Calculated Whimsy: Not a Strand Out of Place

A sophisticated bun with carefully-pinned strands that add just a touch of asymmetry, this hair manages to look fanciful without appearing chaotic. It is based on the 'True Romance' hairstyle from the Sims 3 Store, presently only available as part of the Once Upon a Time Cottage set now available here .



I didn't particularly care for the level of shine on the original Store texture, so I softened it a bit. This removed the waxiness and evened out some of the shadowing, as well as making the hair look fuller and generally more like hair. However, because I know some do prefer the glossiness, this hair comes in two flavors: Original and Reduced Shine. Original is complete with the original textures and shading packaged with the True Romance hair, though this means it also comes with True Romance's scruffiness as well (see 'Known Issues' for more details). They don't overwrite eachother, so you can put both in your game if you'd like to compare them.

There are a total of four files in the download, an AF and EF file for each version. They are clearly marked, so choose the two that suit you; just remember that the AF file contains the mesh for teen-adult and the EF file contains the mesh for elders, so make sure to grab at least one of each or the style won't appear for all ages.


Features

• This hair comes in two versions, one with the original shine and one with less shine. You can have both in your game, they won't conflict.
• This hair is properly binned, and can be found in the regular hair section of CAS.
• This hair has correct bone assignments and all four morph states: fat, fit, thin, and pregnant.
• The thumbnails in CAS are Maxis-Match, meaning your teen-adult thumbnails display in the typical reddish brown color while the elder thumbnail displays in gray.
• This hair does not replace any other hair, and does not require any other mesh to work.
• This hair is available for teen-elder, just like the EA hair it is based on.

Control

The control texture is illustrated here, with roots indicated in red, highlights in green, and tips in blue.




Known Issues

Like the Store hair it is based on, this hair has some transparency issues on the front strands. One is a peculiar distortion over the Sim's left (our right) eyebrow, and the other is some stripey-looking distortion on the other face-framing strand. It's most apparent on pale hairs, and barely visible on dark ones. As you can see by the image below, this problem was present on the EA hair as well.



These issues are easiest to see on the Original Shine version, and are much less noticeable on the Reduced Shine version. For comparison, see the Sim pictured below.



This transparency-scruffiness is really only an issue on pale hair, and is virtually invisible on darker hairs and/or the Reduced Shine version. For more examples of the difference between the two versions, see the attached images.This is the only known issue with this hair, and it should not engage in any other tomfoolery.

Polygon Counts:
2459 polys.

Additional Credits:
SimPe, Milkshape, and everyone who creates their plugins, runs their tech support, and otherwise makes creation possible for the rest of us.