Posing and Scene Compositions: The Question thread

[simtopi]

Behind the scenes on Chapter 29 (I don't take many of these). It looks like amochan8878 's Tavin is asking Adrian to dance.  Doesn't look very threatening, but when all is said and done, he just wants to eat his brains. :p (and no I haven't been keeping up with the dorm landscaping!)

 

I've mentioned in some past comment threads that I would do a Q&A about my posing and scene compositions because there seemed to be some interest in how I compose some of my shots and getting my sims looking the way I do. Unfortunately, I'm really bad at getting any behind-the-scenes shots as I actually pose a chapter, so I figure this is the next best way for those who might be curious.



Before I go on, I will say that my posing isn't overly complicated. I don't download every pose box in existence and most of my posing are Maxis animations.  I do spend a lot of time looking through the animations for the right frame though. It can be tedious but its rewarding for me (and I guess for the readers ;) ) when the scene comes together. Notice I do cheat quite a bit using camera angles.

Secondly, please do read, if you haven't already, Veron_Asher's tutorials about posing. I cannot recommend these tutorials enough. She goes in depth (with pictures too!) on how to use game animations and a few hacks to get great poses for your scenes. She also gets into overlay animations which in my opinion is huge. If I did an animation tutorial, I'd pretty much be repeating everything there, so I'm not going to. Instead I'll insist you follow the link.


And here's how the above shot looks finally published:

Please go ahead and ask me anything you like about posing and scene composition, for example how I set up a particular picture, and I'll do my best to help you out by recreating the scene step by step with screenshots, including the hacks, mods and cheats that I use.

Questions will be screened and answers posted in another post. Anonymous questions are welcome (I don't do IP screening, so no worries for your privacy). If no one asks, that's totally cool, I'll work on chapter 34 instead. :D

Comments

[amochan8878.livejournal.com]

Dancing and brains...can't he have both?

[simtopi]

LOL! I watch reality TV, you don't need brains to dance anymore :D

[amochan8878.livejournal.com]

Too true. Too true.
When I saw you mentioned he was asking to dance, the first thing that popped in my head was Deborah Kerr and Yul Bryner singing :D And that's when you did need brains for dancing :D

[infinitygoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm just beginning to get the hang of posing. I still don't use it a whole lot because it's time consuming, though.

[simtopi]

You're right, it can be time consuming but it's still fun, at least it is for me. ;) Once you know what poses to look for it does become easier.

[infinitygoddess.livejournal.com]

And that's provided you have the right pose boxes besides. :p Sadly, because I only have up to OFB, I have to be careful about what I download for pose boxes or else my game will hate me (for compatibility purposes).

And then there's the fact I'd love to give some of my Sims tattoos, but I can't get those overlays until I get seasons and the same with body hair. So I have to work with what I've got for the time being until I get money for more EPs.

[simtopi]

The tattoo/body hair boxes do make it easy to customize skintones but you're right you do need Seasons. Have you tried this tutorial? - http://my-sims-reality.livejournal.com/86240.html

It's actually really easy and you can use any skintone base you like. All you need is bodyshop and your photo editting program (photoshop). It's the method I used to get Rowan's tattoos on him.

[infinitygoddess.livejournal.com]

Meh, except I'm not wild about the idea of making it genetic. That's why I'd favor the overlays, because at least they can't be inherited and certain male characters I have (coughAkimcough) like to be body hair optional.

Thanks anyways. :/

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

This is awesome of you :D

I don't have any specific questions since I am one of the annoying ones that tends to stare until I figure it out or ask right then if I can't but I will be watching for the answers to see what other tricks I can pick up from the questions you do get!

[simtopi]

I'm always happy to help. I don't believe in keeping "trade secrets" because sim story telling really is a fun and creative hobby.

I'll try to post the 'answers' in the next few days. ;)

[the_mctavishams.livejournal.com]

Notice I do cheat quite a bit using camera angles.

OMG So do I! Sometimes I feel like the camera angle couldn't possibly cover up what the hell my sim is doing, but then I get the random "oh wow how did you do that?" question and it's all worth-while. :)

You do an excellent job. Your posing is so natural that I sometimes forget that nearly all of them are not attainable during normal game-play. And even though that sounds kind of choppy, that is meant to be a compliment :] Not many people can pull it off so well as you do... you have an ability to make the reader FORGET to over-analyze the pictures for what poses you used.

No question at the moment, just praise :D I can't wait to see some of the questions others have been asking though :)

[simtopi]

Thank you so much! I know what you mean, about natural posing and the same does go for your work too! It's important for me for sim animations to look so natural that you don't pay attention to it. Because that's what real humans do... we move around constantly that it becomes almost subtle. And framing is important too for stories. It's all about context. You can have a pic of a sim standing perfectly still, but the screen that comes before it, or after it or even the narrative will help describe what the sim is doing.

[so-goshable.livejournal.com]

That looks fantastic!

I haven't used the angled slots in over a year now, but when I did, they always left a purple cast on my sims after making it invisible. All I could do was crop it out with clever camera angles, but I lost a lot of the shot in doing so. Does this happen to you as well, or am I just screwing something up? *lol*

[simtopi]

I've never gotten any purple shading or anything like that when using those OMSPs. I wonder if it's a graphic setting of yours maybe? Mine are turned to all the highest settings. Slow game play, but framerate isn't important when I'm just taking screens. ;)

[so-goshable.livejournal.com]

Mine are cranked up as well. Come to think of it, I was using them with the shiftable slots, which are purple. Those might be the real cuplrits. I never have the problem the objects though.

[starling-1.livejournal.com]

I've always found the overlays tricky and difficult, but they do provide some spectacular shots. One of the problems that really drives me crazy is line of sight: trying to ensure that they are actually looking where I want them to look instead of staring off over somebody's shoulder. The 'look at player' hack is pretty good but limited.

[simtopi]

Oh I totally agree about line of sight. It bugs me too. I let some screens get away with it because it's sort of cartoony by nature, but I do find it important for characters to need to at least look like they're looking at their target. It can tell a lot of the story.

I avoid overlay animations whenever I can because you're right it's kind of difficult to use and figure out, but for me the end result is what matters so I will fight those damn sims until they do what I tell them to do. LOL.