MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Sims 3 Poses and Animations/Sandbox

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Poses and Animations Upload Guidelines

When uploading a pose pack or animation for The Sims 2 or 3 to Mod The Sims, we have some basic requirements to ensure that your upload is good, shown well, and has the correct info and files needed for people to use it in their games. This allows both moderators to check your uploads for quality, and for downloaders to see if your item is something they want to add to their games.


Below is a WIP that still needs to be edited to incorporate poses and animations.


Quality

  • Naturally Posed

Always try to alter every or at least almost every joint a little bit. Altering just a few joints can leave your pose looking quite stiff and unnatural. Begin with the big changes and work your way down to the details. Don't forget to pose the face, hands and fingers as they count a great deal towards the overall quality of your pose.

  • Anatomically Possible

Just because you can move the joints any which way, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Don't go beyond what's anatomically possible for the type of body you are posing. Avoid bending joints in impossible directions or at impossible angles unless it's required to fit a certain theme or context. E.g. If you are making acrobatic poses then it's fair to expect that they may be able to bend in ways that the average human being would not be capable of.

Keep in mind that a pose that is anatomically possible for the human body, isn't necessarily doable for sims without looking really bad. It doesn't make a useful pose if you alter a joint in a way that the sim mesh gets badly distorted even if it would be possible for a human. If the mesh gets badly distorted, try to work around it or go for something else.

Tip: Whenever you're unsure, use a mirror to check what's possible on your own body or maybe work from pictures of real people.
  • Respect for the Laws of Gravity

The center of weight of the sim should be within the footprint. Whether you're standing upright, balancing on one leg or bending over; if you have no external object to lean on or support you then you must have at least one foot directly under your center of weight. If you don't, you fall over. Try to pose your sims so that they look evenly balanced and not like they're about to fall over. Of course this doesn't apply to poses that are supposed to show sims falling over or in full movement.

  • No Sinking of Floating

Whether the sims is supposed to be sitting, standing or leaning on something, they should not noticeably sink into or float above the object their weight is intended to be resting on. Of course, this doesn’t apply to poses that are supposed to show sims in motion (jumping etc).

  • Skeleton is Stretched or Compressed

Always keep all the bones at their regular length. Stretched or compressed skeletons never look realistic, and can completely ruin an otherwise good pose.

Tip: Never move a joint! Only rotate them.
  • Clipping or Anti-Clipping

Always aim to have no clipping or as little clipping as possible with your poses. On the other hand, if parts of the body are supposed to make contact, e.g. hand on hip, they should actually make contact and not miss each other by a wide margin.

Tip: Remember to consider the type of clothing that may be used along with your poses. E.g it might make sense to factor in winter clothing if you're making poses with a ski holiday theme.


Screenshots

You will need to include certain screenshots with your creation. You must:

  • Show Your Whole Creation: You should have at least one picture of each pose you are sharing, showing the whole thing from top to bottom, left to right. Don't crop bits of the pose out of the picture or obscure them with text etc.
  • Include Additional Angles if Necessary: Your images should show at least the key elements of each pose which are the face, hands and limb joints. You may need to show side on views or take a few shots from additional angles if the pose is quite complex or if it's in a bending/crouching position.
  • Show Props in Use: If your poses are made specifically to be used with a certain prop or special item of clothing you should show them using the objects as intended in your screenshots.
  • New Mesh pictures: If you made a new mesh to be used specifically with your pose set and have included it in the file for upload you should treat it like any other new mesh upload and provide pictures of the channels, CAST presets and tiling.


Please remember, for your required pictures:

  • In-Game Screenshots: All required screenshots must be taken in the game with actual in-game backgrounds. Please don't cut and paste your models onto non-game backgrounds. Images should be lit well enough to show the poses and shadows. Shadows are a good indicator of whether or not the pose is positioned correctly on the surface it's intended to be or if it's unintentionally sinking/floating.
  • Poses Labelled: It should be clear which poses are which. The easiest way to do this is to add labels to the pics, but you can do it another way if you prefer. Requires Editing - See rubrics!
  • Clothes and Hair Obscuring the Pose: Try to choose hair and outfits that don’t hide the actual pose; we should still be able to tell how the joints and skeleton are posed. If you're unsure, just use short hair and tight pants and shirts.
  • Pose Box (TS2 Only): Please show the pose box in game or the icon to be used in game.
  • No photoshopping: Do not apply filters like sharpen, contrast, etc. to the required pictures, as downloaders want to see what your creation will look like in their game, not your skills at using Photoshop to edit your pics.
Tip: You may, of course, include other additional pictures presenting your creations however you like, and you can get as creative as you want with them.  :)


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Information

Title & Description
Give your upload a descriptive title and write a text description for your upload, describing what you're uploading. Your title and description must be in English or provide an English translation. If you are not a native English speaker, using Google Translate is okay. You can also ask for help writing your description in the Creator Feedback Forum.
Information to include
Make sure your upload text contains at least the following information:
  • The name, price and category in which your pose box can be found (TS2 Only).
  • Links to any custom content that the poses are specifically designed to be used with.
  • If you have made a new mesh to use as a prop and have included it in the file, you need to include polygon counts (for LOD1). If you don't know how to check your mesh's poly count, see Tiptorial:Poly Counts for Creators.
Expansions Required
Make sure to select only the expansions needed for the content you're uploading. Poses usually require only the base game unless they're made specifically to be used with a prop from another EP.


Other

Uploads not allowed on MTS
These items are not allowed on MTS in any category.
Pay/Pirated Content

Everything required or recommended for an upload must be freely available, without having to pay.

  • No uploads requiring pay content: We do not host content (for example, recolours of a pay hair or object mesh) that absolutely require pay content to function in-game.
  • No optional pay, pirated, or stolen content: Even for optional or recommended content not absolutely required for the creation to work (for example, hair on a sim or a couch on a lot), this means:
    • No content you must pay for. This means you cannot use items that are pay, donation, subscriber only, "special gift", etc. type content, anything accessible only when you pay money or subscribe.
    • No content from sites that are repositories of unmodified content when it is still available from the original creator, whether these items are pay or free (no Booty or Simscave, torrents, sites full of stolen content or similar, but the Graveyard and sites that offer recolours or modifications with the mesh are okay).
    • No EA content simply converted to base game use with no other changes.
    • No pirated EA Store content. EA Store content, linked to the legitimate EA Store, is okay though. TS2 store content may be included, with proper credit, since the store is no longer available.
Other content not allowed
  • Items that belong on the adult site: No content posted on MTS can have visible nudity, sexual content, or adult content, and instead must be posted on our adult site, Sexy Sims. This means on MTS, you may not post:
    • Content that contains nudity, which we define as exposing the female nipples, or the butt crack/genitals of either gender, including semi-transparent stuff like a sheer bra. Items that are merely "sexy" like skimpy miniskirts or string bikinis are fine on MTS. Transsexual/transgender items are also not considered adult content unless they contain nudity.
    • Skintones containing genital details - female nipples are okay on MTS but see below regarding screenshots.
    • Images of skintones with uncensored female nipples. Please blur or cover the nipples, butt crack, and genital area when taking screenshots of your skintones.
    • Fine art uploads containing visible nudity.
    • Items with specifically sexual content (sex toys, sexual poses).
    • Items containing swear/curse words
    • Items relating to illegal drugs. Prescription and over-the-counter drugs, alcohol, and tobacco are okay on MTS though.
  • Sexualized children: We do not allow any sexy/sexualized content for baby, toddler, or child sims in any way - no breasts whatsoever on child sims, no "sexy" outfits, etc. If you want to make preteens, make a less developed body for teen sims. Sexualized child content is not allowed at our adult site either.
  • Offensive content: Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, bigoted, hateful or otherwise offensive content will not be allowed. Again, also not allowed at our adult site.
  • Gore/violence: We do not allow uploads which feature prominent, graphic violence and/or gore. Examples of things we do not allow would include items centred around mass shootings, images showing explicit violent imagery, cannibalism, and infanticide. Limited violence and gore may be featured if not the dominant focus of the upload, and not excessively graphic. Think a PG-13 movie. If uncertain whether your upload crosses this line, we suggest making a thread in the Creator Issues forum asking for feedback from a moderator before uploading.
  • EXE installers: Creators are not allowed to post exe (or other executable) files for any area of the site but Modding Tools. If your content needs to be installed to a certain directory, you can compress your files and leave the directory structure intact, so you can tell people to just install to Program Files, for instance, and the files will go where they need to. Executable installers can easily hold viruses, and are generally not needed for installing most content.
  • Preorder bonus content: Certain items were only available if you preordered certain expansions or stuff packs from certain retailers. It's unfortunate if someone missed out on getting them, but they can't be redistributed here as EA has made it clear that they do not allow it.
  • Unmodified EP/SP/Store content: While it is common practice to modify and use bits and pieces of game content to create custom content, extracting content from an expansion, stuff pack, or Store item and uploading it unmodified is not allowed on this site. You are welcome to upload significantly modified versions of expansion, stuff pack, or Store content, but you can't just be ripping it and changing one tiny thing (or nothing) just so people who didn't purchase it can still use it.
  • Stolen/reuploaded content: This should go without saying, but do not upload content made by others and claim it as your own, in whole or in part. Don't upload the work of someone else without their permission... if they wanted to share it at MTS, they can easily upload it here themselves.
  • Uncredited content/violating permissions: If any part of what you have uploaded (mesh, textures, alphas, bump maps, coding, etc.) comes from somebody else's work, you MUST provide a link and credit in the text of your post, for the original author. State what you've used of theirs, the author's name, and give a link back to them. You must check the author's policies to see if you can use their content in the way you want, and you may not violate any policies stated. If there are no policies or they don't disallow your type of usage, or the site is permanently offline, then you can assume it's okay. Please see here for more details: Updates and Remixes of Creations.
  • Redirects: If you want to move a creation to another site, please remove your upload from MTS, don't just edit the text to point to a different site.
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