icanhassims
A Sims 4 Portfolio
Creating No CC Art
NOTE: As of the April 2020 patch, it is no longer possible to create No CC art. Previously created No CC appears to still be available.
User mysimsdreamhouse on the Sims 4 Forums has discovered a work around. You can view their tutorial on YouTube.
Introduction
This tutorial will describe how to make no cc art by using paint by reference. Basically, you'll first create custom content art, and then paint it by reference from a neighboring lot, which allows it to become no cc.
While people have their preferences regarding software and technique, I'll only be explaining my personal process in this tutorial. Please check out other tutorials and experiment on your own to see what works best for you!
This particular tutorial is for creating Medium sized paintings. You'll have to adjust the instructions if you're looking to make a small or large painting. I just haven't mastered those ones yet.
Mods & Software
NOTE: I cannot guarantee these mods and software will work and/or remain stable. Please use at your own discretion and always update your mods and software when new versions come out!
Mods should be placed in My Documents > The Sims 4 > Mods.
Required Mods
Scumbumbo's "Set Filters on Paintings by Reference"
Scumbumbo's XML Injector (required as of March 2020; check notes on previous mod for most up to date information regarding requirements)
Optional (but super helpful) mods:
Weerbesu's UI Cheats Extension
(If you have the Seasons Expansion Pack) Twisted Mexi's Cheat Fix
Mod Conflict!
If you use Deaderpool's MC Command Center, it has been my experience that I've had to temporarily remove the mod from my mods folder or else my art gets uploaded as custom content. I just put this mod into a subfolder and move that folder to my desktop while creating the art. When I want to go back to regular play, I just close the Sims and return the folder back to my mods folder.
Required FREE Software
Sims 4 Studio
Paint.net (or your favorite image editing software)
Finding Your Art
My understanding is that a lot of people use websites like Pinterest to obtain their art. Since I don't know the provenance of the images there, I don't feel comfortable using them. So I like to use websites that specify that their artwork is copyright and attribution free, such as Pixabay. You can do a Google search for "copyright free images" and you'll get a list of similar websites. Of course, sometimes you just have to search Google images if you can't find what you're looking for any other way.
If you're given the option of what image size to download, you'll want to choose the size closest to 470 pixels width and 430 pixels height. Again, this size is specifically for medium sized paintings. I'm still figuring out the best sizes for large and small paintings.
Editing Your Images
Open up Paint.net (or your favorite image editing software) and open up your downloaded image(s). You're going to resize the image and then use canvas size to make the image 470 pixels W by 430 pixels H. If you already know how to do this, feel free to skip to the next section. If you'd like a little more hands on guidance, continue with this section of the tutorial.
In this example, I've downloaded an image that is 640 x 427:
1. Resize the image so that the height is 430 px. You can do this by going to the Menu and choosing Image > Resize. Make sure that you keep the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" box checked.
2. Next we'll resize the canvas so that only 470 pixels are showing, instead of the current 644 px. This is done by going to the Menu again and choosing Image > Canvas Size. This time, make sure "Maintain aspect ratio" is UNchecked.
This is also where it can get tricky, because the images aren't always centered. For instance, you can see in my original image the center of the flower is off to the side. When I'm cropping this image, I'll want to choose the direction to the left so that the image is better centered. For the average image that is already centered the way you'd like, you don't have to change the crop direction at all. You can just keep it in the middle.
3. Now we have our image ready to be turned into CC.
Creating the CC Package
1. Open up Sims 4 Studio. This program is really cool and I encourage you to learn more about all that it can do, especially if you're interested in creating or using custom content. For this tutorial, we'll be focusing on just one aspect of the program: creating a stand alone recolor of an object. Make sure the radio button for "Standalone Recolor" is checked and click on the Object button.
2. For medium sized paintings, I've found the "Street Art Prints" image to be closest to the size I need for the medium sized canvas. There may be others (including in other packs) but this was the first one I found that worked well for me so I stuck with it. From the pull down menu, choose the City Living pack and scroll down until you see the image below. Select it, click next, and save your package in your Sims 4 mods folder.
3. My personal preference is to change the name and price of the object to my package name but it's fine if you don't. You'll be able to find you cc in game by filtering for custom content in your in-game menu. Other than that, our focus will be on the Texture tab.
4. I like to remove all but one swatch and remove the thumbnail colors as they are irrelevant to my CC image. Regardless, the next step is to export the texture. You will be asked to save this as an image. Once saved, open it up in Paint.net (or your favorite image editing software).
Creating the CC Image
1. Open the texture that you exported in the previous step. Once open, I like to select the portion of the image that will be showing to the front and delete it. It should now look similar to the this image.
2. I now go back to my CC image and Select All, Copy, and then Paste into the empty square of my exported texture. I try and place it directly in the center of the blank area but mostly I eyeball it.
3. Save the new texture image and go back to Sims 4 Studio. Click on the import button and your new image should look similar to what is shown below.
4. At this point you can either save your package or repeat the above steps to add additional swatches of different images you wish to create into CC. Once the package is saved, you can click Cancel and close Sims 4 Studio. (In my experience, Sims 4 and Sims 4 Studio are unable to run at the same time.)
Setting Up Your Painters
1. Open up Sims 4 and load a new game. You'll be passing a lot of Sim time with the painting and you don't want that to impact your other sim characters.
2. If you're doing just a few CC pieces, you only need one or two sims in your household. However, if you want to complete bigger batches at a time, you can also max out a household full of painters.
With my own household, I named each painter "icanhassims Painter" and gave them all the Painter aspiration with characteristics of Creative, Art Lover, and Good. If you'd like, you can download the household I use to create my own art. You can find it in the gallery here. Just remember to change all their first names to whatever your username ID is! Otherwise, they'll all be named after me and you deserve the credit for all the hard work you're doing.
3. You'll also need to get your painter household to level 10 skill for the best painting outcome. This is where the UI Extension Cheat comes in handy again. You can build your sims' skills gradually or use the cheat by clicking on the painting skill and updating their level to 10 automatically.
Setting Up Your Lots
1. Choose two lots next to each other. I like to use the 30x20 lots in a row in Newcrest but any two lots that are close together will work. One of these lots will be for your CC and the other will be your new Painter household's home.
2. Once you have your new painter household lot, you'll need to set them up with some basic living quarters to make sure their needs are met when you're not directly interacting with one or more of them. However, this is also where that optional mod comes in (UI Extension Cheat). With that cheat you can simply click on the Sim's need bar and fill it automatically. You can create your own housing lot, or you can download mine from the gallery here.
3. The main feature needed on your household lot is a platform that is raised a bit and several easels (preferably the most expensive for best quality). In order to access the best easel you'll need to use the bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement cheat. For instructions on how to use in-game cheats and for a full list of cheats available, check out Sims Online.
4. Make sure you also have a blank wall available on which to place your completed art to upload to either your personal library and/or the public gallery.
5. Now to set up the adjacent lot! As you can see in the above photo, it's simply a wall along the shared border of the lot with the painters' household on it. I use a small wall and enlarge my art once using the "]" button. I then place it just off the ground. You may need to turn on "bb.moveobjects on" cheat. See the above link in Step 3 for more information on how to activate in-game cheats. Here's the gallery link to my Painters' Wall.
6. There should be room for exactly 7 of these larger paintings on the long wall if you're using the same lots that I've used in my example. The Painter's Dormitory that I created, and which you can download from the gallery, has the easels set up to match where those seven paintings would be on the neighboring lot's wall.
Painting from Reference
1. Once you have your wall set-up with your CC art, go back to your painters' household lot. If you're using my lots, everything should be positioned and ready to go. If you're using your own lot, you'll want to line up the easel with the place where the painter stands lined up with the image.
2. If you have the Seasons pack, you'll also want to make sure you have clear skies. The easiest way to change the weather is to download that optional mod, Twisted Mexi's Cheat Fix. It'll allow you enter the following command line in the cheats console of the game: weather.start_weather_event weather_Sunny_Warm
Without the optional mod, you can also max out one of your sim's handiness skills (again, using the UI Extensions Cheat makes this SO easy) and use Dr. June's Weather Control Device. It helps to upgrade the device to install the "Temporal Modifier Unit", which gives you a higher chance of succeeding when changing the weather to Clear Skies.
3. In fact, I recommend having an additional sim who has skills maxed out in logic, handiness, and cooking so that they can do all the repair, upgrade, and cooking work for the other sims. That way the painter sims can paint at their leisure. It's also nice to have an extra sim around to change the weather when it starts to rain in the middle of a painting session!
4. I've personally found the best time to paint is between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. You could start earlier but I've noticed that if I start painting any earlier that the whites in my paintings have a yellowish tinge to them from the rising sun. Any later and there's a blue tinge and/or the painting comes out too dark. However, if you don't have much white in your painting, it's okay to start as early as 6 a.m.
5. Step up to the easel and PAINT! Click on the easel and choose More Choices > Paint from Reference > Medium Painting from Reference. Take a "photo" of the CC image that's in the adjacent lot. Make sure that the camera is zoomed in just enough to capture as much of the canvas as possible without showing any of the wall or sky behind the art.
Touching Up Your Art
1. At this point you may have noticed that the painting looks really grainy. That's where that required mod comes in. If you installed the mod correctly, you should be able to click on the finished painting and choose a menu item called "Set Filter...". This will open another menu of all the various filters available to use. However, what we want is "No filter" as we want our no cc painting to look like our cc one.
2. I would also recommend you click on your brand new No CC Art and "Name" it using the id you would like for others to use if they wish to give you credit for your art. I name mine "Painting by icanhassims" so something similar would work.
3. Put your amazing new no cc art up on the wall and upload to your personal library and/or the gallery to share your no cc art with others. Don't forget to request that others give you credit for all your hard work!