Gettin' some skin (Sorry, I couldn't stop myself from typing that)

[strangetomato]

I didn't think I would ever switch from the default Maxis skin, and maybe I won't, but I've been really considering these new skins by smjoshsims: The Point of It All: A Set of Semi Maxis Match Skins. I feel a little like someone who's borrowing all his clothes and never returning them, since I use his eyes too, but we obviously have very similar tastes (yeah, good taste *snicker* I'm awesome).

*cough* So, anyway... I decided to test this set out. There's a little sim body hair, but it's minimal. If that makes you want to projectile vomit all over your monitor, consider yourself warned.






Surprising nobody, I chose Ripp as the body for this test.




Here's the face. It's not really all that different, but maybe a little smoother? It still has the forehead wrinkles, I'm happy to report, and the nose is the same shape (and recent test of Leh's skins left me a little disoriented that way). The lips are a little lighter and more translucent.

Is there anything else to note, Josh?




As you can see, there is a touch of body hair, but just a touch.

But why are you hiding it, Ripp?





That's better.

I like it. It's not so much that they don't seem like sims anymore (it matches the scruff), but they actually have some manly body hair. I certainly picture the Grunts that way in my mind. I have no doubt that they, and most all of the other male characters, would have some body hair.

I've never felt to need to add body hair to my male sims, even though I prefer men to be hairy in real life, but these skins are winning me over, I think. They're subtle and nice, and I do like that treasure trail.




Here's Ophelia to show you the S4 skintone. It's a little lighter, but it's pretty close. The females have eyelashes built in, which I'd rather not have, but it's not really a big deal. I really wish they didn't have them under the eye, though (most of the lashes in this pic are from Phi's Lyran lashes, btw - check Josh's post for a better example).

Phi's lips have lipstick on them, so we'll need another example for the lips.




Here you go. This is Zeke Zimmerman, Zoe's father. You'll see him later in the story.




Lazlo shows you S3. Not too much else to say about it. It looks good, I think.




You can see the hint of arm hair too. I think this amount of hair still works in the Maxis match cartoon style. What do you all think?

Oh, and there's no example of S2. I just didn't get one.

So, yeah. I'm considering them.




 

Comments

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Oooh... Nice!!

Oddly enough, I was cruisin' for some skin today too! Since I have that handy-dandy AllenABQ body hair overlay thing now, I was thinking maybe I could do with some other default replacement skins and see what all the attraction is, right?

I tried HP's Idolatry of Flesh skintones and um... no. :P These, however, look more promising. I think I will try them out!

[marhis.livejournal.com]

Thumbs up!
I myself use similar skins, 'cause I'm fond of some body hair on my sims.
I've merged paradise sims skins (maxis skins + the naughty bits) with AllenABQ body hair overlay and I love them. I don't have them in public download, but if you want to test them, I'll be glad to send a link :).
Here (http://www.fantasiadomain.com/simsgallery/myhood/snapshot_f2782845_d3492241.jpg)'s an old picture, but maybe it can give you the idea; they're quite similar.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

What you did sounds like I WOULD LOVE. I use Paradise defaults myself and I have always wished the males had AllenABQ body hair! I have wished and wished I could do what you did but I lack the talent, lol.

[hidden-kitten.livejournal.com]

Maxis skins have nasty blobs and pixellation because of how old the skins are; they just needed a redux, and smjosh did just that with those skins. I don't think it changes your sims too much and the characters still look like themselves. Oh, and the non-brown lips on the paler tones are a nice touch, too ;)
A little body hair is never bad :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

You know, I've never really noticed the blobs or pixellation all that much, except maybe in the under-nose detail when I zoom in really close. Also, I'm not sure I prefer the non-brown lips. Not so much the brown-ness, but the darker shade. Lips are usually darker than the face, right? (I remember us talking about the brown lips before. :P)

But yeah, I do like these skins. They makes some of the details cleaner and crisper, but it's not too much of a difference. Now I just need to ponder it for a while.

[dgjamie.livejournal.com]

I like Josh's skins actually. They definitely don't make the sims look unlike themselves, which is the biggest problem with alot of defaults. I definitely like the eyelashes on the girls and the slight hair on the chest but I'm not a huge fan of it on the arms if I'm being totally honest. Although maybe it's just that it works better on Ripp than on Lazlo.

I've honestly never tried a default replacement skin that I liked enough to leave Maxis skins behind. But maybe I'm just a skin purist :)

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

EEE PLUG. :D

Everyone looks awesome. (I feel weird commenting about them, considering how biased I am. It's not fair!)

Phi looks so good! I feel bad about the eyelashes under the eye, but, eh. *shrugs*

And yes, we do have great taste. ;)

(Also, I lol'ed at the line of you borrowing my clothes and never giving them back. I WANT THEM BACK, OKAY?)

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to mention the other things, so that everyone knows. The skins ARE a *bit* smoother, because of the blending, but the Sims faces still look like their own- I'm going to post a picture of Consort Capp so you can see it's not that much of a difference. I did keep the forehead wrinkles, but they're a little less obvious than on the Maxis skins.

I think those are the major things about the face. The lips are a bit lighter, but I didn't change them at all.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

I like how they look in your screenshots. I'm not fond of overly hairy skins on my sims (because they stop looking cartoony to me), but the amount of hair on Josh's skins is as you said, just a touch, so it still lets the sims look like well... sims, but with that extra detail.

I also like that the lips are paler, and the overall smooth look. I can't see the forehead wrinkles in your pictures, so that might mean they are also smoother, and that for me is a huge plus. I like the wrinkles of the original skins, but in some cases they were too uh... prominent.

I'm not a fan of the painted eyelashes, though, because I use the Anva ones in 99.9% of my sims, so I'm afraid they'd clash. But that's need some testing, of course :).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, Phi's also wearing Lyran lashes, so the effect is a lot less on the actual skins. I should have said so. (Also, I've never really tried Anva's lashes. They seem too realistic to me, but if you use them, I'll have to take another look at how they are on your sims.)

I think the wrinkles are toned down, maybe, but they're still there. I honestly prefer them to the smooth barbie skin of many cc skins. It's just too perfect, and it lacks character to me.

I also really like how the lips still have a clearly delineated outline. That's where most cc skins lose me too: the juicy lips that eat the shape of the genetics.

What skins are you using now? You've switched a lot in the last while.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

I know there are tons of Anva's lash sets, but I'm using the ones that are called "Lashes for all races". I like that they come in brown and black, and the eyeliner part varies according to the skintone. And they come in three sizes too, because not all my sims have über long lashes.

She made some for males, but I'm not fond of them, I think they make the guys look too girly for my tastes.


Heh! I've changed my sim's skintones as frequently as I change my underwear these days :P. Since I made the Maxis Match list, I wanted to try out all the skins I found. I currently have the new Leh skins, but I'm not completely sold on them because the noses seem different to me and they are too smooth, although I love the color variety they offer.

(And this is why I'm a bit hesitant about posting my new update, because the skin and eye continuity is gonna be crazy. The first pictures were done with the Icnito eyes and the Maxis skins... and the last ones have Josh eyes and I think Leh's skins (the first ones), because I've had the oldest pictures ready for months. )

I'm currently on CAS trying out Josh's skins on my simself :P. You know another plus from his set? The files are not as huge as other skins, even compressorized.

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Josh's skins = love.

[gab75.livejournal.com]

Actually, I prefer the maxis one... sorry !

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Heheh. Well, up until this point, I was the same way, so I understand. I like the Maxis skin because of it's lack of detail, so these work for me too, since it's not really adding a bunch of (what I consider to be) unnecessary stuff.

[showercapfrog.livejournal.com]

They definitely fit in with the rest of your custom content, from those pics. The only problem I can see is if you and Josh start posting using the same skins, I'll get confused :P

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

mmmm, I still Prefer The PhasMaxian skintones by 'kiki (Phasmatic Sims) And then for showcasing or sharing sims I add different face masks etc. Like a rensim/'kiki blend I made because I thought the original was too harsh etc. But thats just me.
I guess If you *like* the original skins, then thats your preference; but I like a iklebittMoar detail on areas like the Nose and such [they ARE in the middle of the face and all! LOL]

*Shrug*

Make yourself happy :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, I got in trouble for saying so before, so I won't say too much, but I don't like the eye detail that the PhasMaxian skintones add to the eyes, especially on the males. I want those to be plain. I'm also not a huge fan of nose shaders. In cartoons, noses are usually simplified, not more detailed than other features.

That said, I'm also a little intriqued by the nose shaders in other people's pictures sometimes. It's a distinct look, for sure, but in the words of my grandfather on Christmas morning, "It's nice... but it's no good for me." ;)

Oh, don't worry. I'm so picky about things like this, there's no way I'd do anything to please anyone other than myself. Everyone deserves to have their game look the way they want it to, right?

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

mmmm, Your right

I kinda think that as the nose is in the center of the face, and which is where the eye goes to first, It should have *some* detail.

I can see what you mean about the eyen area though, But I prefer just this level of detail, anything more is on an odd occasion (Vampires, Abnormals etc. usually added by a Face mask)

yea, I wanted to stick to the maxis skin forever more, and I think I'm going to cut down on my FaceMask use (The Multiple RenSim ones for the eyes are only ok when you do a *certain* type of eye, everything else makes them look "puffy")

As i said; its all your own Preference :)

[lithium-lily.livejournal.com]

I'm not a Maxis Match person when it comes to genetics (not realistic either...somewhere in between I guess) and the two things I hate most about the Maxis skins are the noses (the nostrils, specifically) and the lips (wayy too dark, for me). These have better lips IMO and the happy trails look adorable, so yeah...I think they're an improvement from Maxis.
You're also right, what YOU like best is what matters. :D

[cameoflage.livejournal.com]

I'm not keen on the mandatory five o'clock shadow, I admit; if I want stubble on a Sim, I'll apply it as facial hair. (Maybe it's more realistic; I wouldn't really know, since my knowledge of facial hair and the removal thereof doesn't extend that far.) Everything else looks good, though!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh... Ooops. Sorry. That isn't on the skin. All of the sims I used for these pics just happen to have stubble. I use it on a lot of male sims. I didn't think to find models that were bare faced, because I'm a little slow sometimes (and are there really any details on that part of the face anyway?).

Next time I show skins, I'll remember to remove all the makeup and facial hair. I really just grabbed a few shots of sims on my business lot without really altering them in any way (except for getting Ripp to strip done to his undies).

[cameoflage.livejournal.com]

Aha! It all makes sense now.

[twistingsims.livejournal.com]

Oh these do look good! I have been looking for a nice skin set with more smoothness than the original maxis and a hint of hair for the males forever! Oh and I'm sure Ripp was really upset about the undies thing, eh? ;) (nice undies btw!)