strangetomato | Strangetown extras: Grunt Family Portrait

Entry tags:

extras: shwc

Strangetown extras: Grunt Family Portrait

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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

What the...? I just uploaded them! *grumble,grumble..*
Let me see, maybe I used a wrong code or something. Let's try this again:

They aren't deleted (no little flashes of sim-titty at all)so I'm not sure what the issue is except that I can still be inept on the PC.

Oh, how cool! That painting is really getting around. I love seeing how it's used in other people's games. Does the sight of Ripp and his greasy grin inspire increased cologne sales, I wonder? ("Suddenly I feel so DIRTY... maybe this perfume will help..." *snicker*) That sims seems to find it as amusing as we do. :P

I thought you might have moved the photos after you posted the link, but it might just be some photobucket randomness.

Sim titty! *snort* You had better think of the children before you post those cartoon nipples on the internet.

Yeah, the different size thing would be nice (and the frame). I think I read that FT has frames for paintings (or something like that, don't quote me on that, though).

I think the sunset glitch (man, those two words go so good together) has been around since Nightlife. I think part of it might be that the game doesn't really save a the picture you paint. So when you tuck it into inventory (or, I thinkt his happened to me, you install a new EP) it resets it. When it resets, it doesn't have a pic to use, so it uses the sunset.

When pets introduced the custom paintings, I did an experiment and (if memory serves) the custom ones survived being put into inventory. BUT, just recently, I had one of Loki Beaker's custom paintings go sunset. So I don't know.

Free Time does have frames, from what I've seen, but they are all the same width, and just come in different colours. They're all just plain and straight too, and some of the frames on the buyable paintings are nice and ornate (and they are all different).

It's just sketchy to put things in the inventory at all, I think. I lost a headstone that way too (from the Goths - I was attempting to move them to another lot). I'll think twice before I move a painting that way (and I'll double check before installing a new EP).

Saying that the painting "went sunset" sounds so epic.

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! :)

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.

This is me, indigoleo, I'm already logged in on my sim journal and can't be arsed at the moment to change. :) What can I say, it's my day off, it's gray outside and I'm lazy as hell.

I never really thought about Ripp's grin increasing perfume sales...I'll have to look into that! I merely picked that wall because it was big enough (and empty enough) to place the picture there. Not many sims have had a chance to look at it yet. I loved how Hiram stood there for the longest checking it out and then busted up laughing.

I actually had photobucket delete one of my sim pics for just that reason. Ironically, Ripp was in it (rolls eyes) and it was in a small bathroom at college when he and somebody else were fighting over who was going to move out of the way. The streaker girl came in and Ripp got all shocked and I got a pretty good pic of it, from the back and with just a little bit of breast. And they deleted it. Prudes. I've seen much more sim-skin posted in other people's stories.
The word of the day is SIM-TITTIES! :D

According to SimPE when I'm searching character files with everything selected (NPCS and townies both, lags like a bitch), Lyla Grunt is listed as having no character data. That's probably why no one can really clone her and resort to making their own versions if desired. Admittedly, for my Weirdsville neighbourhood I used your method of using Ripp and Buck to make her for the Grunts I've relocated.

Yup! Luckily I have a pc-owning friend who has let me install simpe to pull sims out. But I REALLY want to make custom wall hangings! (And I'm sorry for the crazy typos before- I was exhausted).

Yeah, days like that are a good reason to be lazy. A had a snow day yesterday (in APRIL!), so I know the feeling.

I don't think I've friended your sim journal, so I'm going to do that now.

I always find it funny to see what gets yanked from photobucket. It's seems like the nudity, however mild, is the trigger. It makes me laugh, since I can make some pretty sexually suggestive images without nudity, and those are fine.

Hear that kids? The word of the day is SIM-TITTY. Or PIXELTIT. :P

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

Awh! So cute!

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. :)

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! :)

Hi, I hope you don't mind a total stranger commenting out of the blue. I've been reading your stories foor awhile and really enjoy them.

Ihear you on the family resemblance thing, but I've always though that Jill had something vaguely alien about her feaatures, particularly once she becomes a teen. It's nowhere near as pronounced as in the real aliens, obviously, but there'ssomething about her eyes and nose, I think.

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

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?

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.

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.

Thanks!

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.

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

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.

Oh, I don't mind at all. I love hearing from someone new. Nice to meet you!

I totally agree with you about Jill. She has a very small nose and large eyes, so it gives her a little bit of an alien look. I'm sure she's happy about that. Johnny, on the other hand, don't have very alien-like features at all - just the skin.

Well, that makes sense. I wonder if that's why she also shows with random hair and clothes as a ghost in my game (a lot of Olive's ghosts do - it's weird).

I think it's a good method for making Lyla. If you're going to do it, you may as well give her a family resemblance, and she turns out quite pretty too! ^_^

Edited 2008-04-07 14:25 (UTC)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 2 of 3

Strangetown extras: Grunt Family Portrait

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

New Reader

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: New Reader

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject