Recoloring pictures?
#1 29-11-2014 
I have some custom paintings I made ages ago that I would like to make into regular old recolors of The Lady On Red now that I have SimPE. (Also, that way, I can share them properly. Smile ) I've tried following this tutorial, since it seems the most recent. I've also looked at this one and this one, but they seem to be for an older version of SimPE. I keep getting stuck at a stage that's not even mentioned in the tutorial: a box comes up after Step 5 that says "Subset selection", only nothing ever comes up or happens, and the box doesn't go away. I've left it untouched for ten minutes, just in case it's a slow process, but no changes.

What am I missing? What can I do to actually recolor this picture? Or is it just that SimPE is fussy?

#2 29-11-2014 
Hi esme - all those tutorials are fine and it doesn't matter about the version of SimPE because the method hasn't changed.

What is happening is that you are recolouring a picture that has 2 subsets, and those tutorials are for 1 subset. That is - you are recolouring a picture that has a picture and a frame as different choices. Given that you are recolouring the Lady on Red - that would suggest that you have someone's CEP in there to split it into 2 subsets because it's not naturally split into 2.

So what happens when you get a subset selection window?

It will show you the subsets you have. There will be a tick next to the selection, and underneath it, it will show what textures you can select for base textures.
At the bottom of the window - there is a box ticked next to 'Autoselect matching textures' and on the Right Hand side is a button marked 'OK'.

If you only want to recolour one part - untick the box of the part you don't want to recolour.

If you want to select the texture that comes out in your recolour - click on the texture underneath it.

Then press OK.

It SHOULD do some thinking, and then provide you with the TXTR, MMAT and TXMT resource where you can then go and recolour the texture (TXTR).

If it doesn't do that - then what has happened is that if you installed the CEP change to fix that only partially.
You'll need to go back and fix the change (i.e. find out who changed it and reload their downloads, and follow their instructions)


alternatively - set yourself up with a game that has nothing else in it but the original CEP ( and then when you go to recolour the Lady on Red you'll only have 1 subset.

#3 29-11-2014 
Thanks, Kiri!

I do have a CEP for that picture, by hafizazile (sp?). But since there aren't any frame recolors out there (except Michelle's new ones at MTS, which don't require CEP anyway), would it be easier if I just pulled the CEP for Lady On Red and followed any one of the tutorials? If I pull the CEP for that picture to recolor it and then decide to put the CEP back, will that cause problems with my recolors? If I decide to make a new space with the Original CEP, that would be the one by Numenor at MTS, right? (Making a new game space is easy -- I have three already. Tongue )

I'm not getting any boxes to tick or untick -- Sim PE just sits there thinking and doesn't let me do anything -- so now I'm thinking that if I just take away the subsets entirely, that might solve the problem. Does that seem logical?

#4 29-11-2014 
Yeah - it would be way easier just to pull Hafi's changes and doing it.

#5 29-11-2014 
If removing that CEP makes it easier for you to work with, I'd say "remove it!"
And when you're done, do NOT put it back, because obviously it's just in your way and offers you no practical advantages.

From what I understood of the CEP *in general*, it was meant to make certain non-recolorable EAxis objects recolorable. In this instance, it is not doing that for you. QED!

#6 29-11-2014 
I found that it "Subset selection" went away automatically. Have you selected the Plugin view from the bottom panel? Perhaps the recolour has already been loaded. I've attached screenshots for the latest version of SimPE.

Attached File(s)
.pdf  image recolour for esmeiolanthe.pdf (Size: 1.75 MB / Downloads: 356)

#7 29-11-2014 
OK, that seems easy enough! I will give it a try later today and report back. Thanks, guys!

* esmeiolanthe gives Kiri and BO cookies

@nanashi Thanks for the picture tutorial! You are correct, that is exactly the step where I am getting stuck. I made sure that I was on the Plugin tab, and I followed all the steps up to the point where I get stuck just exactly the way you described. I did have Pandora playing at the same time as I was running SimPE, and I had the tutorial pulled up as well; both were running in Firefox. I am running Windows 7 via Boot Camp on a reconditioned 2013 Mac Pro with native OS of Mountain Lion. If simply removing Hafi's CEP doesn't fix the problem, I will post more tech specs to see if we can nail this down.

* esmeiolanthe gives nanashi cookies too

#8 29-11-2014 
@BoilingOil @celebkiriedhel PullingHafi's CEP worked beautifully. I should be able to put it back without messing anything up if that becomes necessary at some point in the future, right? (I don't anticipate a need now, but you never know...)

@nanashi Your tutorial was super easy to follow! Look at the result!

[Image: Sims2EP92014-11-2913-01-11-69_zps19e1711c.png]

* esmeiolanthe gives nanashi more cookies

I mean, the writing is backwards, but I can fix that, probably. Just flipping the image I'm using in GIMP (not the whole thing, just the layer with my image) before I save should do it, right? Or did I do something wrong?

Now I have another question: How do I share this lovely recolor (and the thirteen others in the set that I still need to resize) with other people? Do I just upload the DBPF package file?

#9 29-11-2014 
Yes, depending on the way the texture is mapped, you sometimes have to do a horizontal reverse of that layer in your image editor. And yes, to share the file, just zip up the .package files and upload the zip.

By the by, your image looks pretty awesome, even backwards Big Grin

#10 29-11-2014 
Yay! Thank you for your help! Big Grin

Glad you like the image! I hope to have the whole set done by Friday, although you might find that image the best of the lot...


Sorry, that is a members only option