Semi-guide to make CC for The Sims 3, Part 3

JoshQ · July 2, 2017

This isn't a detailed guide for that go to modthesims, thesimsresource, tumblr, youtube, etc. I'm just sharing whatever I've learned while making stuff.

If I omitted something or need assistance let me know.

Part 1 (Tools) here

Part 2 (How CC works) here

If I omitted something or need more help let me know.

Part 3: Textures

Here is a writeup about how DDS compress an image, the article is very old but so is this game so the info remains relevant.
Recommended tutorial by Saliwa and these by TJ Streak: NaughtySims_Tutorial_forSims3.zip
Also the SimsWiki has a nice collection.
The easiest way to avoid your textures look like crap is to make them at 2048x2048 or 4096x4096 resolution mixed with the HQ mod, the downsize is the game will struggle to process them unless you have a monster CPU/GPU (and probably even then you will notice lag).
What I do for stockings and lingerie is to generate the textures at 2048x2048 and then scale them back in photoshop or paint.net that reduces some hard edges and looks way better than generating textures at 1024 from the start.
Here are the guides I use to make clothes, the UV map was generated in Blender using the default body and feet (is 99.62% compatible with MedBod/Impossible Feet and might be with other custom meshes). The full body mesh is used to test the textures and to find misalignments on seams or any other kind of problems, sadly most defects appear once you’re in-game... s3_fembody_guides.zip
Another way to reduce contrast (read why in the Gamasutra article) and at least in the multiplier is to change the background of your clothing, like this:
But wait, won’t that appear on the game? No because the alpha is what dictates what appears and don’t and is not affected by DDS compression (also check the base silky stockings as example):
Using the alpha channel on your mask can also help to eliminate artifacts when you’re working with small details (check Stockings Set E2 as example). Remember you can activate/deactivate color channels in TSRW so you can combine them depending on your needs.
After trying several programs Fireworks is still my favorite to create vectors that later can be exported as PNGs and then to DDS in Photoshop and similars; Inkscape comes in second place just because the interface can be tricky to learn and also because it has performance issues on Windows (less so in W10). Another tool that might become useful is Gravit Designer is free and you can download a standalone version, I need to do more testing but I’m liking it so far.