Skinning Tutorial by Desdemona

I made this tutorial to help get you started on making your own skins for The Sims.
There is not one 'right' way to do skins, and I think everyone has their own technique. Still, you need all the help you can get when you're new to skinning. And what you need even more is practice.
This tutorial is meant to inspire you and show you some of the techniques that I use myself, but it's not a set of rules. So just go ahead and I hope you'll find it helpful :)
The tutorial is made for Paint Shop Pro.

Here's what you need before you start:
SimShow: Program by Maxis, that you use to view your skins in 3D as you work.
A good graphics program: I use Paint Shop Pro myself. The program must be able to handle layers and have shadowing tools. Lots of people use Photoshop as well.
Nude base skins: You use these as a base for your skin. Much better than using finished Maxis skins to work from. Get them from Threnody, look under Bodies and Files
SimPose: If you want really great looking pics of your finished skin, this program is the one!
"The do's and dont's of skinning - what every Sim artist should know": This is something I wrote to help you get started right without stepping on any toes. Contains all the unwritten rules of the sims community... Read it before you start.

OK, now you should be ready to get that skin done!

Making a skin:

1. The first thing I do is deciding what mesh I'm gonna use. Check out the meshes in SimShow to get a good look.
I've decided to do some female pants with a top. For this tutorial I'm gonna use a mesh by Well Dressed Sim with flared pants. I'll also need to have a skin that fits the mesh, so I can get the outlines right from the start. The maxis skin 'B002fafitlgt_Mom1' looks fine.

2. Here comes the boring part: Some info on naming the skin. When you make you own skin, you'll need to know how to name it correctly. The skin .bmp file has a 'code' in the beginning of the file name. This code tells The Sims which mesh to use, and what gender, age, body type and skincolor the skin is. So it's important to get the code right.
This goes for both skins and heads:
The first letter is 'B' for body or 'C' for head.
The three numbers following is the number of the mesh fx. '710' or '001'.
Then there's a gender/age code: 'FA' means female adult, 'MA' means male adult, 'FC' means female child, 'MC' means male child and 'UC' means universal child (both male and female).
For body skins there's one more code referring to the bodytype: 'fit' is fit, 'fat' is fat, 'skn' is skinny, and 'chd' is child. This code is similar for the mesh and the skin.
The skin or head texture (the .bmp file) also has one more (yes, it's the last!) code for skincolor: 'lgt' is light, 'med' is medium and 'drk' is dark.
For both skins and meshes, the part that comes after the code is the name. It's separeted by an '_' so it's easy to tell apart. The name is up to you to decide.
Example: the mesh I'm using is called 'b710fafit_flarescal'. That means it's a body mesh for adult fit females with the no 710. The name of the mesh is 'flarescal'.
The skin I'm going to make for this mesh will have to have the same code + a skintone and my own name. I'll call it 'b710fafitlgt_desdTutorial'. If I decide to do other skin tones I'll just have to replace the 'lgt' with 'med' or 'drk'.
If you can't remeber, just check out the filenames of the other .bmps in SimShow.

3. I'll start by opening up the nude base. ('NFfitlgt' is nude female fit light). Then I change the color depth. This allows me to use all tools and colors. Choose 'Colors' -> 'Increase Color Depth' -> '16 million Colors' You can see that the color palette to you right will change.
Now open the medium base (NFfitmed). Choose 'Edit' -> 'Copy'. Click on the light base. Chose 'Edit' -> 'Paste' -> 'As new layer'.

The image will now have two layers, you can check it by looking at the Layer Palette. When you put the mouse over a layer without clicking, you will see a small pic of the layer. The best thing to do is to right-click on the layer names and rename them to e.g. 'light' and 'medium'. This makes is easier for you to remember the content of the layers. (NB! for some reason it's impossible to rename the background layer. I've never figured out why...)
Copy and paste the dark base (NFfitdrk) the same way.
When I work on the skin I make the dark and the medium layer invisible, by clicking on the glasses next to the layer in the layer palette.

4. At this point I save my image. Click on 'File'->'save as...', type in the file name to match the mesh, and set file type to Paint Shop Pro Image. I do this bacause I want to save my layers, and this can only be done in .psp format. My file is saved as b710fafitlgt_desdTutorial.psp

5. Now I copy the 'Mom1' skin I wanted to use as a guide and paste it into the image as a new layer. (All the texture files in SimShow is located in Maxis/ SimShow/ Gamedata/ textures.)

6.The first thing I do is to make a rough draft of the skin.
I start by making a new layer. I always make a seperate layer for each item, like pants, shoes, shirt... This makes it easyer to erase something, adjust the color or add a texture.
Click on 'Layers'-> 'New raster layer'. I write in 'pants' as the name and click ok.
(If the arrangement of the layers is wrong, I can always move them by dragging the layers in the Layer Palette.)

7. Now I draw the pants in the new layer using 'Mom1' as a guide. I want the waist to be lower though.

I also draw the top as a seperate layer. I'm not too picky about the colors, I can adjust them later.
Then I make the 'Mom1' layer invisble and save the file.

8. Before I continue I want to see the skin in SimShow. (To get the file suitable for SimShow I'll have to remove the layers and decrease the color depth. Therefore it's very important that I've saved the image first as .psp or I won't be able to work in layers anymore.)
I click on 'Colors'-> 'Decrease Color Depth' ->'256 Colors'. I click on 'yes' at the warning and usually I choose 'Optimized Octree' for palette. This done I can save my file (click 'Files' -> 'save as...') as a Windows Or OS/2 bitmap (.bmp) in Maxis/SimShow/Gamedata/textures. I just use the same filename as before, so the file will be saved as b710fafitlgt_desdTutorial.bmp.

9. In SimShow, press 'Reload' to get the file you just saved in to the program. (Just make sure the sim posing isn't wearing the skin at the time, or SimShow can crash.)

My skin looks OK except for the straps. They look kinda thick at the neck.
I'll go back to the .psp version of my image and correct this. I'll use the Remove tool to make the straps thinner around the neck.

Everytime I want to check in SimShow I'll have to first save as .psp then decrease color depth and save as .bmp in the 'textures' folder. And when I do some changes I always go back to the .psp version of the file.
Looks better now.

8. She needs some shoes. I could make my own, but for this skin I'll just use some of Maxis'. (Remember that while it's ok to use parts of Maxis bitmaps in your work, it's generally NOT ok to use other peoples work. So if you're not satisfied with the Maxis shoes, you'll have to do your own.)
I simply go to the layer with the 'Mom1' skin, and select the shoes using the Selection tool. Then I copy them and paste as a new layer.
I use the 'Mom1' skin for reference on where to place the shoes correctly. Click on 'Selection' -> 'Select None' to make the selection frame go away.
When I make the 'Mom1' layer invisible again, my image loooks like this:

And like this in SimShow:

9. Now I want to work on the colors and the shading.
I start with the top. I click on 'Colors' -> 'Adjust' -> 'Hue/Saturation/Lightness'. I'll make the top light purple using the 'Lightness' slider and adding some more blue using the 'Hue' slider. I almost always use the 'saturation' slider to make the color look less intense and more realistic.
You can get a preview of the changes by clicking down the 'auto proof' button (the one with the arrow next to the eye).

10. Now I'll adjust the color for the pants

and the shoes as well. Now she looks like this:

11. Then I do the shading.
I turn down the opacity of the layer in the layer palette, to somewhere between 40-60%.

This allows me to use the shading of the base as a guide to where to put shadows and highlights. (Remember, that if the clothing isn't skin-tight, the shading will be different. For example the lower parts of flared pants will not have as much highligts as tights would. It's a good idea to look at clothes in real life or on pictures, if you have no idea at all on how to do shading.)
I use the retouch tool, which can be set to lots of different effects. The ones I use the most is 'darken RGB', 'lighten RGB', 'soften' and 'smudge'. This can be set in the Tool Options Window. (You might want to use different Brush Sizes and Opacities when working, or even lower the Density of the brush.)

With the opacity turned down I use the darken tool on the dark areas.
I turn up the opacity to 100% to do some final shading.

Then I use the lightening tool the same way.

To give a smoother impression I then use the smudge tool, and at last the soften tool.

At this point I might add some final highlight or shadow, depending on the effect I want.
I do the pants the same way.

I decided to put some texture on the pants as well. Click on 'Effects' -> 'Texture Efeects' -> 'Texture...' and choose a texture. I set the depth very low, and use the 'auto proof function' to see how it looks.

Now my skin looks like this:

12. For the final touch I make a shadow under the top.
Click on 'Effects' -> '3D effects' -> 'Drop Shadow'

13. For details I want to add a tattoo, a belt and seams to the pants.
I've found a nice picture for a tattoo and removed the background.

Then I resize it using 'Image' -> 'Resize'. I set the size to 22% for this pic. Then I just copy and paste into the skin as a new layer.
I place the tattoo on the shoulder and turn down the opacity of the layer to 65% to make it look more realistic.

14. For the belt I make a new raster layer named 'belt'. I draw a belt and then click 'Effects' -> 'Texture Effects' -> 'Sculpture' and choose a nice look for my belt. I set the depth quite low and use the 'auto proof' function.

Then I use 'drop shadow' on the belt.

And on the pants while I'm at it...

15. The seams for the pants I make as a seperate layer as well.
I use the 'Mom1' skin as a guide and make the pants, top and belt layer invisible. Then I just draw the lines I want by hand.

I make the layers visible again, and the 'Mom1' layer invisible. Then I remove the exces seams, adjust the color, and softens the seams here and there using the 'soften' tool. And the skin looks like this:

16. With the last details done, I'll check her out in SimShow.

She looks great, but the tattoo needs to be moved at bit, and maybe lightened too... like this:
:
yep, she's done!

17. Now I just need to make the two other skin tones.
I'll move the 'medium' skin layer down so it's just above the 'background' layer. Then I'll remove the invisibility, and voilá - it's a medium skin.

Remember to change the 'lgt' in the file name to 'med' when you save as .bmp. And do the same with the dark layer, changing the 'lgt' to 'drk'.

18. The skins are all done and ready to use in your game.
Save the .bmp to Maxis/The Sims/GameData/Skins.
And if you want to make a great pic in SimPose, save the .bmp to Simpose/GameData/TexF/Body (or 'TexM' for male skins). Make sure the .skn file of the mesh is saved to Simpose/GameData/ObjF/Body.

That's all. Desdemona :)