Strangetown extras: Grunt Family Portrait

[strangetomato]

So, I finally decided to try my hand at making a custom painting with SimPE, and the process was super easy. I'll definitely be making more of these to customize the artwork in my story. More specifically, I'm going to decorate homes with photos of the characters in my story whenever appropriate. This will include family portraits, wedding portraits, and so on. I'd really like to recolour that cluster of smaller frames with random snapshots (but I don't recall seeing that template in SimPE. I'll have to look into how I'd go about doing that.)

My first first project was, predictably, a Grunt family portrait. I wanted to have the boys discover this stashed away with the General's belongings. It would be something he put away after Lyla left, since he couldn't bear to be reminded of her. I have no idea when this might turn up in the story, so I decided to just share it right away.

Ripp: Wow. I haven't seen this in forever!

Buck: I found it with Dad's things.

Tank: We're all so happy looking.




I've never made a group of sims view art at the same time before. They have a conversation, just like they do while eating or watching TV. The boys all stood around and discussed having 5 best friends (how appropriate!), and maxing out a skill, while they thought about the portrait.




The general behavior was mostly positive, especially from Ripp, and they made some of those puzzled expressions like the one that Buck has in this shot.

And what was their final reaction?




 

It's enough to just break your heart. They were all really sad about it.




Here's a better look at the source material. I posed them as if they went to a portrait studio. (I guess Buzz must have chosen the background colour.)

The photo is a little blurry when you get really close to it in-game, so I'm going to see if there's a way to improve it, but this might be as good as it gets with a .jpg file from the in-game camera. It will work just fine for story purposes as it is, so I'm not too concerned.

Pretty cool, don't you think?





ETA: I followed this tutorial from MTS2 to make the custom painting.

Comments

[hidden-kitten.livejournal.com]

It's really neat! Especially how much Buck looked like Tank at that age.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love aging them back like this. Yeah, I do see the similarities between Tank and Buck. Interesting.

[ikichi.livejournal.com]

Awwww! I love that got useable reactions- imagine in Tank had started laughing! Stuff like that's a huge part of the reason I've been keeping my eye out for a cheap used pc laptop on craigslist. I wanna make photos, too!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, having Tank crack up at the portrait would not have really worked. But my sims excelled at staying in character tonight (sometimes, they just KNOW).

That's right - you're usually on a mac, and don't have SimPE, right? I'm only just getting into using SimPE much at all, and I'm really loving stuff like this.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Aww, Tank. . .(it's just a little more "aww" than the other two).

Do you have a link for the tutorial you used? I might want to steal your idea (if you don't mind). I could use this for my cross over (Angus/Rocky could send a portrait to the grandparents).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tank does look a little sadder, doesn't he? (And we're not as used to seeing it from him either.)

I added a link to the tutorial.

Steal away. I think it's a great tool for storytelling. You can tell so much in just the background "junk" this way. Using it in your crossover is a great idea.

I also like the idea that these could exist for generations after the sims are dead, in a long running series. I guess that's the idea behind the heir portraits in a legacy.

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

Wow, Tank really looked like Buck when he was little! I'm amazed; I thought Buck didn't look like any of them.
Very cute picture... And I love the reactions you got from it.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

It's funny how we can sit here and pick out family resemblances from this portrait, just like people tend to do with these things in their own families. Buck wasn't adopted afterall (and he resembles my Lyla quite a bit, since I based her on him and Ripp, so he fits in that way too).

Thanks. I was pleased that they gave an appropriate reaction for this.

[amaryssobellus.livejournal.com]

This was really neat, thanks for the link. I'm going to have to try my hand at it.

What a pretty picture. :)

The boy's reaction is so spot on.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's great that you're going to try it out too. It has to be the easiest way to customize the game. Setting up and taking the photos was way more work than actually recolouring the painting. It was so quick and easy! :)

I loved their reaction. So sad. (Just watch... they probably won't repeat the same performance when I try to get them to do this for the story.)

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

RIPP WAS SO CUTE AS A CHILD! I still can't get over that!

Tank wore camo even during his childhood? The General is one pushy father, isn't he?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I know. Isn't he? He was a cutie, for sure!

Tank was molded from an early age, but I imagine that he really liked the military stuff too, or he wouldn't have been so into it. Buzz did push it on him, but I think that Tank WANTED to be like his father too.

[indigoleo.livejournal.com]

That is such a lovely family portrait.
And their reaction to the picture?
Awwwww! :( So sad! But considering the story, so very much in character.

Oh, by the way, on the subject of pictures.
Remember that picture your S.O. made and you put up for download? You said you wanted to see it being used? Well, I put it up in the little mall in Ferrisport which is the home of my prosperity challenge. I sent Hiram Demento out to do some shopping and while he was in the electronics store, he checked it out.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/indigoleo/sims%202%20shots/snapshot_7468c6ed_14feffff.jpg[/IMG]

He found it quite amusing.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/indigoleo/sims%202%20shots/snapshot_7468c6ed_34ff0017.jpg[/IMG]

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think it makes a nice addition to their home (and perhaps one of their future homes... I wonder who'll claim it).

Ooops! Your images seem to have been moved or deleted by photobucket. I was really looking forward to seeing them too. Can you repost them, please? I want to see how you used the painting! :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

He was. What a cute little boy. I'll bet he was a brat though. I imagine him showing off constantly, asking a million questions, and whining about having to pick up his toys.

They do look like they are actually related to each other, and the more I analyze them the more I see it. You can see Buck in Tank here, and Ripp even looked a little like Buzz when he was cleaned up. (And I much prefer my Lyla to the bland one in Olive's graveyard - she just a straight face template, and doesn't match the family AT ALL). And the colouring of their genetics makes sense too (including recessive traits).

I think the Smith/Curious family has some good family resemblances too, now that I've spent more time with them. Jill obviously looks like Jenny, and Johnny actually resembles his uncle Vidcund in the nose (and chin too, I believe).

I find Pleasantview to be the worst for families that don't resemble each other. The Pleasant twins don't look like either of their parents, especially in the nose. I always assume that Mary-Sue (and Brandi Broke) must be meant to have recessive blond genes (even though they don't in the game). That's the only way to make the hair colours of their children make sense.

I've heard nothing but bad things about the Lyla in Olive's graveyard. That's another reason I decided to make my own. She's supposed to be missing data or corrupted in some way.

[saunasims.livejournal.com]

I'm highly envious of your skeelz, lady! :D That's an awesome picture. And I love Lyla Grunt.
Random thought: the Grunt boys really have the best noses. I'm especially fond of Tank's hawkishly bent bridge.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, it didn't really require much skills. Anyone can do this, if they follow the tutorial (and can work with a basic photo editing program). You should give it a try!

Thanks. I was pretty happy with how my Lyla turned out. I'm glad you like her. She has most of Buck's features (all of the basic facial shape), and Ripp's eyes. I think her nose started as Ripp's, but I did a bit of tweaking to make it slightly different.

I'm a huge fan of the Grunt noses. It's a big draw for me. They're all distinct, and appealing in their own way. Ripp's nose is my favourite, which shouldn't come as a surprise. I really think it's the key to his attractiveness. It's a little upturned when he's younger, but then it straightens out, with that nice bump on the bridge. Yummy. Tank definitely has an impressive hawk-like hook, doesn't he? He must have inherited it from a grandparent (I still wish the game allowed for facial traits to be recessive like that. I really hope it will be that was in Sims 3).

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh... I love it!

The closest I've ever come to doing something like that was having the sim paint a screenshot I'd taken and put into the custom artwork folder (I think it was Pets that allowed the sims to do that) but I've never tried to make a recolor of another in-game painting! That's much better... since the Sim-painted portraits aren't always the right size for something like this. Especially if it's a larger portrait!

They all look so perfect. Sigh.

Their reactions were SO appropriate. I agree... it's like they know somehow!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. They do look like a perfect family, don't they? They look really happy in that photo. Maybe they even were close to perfect back then, but sadly, it had to change.

I haven't tried out the custom painting feature to full advantage yet, but I will be using it for some of my arty sims (like Jayne and Buck). It's great for story purposes, since you can see them painting it. If you really wanted to, you could use the same source image to do a custom painting, and then also make a copy with SimPE, to give it a different frame (I know Free Time has frames, but this would give you more options). I agree with you about being frustrated with the painting format. I love square canvases, and the easel canvas is a little too narrow for me.

I do wonder about those sims sometimes. They "learn" certain things, like which bed is theirs, so maybe they pick up more of our gaming habits than we realize.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

Awww! What an adorable portrait! And thanks for the link to the tutorial. Back when I played Sims 1, there was a lovely Maxis program that let me create all kind of paintings for my Sims houses. I remember making a TON of silly kiddie paintings and some watercolors. That's the closest I've been to a custom creator :P.

It's a pity they didn't release a similar program for the Sims 2.

I love the family portrait. True, they look so happy and "normal". Tank and Ripp even look like fraternal twins (same height and everything), although we know those two are completely different! And Lyla is beautiful!

I had to re-create her too, because when I lost Strangetown, I also lost Olive's ghosts at her graveyard. Like someone said above, I extracted them from a new Strangetown because I wanted to re-create them at CAS and kill them again, but for some odd reason they kept crashing my Bodyshop over and over, so I had to make my own versions in the end :S. I like how Ophelia's parents came out, but Lyla is a bit... odd (well, she's basically my gen 5 Lyla as a blonde with a few tweaks, so you could say she looks a lot like her grandma :P). Oh well ^^.

Their reactions are so in-character! I loved that part :).

I could almost swear they "read our minds" and do the stuff we expect them to do. I've had a couple things pop up during my legacy that just made so much sense! For example, when Helena graduated from College, during the party Calvin showed up (he was supposed to be "away" with the aliens) and left an expensive telescope as a present for her before sneaking away. It was too cute!

I'm looking forward to see more "paintings" like this one. They sure add to the story! :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

It's cool that Maxis included a progam like that for Sim 1. I wonder why they didn't do in for the sequel? It was pretty easy to make this in SimPE, so I'm sure you'd be able to get back into making artworks with it. You should give it a try. This is also probably the closest I will get to making custom content, but hey - it's still custom content for the game. Even if just your own game.

Thank you. I think that this is a nice way to make the homes seem more real, and to flesh out the backstories a little more too. I'm probably going to do a wedding portrait for Buzz and Lyla too, and maybe some baby pics for the boys, and then move on the Smiths, and some on. Now that I have a taste for it, I might go a bit crazy with it. :P

I find it funny how all sims are the same height, and since sim twins are always fraternal, Tank and Ripp really could be twins there. I was hoping that they might add height differences for Sim 3, but so far, it doesn't seem like they plan to. I can see how it would make programming interactions where the sims touch a lot more difficult, but the differences in size would affect that too. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with Ophelia in your legacy.

That story about Helena and Calvin and the telescope is so cute! It's like he gave her the telescope to keep an eye on him. They really do seem to know sometimes, don't they?

[franwi.livejournal.com]

Oh I am SO doing this tutorial. I just lost all my legacy portraits and pics in a neighborhood glitch. :(

I adore that family photo! They do look like a happy bunch. I love how Tank's in the camouflage shirt. Shows how long he's been trying to win his father's approval, even at that age. And he's really the spitting image of Buzz. Ripp's smile makes me smile. His smile definitely outshines the rest. ;) I also love how Lyla's playing with Buck instead of posing like the rest. Really shows how loving she was. What a sweet picture. I can definitely see how it would lead to a melancholy reaction from the brothers.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm so sad to hear that you lost all of your portraits! :( Glitches like that really scare me. I would really hate to lose something like that, and it can happen at any time. That's the beauty of doing it this way with with SimPE. These paintings can't be lost, as long as you keep a back up of the file.

Thanks. That was the idea I was going for with Tank. I thought he'd have to have been seeking the approval of Buzz from a pretty young age.

The secret behind Ripp's smile is that it's actually a different type of smile (I used the black box animation tool to make them smile). I've used the same smile on him a couple of times in other scenes, and it seems like it would be "his smile" to me. I think it suits him.

I couldn't get Lyla to smile while holding Buck unless she was interacting with him, but it worked out perfectly to look like she was distracted by her little baby when the shot was taken. Or maybe she was just trying to get him to laugh for the picture.

New Reader

[swhedonberry.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. Perhaps this isn't the best place to announce that I'm a new reader, but I'm doing it anyway!!

I've really enjoyed reading the story so far. I love seeing what other people do with the Maxis playables as I like including them in my stories, as well.

The family portrait of the Grunts is really heart breaking as well as their reactions. Tank, I think, gets me the most because he seems to hide his emotions well. The fact that he can't hide them here says that there's so much more beneath the surface.

I can't wait to see what's happening next!!

Stacie

Re: New Reader

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Hi. Nice to meet you! I think this is as good a place as any to make such an announcement. ^_^ I'm happy to have to as a reader.

Thank you. I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed it so far. I'm always interested in seeing different takes on the Maxis folks too. So many possibilities!

I agree. Tank's shell is a tough one to crack, but I'm sure he has plenty of things buried deep inside. He's not likely to reveal them to very many people.

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

Awh! So cute!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[80sfiend.livejournal.com]

Aww that's so sweet! And really really cool! I love how cute Ripp was when he was little. So adorable. :)

You did a very cute job on it and it'll be fun to see it in story too. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

There's no denying the cuteness of child Ripp. You can bet he splashed in the puddles he made in the bathroom too, if he wasn't too lazy. *snicker* When I play him as a child, he still prefers TV.

I'll probably add a could more photos to the mix before it's show in the story, like a wedding portrait and maybe a shot of Lyla on her own. Then the boys can divide them up between them.

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

This painting is so cool! I do love this feature of SimPE, I use it all the time. My Legacy house is full of these portraits and random moments! :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That's cool that you use the feature so much. I'm totally jumping on that bandwagon. It's so easy, and such a great way to customize a house. I'm having a lot of fun thinking of what the different characters might frame for their walls. Some might prefer candid shots, while others more formal things.

I'm totally making some band posters for The Shifting Paradymes and Llama Dance Party too, and maybe some posters for the Pleasant View soap opera too. It would be fun to have some Lilith and Angela posters for teen walls. :D

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

That's just all kinds of awesome. And awwww-some, how it made them all so sad. Poor orphan boys. :(

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I had a lot of fun putting this together, and I'm going to go on a bit of a spree making more of them.

Poor orphaned Grunts. It's so sad, but at least they're old enough to look after themselves now.

[foxy-princess.livejournal.com]

omg that is so amazing!! Thanks for linking the tutorial; I'm going to try it out and probably fail miserably!!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's not hard at all, if you follow the directions in the tutorial. Good luck!

[a-gates.livejournal.com]

So I was looking at some of your old stories because I wanted to find the one of A day in the life of Lyla Grunt so I could calm down and into a serious/writing mood. And I saw this and even though I know this portrait because I saw it when you first posted it, I took a look at the boy's reactions and then read your line about how it's enough to break your heart a little and it did. Great job ST! I don't think I've ever read a story online that wasn't published manga/graphic novel/comics by huge companies like TokyoPop and the like that would move me like yours do.

If I had the influence or was like the head of EA, I would totally chronicle all your entries and turn it into like a graphic novel series. It would sell :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ^_^ That's very kind of you to say, and I'm extremely flattered by your comments. Just the idea that I could inspire you to get into a writing mood is a great compliment.

Good luck with your writing and have a nice day! ^_^