Creating custom content in the Sims 4 is a very enjoyable process for me because it is an instant way to show off my hard work in a game.
It is quite a lengthy process because Sims 4 Studio is set up to work with an old version of blender, one that doesn’t display correctly on my laptop. My modeling workflow ends up starting in Maya (my current preferred modeling software), taking it into a more recent version of blender, exporting it to the Sims 4 Studio compatible version of blender, and then pushing the mesh to S4S (sims 4 studio).
My texturing workflow is nearly as awkward because of the way Sims 4 uses texture maps. The normal map only uses the red channel and the green channel which are turned into alpha and black and white. So while I do the painting, baking, and height details in Substance painter I compress the texture in Photoshop. Although now that I think about it I could probably create a custom template for Sims 4 in Substance painter. I’m still experimenting with Sims 4 texturing process. Since their specular map is completely proprietary (as far as I’m aware) it will take some learning on my end.
My Mods
Dollie Bonnet
This hat was created for a Snapchat lens but I liked it enough to put it into my sims game. I did learn my lesson that you can only put one image in a texture space at a time because the lace detailed clashed with the pink hat and so I didn’t get to add the full bonnet to the game.
Dormitory Beds
My roommate challenged me to recreate our dorm room in sims so I spent the time recreating a functional bed that is the size and design of our dorm beds. Although I may go back and update this with more blanket styles since I only added patterns for myself and for my roommate.
The beds even show up in the dormitory section of items when decorating the apartment style dorms in the University Life expansion pack’s world.
Rainbow Sparkles
A quick colorful makeup applied to the cheek of a sim.
The textures are converted to Sims 4 RLES so you can use sliders to affect the hue, opacity, brightness, and saturation.
Salmon Cat Food Bowls
I was underwhelmed by the Cats and Dogs expansion in Sims 4 but I adore the cute pets it brings. To augment the features I created an extra food bowl for your pets. Instead of containing just kibble, it fills with fresh salmon for your cat (or dog) to eat.
There are 8 color swatches, a high LOD model and a lower LOD model. The bowl looks good in several states of lighting and has a model for all states of being full vs empty.
Doing the different models for full, partial, and empty states was my first time baking different models with the same UVs but it turned out well.
See my little kitty eating her fresh fish!
KDA Posters
Using the KDA Fankit provided by Riot I added the bios to my Sim’s walls. This is probably the simplest mod I have created, in fact it was my first one! (Apart from personal use slight color adjustments to clothing).
I used to be an Evelynn main so I’m just a straight up Villain!
The Kraken Kitty Headset
I didn’t actually make this one myself but I did rig and implement it into sims. The beautiful model was done by my friend Marina who graciously allowed me to add it to my collections of sims accessories.
Dragonsheen Doll
Modeled after my real world pusheen doll this Dragonsheen is a sweetheart.
Isn’t she cute? I totally didn’t forget to add a normal map to her.
As of current my mods are for my personal use only but I may put them open to download in the future. ^.^