September 1, 2006

First and foremost I dedicate this tutorial to my dear friend Kim who lit the fire under my butt to do this, she is terrific, please check out her groups:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/KimsSimLiving
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/KimsSimLiving_Archives_1/

This tutorial was written using windows XP. If you have another version of windows you can still follow along, and if you get stuck, email the group and you will get help.

I used SimPe object Workshop for this tutorial. I chose that over the wizard because I feel doing it this way will better familiarize you with SimPe itself. (the best way to learn to drive is by learning on a stick)

I wrote this tutorial for beginners. If your computer skills are a bit more advanced, thanks for your patience with my spelling everything out to the last detail. I stop and take a screen shot picture as often as I can see necessary for the beginner. and again, if you get stuck, please email the group.

any time I say "click" in this tutorial it means a single left click. If I say "double click" it means two fast left clicks in succession. The only time I mean right click is if I specify "right click"

For this tutorial you will need to go and get some things if You don't already have them. First you need a graphics program. I use Photoshop 7.0. Most artists use either that, Photoshop CE or PSP, and others. You can even use the paint program that came with windows. I will use that in this tutorial, because everyone has it. It's not the best choice, but it's better than nothing. If you are considering getting a graphics program, Like Photoshop, that is what I use, or Paintshop Pro I think it is called, you should do that now, and get used to using it's features. It will help you to use your artistic skills so much better than the paint program that comes with Windows. You can search for a graphics program through a search engine like yahoo or google, there may even be sites that have free trials, you will need to search for what is up to date..... OK, on with the Tutorial.

Ok, and you will also need .net framework, which is a windows update, which you can get from Microsoft Windows update. You can click here to download it, and get info

Again, I will be using paint for the tutorial, but I suggest you try and find a better program like photoshop or paint shop pro, but if you cannot, then paint will have to do. I use Photoshop 7.0, many artists use photoshop, the newest version is called Photoshop CE I think. Many artists also use PSP, also known as Paint Shop Pro.

 I am using the Windows XP operating system, if you have ME, 2000, or 98 you can still follow along, it won't be drastically different.

OK, so now we are all set and about to begin our recoloring. I would prefer in lieu of emailing me with any questions you ask in the group, you can join by using the box at the bottom of the page. When you join, set your email settings to digest if you don't want a lot of email. Please put tutorial in the subject line ... thanks

This tutorial may NOT be redistributed or reproduced without my expressed, written permission , as I spent a lot of time and effort when I would rather have been doing something else like furniture meshing, playing Sims 2, reading, sky clad sumo wrestling, etc. If you would like to link to it I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Here is the graphic: or

here is the link: http://www.objectsforsims2.com/tutorials/recoloring.htm

I would also appreciate it if you learn to recolor with this tutorial if you would post a link on your site and/or tell others it is here.

Thanks and Blessings!

OK, here we go:

Important!!!

To see the largest image of the screenshots, after you click the pic link, you may have to maximize the pic's window, (click the square in the upper right corner) to see it in full size!

Before we start the actual tutorial we need to make a folder on your desktop, and a shortcut to downloads on your desktop.

A. Go to your desktop and right click any OPEN SPACE, not an icon, an open space. point to new, then folder, and left click folder.  pic  

name the folder "projects," do so by typing it in right after you create the folder, or right click the folder and choose rename and then type it in. This is the folder you will use for your projects.

B. Now go to start/my documents/ea games/the sims 2  (to do this click the start button in the lower left corner of the screen, then  click my documents  pic  and double click the folder named EA Games pic and double click the folder named The Sims 2  pic  and look for the Downloads folder  pic (if you are now in the sims 2 folder and you don't see a folder named Downloads, then create one in this folder following the steps in part A in this tutorial, (written above) only you will click an open spot in this folder instead of your desktop, and name it Downloads, make sure your D is CAPITAL)  Right click the Downloads folder and move your curser to send to then desktop create shortcut. pic Now go to your desktop and you should see a shortcut to your downloads folder pic

OK, Now we are Ready to Open SimPe and begin the fun!!

hang on Tight!!!!

1. open the simpe program (I am going to tell you how to open it as if there were no shortcuts on your desktop or in your start-up folder. This is the way you start any program when you do not have a shortcut, or cannot find your shortcut, you go to the actual program's folder)

To open SimPe without using a shortcut, go to start, and click my computer  pic  then double click the C drive.  pic then double click the folder named program files  pic  Then double click the folder named SimPe  pic  Then double click the SimPe program to open it. SimPe.exe  pic

Now you are in Simpe. pic

2. go up at the top to the tabs and hit tools then object creation, then object workshop   pic

A box will pop up and you will have to choose from two buttons, START or OPEN  pic

3. click the start button, and wait a few moments for the object workshop to gather all of it's files. You will then see this box  pic

4. For this tutorial we are going to choose the vase collection. Click the little plus sign next to decorative then the little plus sign next to Sculpture pic  now scroll down a bit and click over the word sculpture-vase collection, now it will be highlighted, and go to the top of this window and click the tab that says NEXT  pic  after you click next you will see a window  pic with a drop down box with the word task above it. click the arrow in this dropdown box and you will see two choices, clone or recolor, we want recolor of course. Click the button that says start, under that dropdown box. Now you will be looking at a window that you will use to save this file someplace. pic You want to save this file to the project folder you created on your desktop. As you can see by the name of the folder in the top dropdown box, this window defaults to be ready to save to the Downloads folder. pic  Now click the little arrow at the very top in that dropdown menu bar next to where it says downloads  pic  Now click on the slider bar and find where it says desktop by moving that slider bar up and down and looking. pic  Now you will choose to save in the projects folder  pic  just double click the projects folder, or highlight it and click open  pic  Now you will be in the projects folder. On the space next to File name type in the name of your file. It is best to use the name date system in my opinion, you do not want to ever have the same name for any two files, trust me, so call it your name, brief name of what it is, and the date. Then click save example pic  After you click save, you will see Simpe go through a little bit of what it does, and then you will see a window that looks like this pic

Now I need to pause a moment and explain. This item that we are recoloring has two parts to it. It has the flowers part, and the vase part. Some objects have two parts like these vases, and others only have one part.

For this tutorial we will be recoloring both parts, the flowers and the vases, so we will leave both checked, and click OK  pic  Now your Simpe Window should open up big on your screen. If it does not, and you still see this tutorial, no problem, just click on the SimPE icon down there in the toolbar and it will pop up for you  pic  Now close out the little window in the front that says "object workshop" by clicking the X in the upper right corner of the little window.

5. Now, on the left side under where it says "resource tree" click on the word texture image, then on the right side of the screen under where it says "type, group, instance etc." click on the first texture image in the window pic 

6. Now we are ready for some serious recoloring. I am going to show you how to recolor with the paint program that came with windows. If you have another program such as Photoshop this is so much better. you can find some tutorials on the internet for Photoshop, or whatever program you want to use to do the actual recoloring. Google and Yahoo are the top two search engines in the world ...... I am pretty sure anyway, LOL. You can find free tutorials and other help on the web by searching,  just, as always, make sure your antivirus definitions are up to date before you go searching anyplace for anything.     :o)