I prepared this tutorial for a friend of mine so she wouldn't have to keep loading the game up to check her recolours.

Lithunwrap is a freeware program. I've included the link in the tutorial on where to download it.

The zip contains the pdf version of the tutorial.




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Tutorials:Using_LithUnwrap_to_view_Recolours_in_3d^wiki

And I'm the friend and I love it. It's easy to read and understand. I can follow without any problems.

Thank you SnowStrom!

Been hoping to find this kind of program so you helped me in two ways. Tanx!!

Thanks. :D

Thank you thank you, thank you!!! will saying it three times let you know how grateful i am for this??? I was getting tired of going onto the game to find out that i'd done something wrong and now i can have it all right before i go in!!!
I'll just need another hard drive for all the exported objects now!!!!!

SnowStorm, you've done SO much to help!! I'm forever in your debt!!

Thanks Snowstorm, u saved me a lot of time.

Very nice Snowstorm, this is was a very good idea as it saves precious time. LithUnwrap is a great little UV mapping tool as well with it's 3d previewing and simple interface...

Job well done...

I like the tutorial but there is one problem (not with the tutorial itself) but with the LithUnwrap. It makes my mesh in the game come out weird looking without its texture...

What do you mean? I don't use lilth to uvmap, but I do use the updated version (Ultimate Unwrap 3d) without any problems.

where can I get that program? How much does it cost?

You can get it Here. And it's 49.95$. I originally bought it for a different project, but have used it quite extensively on my sims objects.

thanx...i'll check it out

Thanks for this nice tutorial....great job! Nice for you to share with everyone.
I was trying your tutorial this morning, but am having a problem.

Preparing The Mesh
1. Extract obj file. Once the obj is extracted you can use it as much as you like
a) Start SimPE b) Open the custom package in SimPE or Create a clone of the item you want to view
c) Select the Geometric Data Container in the Filetypes List
d) Select the Geometric Data Container (GMDC) that you want to export in the Packed File list.
e) Click on plugin view
f) Click on Export to obj
g) Save file, I suggest renaming to something you'll remember
h) Close SimPE 2. Start Lith Unwrap and load your obj file.
a) Start program
b) Click File, Model, Open Model
c) Select exported obj and click open
3. Create materials for the first section you want to see
a) For this example I want to see both the frame and the bedding recolours.
b) Click the "+" by Groups to expand it
c) Left click on bedding in groups, if it highlights faces in the blue area then skip to step f. (Auto select is
active)
d) Right Click on bedding in the groups.
e) Click select. This will cause the bedding portion to highlight.
f) Right click the Materials
g) Click Add. This will give you an "Untitled" material
h) Right click and rename the material to something appropriate, in this case bedding.
i) Now right click the bedding material, and click assign. This will assign the highlighted portion of the
object to this material.

When I come to the above underline/bold type where you have "click assign",
the program will not give me that option to chose from....do I have to purchase the program to get that option available to me?

No, Lithunwrap is freeware.

The only think I can think of is either you don't have any faces selected, or you are in the wrong spot. Try selecting the bedding group so that it is highlighted red, then try to assign to the material. It's possible you have autoselect and you accidentally unselected the faces you need.

Thanks! Even SimPE loads too slowly for my patience level some days!

Thank you so much SnowStorm! I do not have enough patience to load up my game each time I make a new object/recolor, and because of that, I've stopped making things. Now maybe I'll actually get something uploaded here to show off! :P

Thanks a million!

Ashenwolfe, you can actually have 2 copies of the The Sims 2 folder inside My Documents.

Rename the folder to something like The Sims 2 Full and run the game. It will create a new The Sims 2 folder and all the subfolders and files. Quit the game and move your objects (and copy any needed meshes) into the new folder's Downloads folder. Now you'll have a quick loading test game and your normal game, simply by renaming folders.

Another approach is to make a second XP user name. This will also create a second copy of the folder, but it's a little harder to move stuff out of the old My Documents folder this way.

LadyDe,

I had the exact same problem. Try reclicking select-groups. Worked for me.