfect results from the beginning stages of new endeavors, allows progress to be seen as time passes.
Well said, dear lady!
(And I've no doubt you'll be seeing plenty of imperfections along the way as I trudge through my recoloring adventures! )

Ed, I found the texture I used for the pillow by doing a Google search. I put in "Decorator Pillows" and quite a few pretty ones pulled up.

I'm so glad you like what I've done so far, my friends.
I managed to finish another set last night, using Kate's Very Tikki living room meshes AND Sandy's (at ATS2) little decorator plants.
I think the set turned out rather well and will be offering it at Sugah's Place tomorrow.

I need to load up BodyShop and create a Sim for the update, as so far, I only have a beach bungalow and two cc recolors (living room sets).
I'm sorely lacking in offerings this weekend and need to get rollin' on creating some more ASAP.

Thank you, again, Hunter and Ed, for your positive feedback. I am most grateful, dahlings.

My dear Sugah, everything looks FABULOUS! You are doing a MARVELOUS job with these recolors, I can't wait till you offer them at Sugah's Place so I can download them!!!


(Did you recolor the correct piece that the other's pull the color from? Maybe that could be the reason for the other's not showing *shrug*)

I will say it again.

I WANT THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!