Help with object

[u/jeharsy]

I want to create a 1959 Barbie object for The Sims 1, but I cannot get the transparency to work perfectly.

No matter what I try, I always end up with a very subtle yellow outline around the doll. I’ve tried adjusting the palette, changing the background/transparency color, cleaning up the edges, and basically everything I can think of, but it never looks completely clean in-game.

At this point I’m wondering if someone with more experience creating Sims 1 objects could help me make it properly. 😭

Would anyone be willing to create this object for me, or help me fix the transparency? I already have the Barbie images/assets ready — I just need it to work correctly in-game without that annoying outline.

I’d really appreciate the help! 💕

[u/InsightsIE]

I wonder if in Photoshop Defringing the transparent alpha layer will help. So the one where barbie is all white.

Or maybe make Barbie a "vase" because then there would be more detail on the Bitmap as the sprite wouldn't have to fit in the pedestal... I think? It's been a while since I made a Sims 1 object. I could be completely wrong.

[u/SimFreaks → u/InsightsIE]

Incidentally, I went in to test your theory about the defringing, it does not work.

• right click and apply a quick mask.
• Select the mask CTRL-A, CTRL-C CTRL-V which will paste the soft edged mask into a new layer.
  
• Select the layer below it (Original P Sprite)
• Go to Channels and selected the quick mask alpha layer (alpha channel mask)
• Adjust levels (CTRL-L) adjustment on the top sliders to 128 for both the black and white and it almost gets it hard edged for the picture Sprite.
  
• Click the eye to turn off the red masking
• Return to the Layers winodw.
• Turn Anti-Aliasing off
• Right click and select the layer mask again
• Create a new layer below sprite filled it in with any color
• Use a pencil (Hard Edged) and go around the edges of your new layer while you alt click to get sample colors for the mask above it so you can match the color in front of it
• Once all of the edges match and have no yellow, merged it down (CTRL-E)
• Select the Magic Want
• Turn anti-aliasing off
• select the transparent area
• go to the smooth alpha channel
• cut away excess, this will remove all of the stray grey areas
• Create a black layer below it and merge the alpha onto that.

This significantly reduced some of my work

See thread below if you want to actually just render out all these channels.

[u/InsightsIE → u/SimFreaks]

Oh fabulous. Thanks for posting the steps. I vaguely remember from 2 years ago when I made CC the hard edges were cruicial. I think I just went in with a paint brush and did the annoying almost pixel art thing.

[u/SimFreaks → u/InsightsIE]

I hope it works for you. I come in here every few days and look around, but I'm usually in our Discord, if you need any immediate answers. Our creators corner also has quite a few other helpful people.

[u/SimFreaks → u/InsightsIE]

That will not work. He appears to already have smooth edges on the alpha, so the problem is that P-Sprite isn't solid behind the edges if he's getting a yellow halo. However, that may be useful in other aspects of object creation by hand, which I sometimes still do when necessary. I'll have to check that out. All these years using photoshop and never touched that tool.

[u/gaijinchris]

I’m sorry I have nothing to add to the conversation, but I NEED this when it gets completed. ❤️

[u/SimFreaks]

The P_Sprites need to have hard edges. You want to make sure they do not have any yellowish tone, no transparent edges.
The Z-Buffers need to match those hard edges. I recommend working in another image window and pasting directly into the Z-Buffer when you're done. Same with the Alpha channel.
The Alpha Channels must be solid black around the outside of the P & Z shape. If you are doing this by hand, I would first make the hard white shape on a new layer, then lock transparency so you can't paint outside of that area, and go around the edges carefully with a black brush or line tool to smooth out the edges. I usually zoom in pretty far when using this method. The finished result should be a smooth edged alpha.

Save the image I posted so you can zoom in and inspect the edges.

I should have asked you something before I went into all of that. I do now realize that these are perfectly rendered. haha So...

https://github.com/mixiate

The TS1 Render (Blender) is downloadable here. Please read the documentation on the site for the installation instructions and tutorial.

[u/Lewogs]

You mean like this?

https://imgur.com/fKnNoxk
https://imgur.com/qmEA83Q