Hi yall! I was wondering how do I import a sim model into MilkShape3D with materials applied to it. Because I tried to extract a model via SimPE but that just gave me the head and with no materials on it either. I would like to animate my sims knowing what they look like in the 3d viewer. Unless that isn't an option and the only solution is to use DrPixel's Base Animation Meshes?

The only thing that's unique about a sim is their actual face (which you should be able to get from their character file). Other than that you can export their clothes, hair, makeup, skin, etc. via SimPE (meshes and texture)

I don't think there's a way to get a full "ripped" mode in one go, at least not in Milkshape, but you can put the sim together yourself. Extract textures and put them together in a photo editing program (the face texture from the skin + makeup/eyes/etc. ; the body is the clothes and needs the skin for the hands/feet ; the hair is also the back of the head and needs the head skin).

If you extract the sim with SimPE, and then clone + package the sim via Bodyshop, you'll get most of the items the sim uses (accessories occasionally don't package meshes), which makes it easier to find them. The cloning part is important because if you just package the extracted sim, it doesn't package the items.

It's a bit cumbersome to put all of it together, but absolutely not impossible.

You can apply meterials in the Materials tab in Milkshape. You just need a texture, make a new material, find the texture, and apply it to the group.

Milkshape does have a rough limit on polygons. can't remember the exact amount but it's not extremely high (around 60-70.000, maybe?) - if the full mesh is higher, you'll see glitching. Just keep in mind with some of the high-poly hairs/clothes out there.

Thank you for the information. However, if Milkshape has polygon limitations, it could make modeling and animating with materials applied somewhat difficult. I'm unsure of the average polygon count for Sims 2 clothing items, so perhaps I won't encounter any issues. Regarding animation in Sims 2, is Milkshape the sole option? It seems that when Maxis released the SDK, they should have included developer tools such as an animation program.

Depends what you want to use the animation for. Milkshape is probably not the way to go if you want to do any sort of out-of-game animation project, but is used a lot to make poseboxes. There are some limits to what you can do in Milkshape, though. It only imports the skeleton, so you're stuck with FK animating, which makes walking animations and similar look a bit iffy. It also doesn't have any good tools for animating. Personally I only use it for poses/poseboxes, not animations.

You can use Blender3D - There's at least one Blender IK rig for TS2 (which is very useful for poses/animations). I'm not sure about that process, though (haven't tried).
https://justmiha97.tumblr.com/post/...mation-template
(Tutorials might be a bit lacking - there are more tutorials for how to do it with Milkshape).

Face expressions are an issue, though - these are morphed, not animated with joints (like in TS3/4), so you can only make animations/poses for the body.

Blender3D doesn't have the polygon limit, and out of all free options, it's probably the closest you get to a professional 3D program. People have made really good animation shorts with it, so it's up there with the better ones. The learning curve can be a bit steep.

Well I wanna make animations for things like custom cutscenes if that is even possible, and also I wanna do animations to make things like sims 2 movies or you know something similar.

Blender would likely be the best way to go if you want to make a bit more complex animations (IK, especially), That, and if you want to make anything out of the game.

(Milkshape is fine for poses and simple animations you want to import to the game, but for anything more complex it's just not the way to go, and definitely not for building a scene, since it doesn't seem to accept more than one skeleton/rig at a time without messing up).

For custom cutscenes - if you want to do it completely in the 3D program, you'd likely have to re-rig the faces for the face expressions (or add new morphs), since TS2 faces use morphs, and can't export with the skeleton.

If you want to do a lot ingame, there are already a lot of very handy pose/animation boxes, and they're not too difficult to learn how to make - if you're not afraid of a bit of trial and failure in SimPE and Milkshape/Blender (and can be very addictive once you get the hang of it). I think most of those who make movies use a mix of already-made poses/animations, alongside some they've made especially for scenes.

And also keep in mind that it helps to know what already exists (there are a few galleries of pose/anim boxes) so you don't get stuck making everything - which can be a big job. You can get quite creative with existing stuff. And it also helps getting into the film-making a bit first, and making a script, etc. because then it's easier to see what you need, and when you need it.

(Haven't made movies, but been doing illustrated stories, and while it is fun to make stuff, it takes time and needs testing. After a while it's often enough a relief to find the thing and tick it off the list of 50+ items that needs finding/making for the next few chapters)

Thank you so much for the information! But I do wonder though, what file format sims 2 takes for animations and such. Because if I am gonna do this in blender I gotta make sure that I animate everything and export it into the right file format

OH nevermind I see. There are instructions in the blender tutorial you gave me. My bad.

You're best off finding a tutorial that has the Blender steps. Can't find any at the moment - it's possible there are some at Youtube.

Here's one for Milkshape, for the posebox steps and other info:
https://hermit-fox.livejournal.com/524.html

It's possible there are a few differences between settings in poses and animations.