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Charles Stone

How to make a SIMS2 Avatar

Every now and then a message pops up about creating Star Trek Avatars using the SIMS2 BodyBuilder. There are several people that are offering their service to make these for you, but perhaps you want to make it yourself. They are kind of fun if you are artistically inclined. This guide will attempt to give the necessary links to fee software (freeware, not stolen) and a step by step on making your own Star Trek Avatar.

 

I made more of an effort this time to credit the original posters of some of these links. They are the first that I saw them, so if some posted something 'back in the day' sorry.

 

Goal:

 

 

To create a male human Science officer with a rank of Ensign character set in the Voyager time line.

 

Tools Needed to accomplish this goal (download and install in this order. Do not have the BodyBuilder open when installing the sims2pack file)

 

SIMS2Bodyshop (called BodShop throughout this doc)

http://tinyurl.com/6kyb5

 

 

PhotoFiltre (unless you have a fancy schmancy photo editor like photoshop)

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/photofiltre.html

 

 

VOY Uniforms (complete list of uniforms and links at end of this doc.)

NOTE: this link will take you to the page that has all the different VOY characters. Pick the guy or girl that is wearing the color uniform you want.

 

http://tinyurl.com/yx5cgz

 

 

Groovy, now we can begin.

 

  1. Open BodShop
  2. Click on 'Build Sims"
  3. Click on 'Build or Clone Sims'
  4. Select the Doc we downloaded or whatever character you need
  5. Click on 'Clone Selected sim' (next to trash can on bottom right)
  6. Now click on the various character stuff like genetics to make black, white, Asian whatever, and play with the face stuff until you find 'You'. (NOTE if you are creating Andorian for example, you will need to put 'clothes' on them if you want them in Starfleet. This is the last option on the right.
  7. Once you have 'You' wearing the uniform of your choice, go back to the face editor to get a close up of 'You'. Rotate the picture how you want usually slightly to the characters left so you can see the insignia better, maybe far enough down to see the Comm badge.
  8. On your keyboard press the "Print Screen" button. This will capture the screen for you.
  9. Start --> Run mspaint (this will run MSPaint)
  10. CTRL + v (paste the pic in paint)
  11. Use the select tool to box your characters face and some of the uniform. Your choice how much, try not to get the BodShop in it though
  12. Run PhotoFiltre, and select new (accept default pixels size etc)
  13. CTRL + v into this window
  14. Zoom in on You
  15. Groovy, ok here is where we get a bit creative, since you will probably have to adjust the ranks. Simplest is if you need to remove pips, just use the eye dropper tool to grab the collar color near the pip then uses the paint brush to color out the pips you don't get. May have to play with the colors a little to blend. Dosn't have to be perfect, since we wont be zoomed in on the avatar. If you need to add pips grab the yellow and the paint brush and choose the larger circle, then pip your collars needed. If you need to put some black in it, use the next smallest circle and make a circle inside the yellow circle.
  16. Play until you got what you need. Then move on to sizing.
  17. Select Image – Automatic crop this will get rid of the white space and leave just your picture
  18. Right click on the picture and select Image Size
  19. Set the Height to be 125, left the Width default to whatever it goes to, make sure the unit of measure is pixels
  20. Leave both the Optimize and preserve aspect ratios are selected.
  21. Double check that neither the Height nor width is greater than 125 (if either are, uncheck the preserve aspect ratio and manually make them both 125 or less to minimize distortion)
  22. File – Save as type a name and location, change the File type to jpeg and click save
  23. Choose progress, max out the quality, and make sure the compression button is not checked (checking this will make your picture Black and White)
  24. press the preview button, and make sure the file size is less 40kb (usually around 7-10k so you'll be fine)
  25. press ok.

Uploading your avatar:

Follow these steps to upload your new avatar:

 

  1. Click on the MY CONTROLS link found at the top, right hand side of the board.
  2. Find the PERSONAL PROFILE section on the left hand side of the page.
  3. Click on EDIT AVATAR SETTINGS.
  4. Choose your Avatar. Then find YOUR IMAGE AVATARS towards the bottom of the page. You will be able to link to an Avatar already uploaded somewhere online, or you can click on the BROWSE button and upload an Avatar to our server. All images must be less than 40k in size.
  5. Click on the UPDATE AVATAR button when you are happy with your choice.

Troubleshooting:

 

Question: I can't seem to see my own avatar on my own computer. I could see it fine at school, but here at home is another matter.

Answer: Sounds to me like a caching problem. I see the image just fine, so I know the image is there and displaying. So try this from your computer:

 

  • Open up Internet Explorer
  • Click on TOOLS
  • Click on INTERNET OPTIONS
  • Find the TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES section
  • Clear all temp Internet files and offline files
  • Reboot your computer.

Question: What is the largest size Avatar I can have?

Answer: We are now limiting all Avatar sizes to 125x125 pixels. If you attempt to upload an image larger than that, the board will say you are not allowed to upload it. Try resizing the image, and then uploading it again.

 

LINKS:

SIMS2Bodyshop

http://tinyurl.com/6kyb5

 

PhotoFiltre

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/photofiltre.html

 

TOS

http://tinyurl.com/y6xmj4

 

ENTERPISE

http://tinyurl.com/d6llj

- OR -

http://tinyurl.com/y3fq9u

 

Subcommander T'Pol

http://tinyurl.com/y5xhys

 

TNG

http://tinyurl.com/eha27

 

DS9

http://tinyurl.com/y8zzsb

 

VOY

http://tinyurl.com/yx5cgz

 

Species:

 

Andoran

http://tinyurl.com/y87kpn

 

Vulcan (grab from TOS)

 

My thanks to these Contributing Authors:

Rear Admiral Randy Calvert

Taalix Rokara

Charles Stone

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Every now and then a message pops up about creating Star Trek Avatars using the SIMS2 BodyBuilder. There are several people that are offering their service to make these for you, but perhaps you want to make it yourself. They are kind of fun if you are artistically inclined. This guide will attempt to give the necessary links to fee software (freeware, not stolen) and a step by step on making your own Star Trek Avatar.

 

 

Very nice. A lot more work than I'm willing to do. But nice!

 

You should get the okay to cross-post this in Avatars too. :D

Edited by Tyana

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Hey there,

 

Now, I'm slightly confused. If you take step 4 and 5, switch them with step 20, but then divide that by step 15, can't you then come up with a solution a lot quicker? :D

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Hey there,

 

Now, I'm slightly confused. If you take step 4 and 5, switch them with step 20, but then divide that by step 15, can't you then come up with a solution a lot quicker? :D

 

I did that, and I got 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952035301852968995773622599413891249721775283479131515574857242454150695950829533116861727855889075098381754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012...

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You all are correct in that the directions are a bit shall we say 'involved'.

In the future I will try to limit it to one of the following:

 

1. Lather

2. Rinse

3. Repeat (always repeat)

 

~or~

 

1. Load program

2. Perform minor miracle that qualifies one for Sainthood consideration

3. Rest with umbrella drink of your choice while being fanned by giant palm branches held by a Greek god/goddess of your choice and fed grapes

 

~or~

 

1. Steal underpants

2. ...

3. profit

 

~or~

 

Wait a minute... This is getting out of hand. It would seem that I am not to be trusted with lists...

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You all are correct in that the directions are a bit shall we say 'involved'.

 

"Involved" sounds like a really nice way of saying "convoluted."

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Tried to download bodyshop and it won't let me.

 

It says I need to subscribe to freeplanet.

 

and is anybody making these?

Edited by Gamester4

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I can do it.

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So can you make me one if I send you the details?

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