How to Make Poses: Tools, Tutorials, and Tips

[Astra Argoulet]

So I finally managed to work out the basics, for the most part, on making my own poses with the exception of the tail!

Was going for an Akhal-Teke conformation shot with the neck held upright and head high.



This is a quick effort on my part, the neck... yes is too long, so don't laugh

My question is how do you fix the tail? It looks flat as a pancake!! What to do?

[Margo May Kane]

... Huh. I have never seen that happen to the tail before! O.o That is very strange!!

I'm not sure what could have happened, but play with all the joints along the tail--there's one joint a few inches under the skin, then several along the length of the tail.

Which tail are you using, as well? You could try switching to a different one and see if the issue persists.

[Astra Argoulet]

I am using the one that came with the rigs, the basic one. Is the tail supposed to be flat in the blank pose as well? Because it is.

[Margo May Kane]

No I mean, which tail in game--that shouldn't make a difference, but the braided tail is a bit wonky so it might not be posing correctly or something.

[Astra Argoulet]

Oh, I am using the long one.

[Margo May Kane]

Not sure what could be going on there, hon. Keep messing with the tail area of the pose, re-export it and see if it changes at all. If the problem persists, you'll probably need to contact the creator of the rig, he might know what the issue is.

[Astra Argoulet]

Hm, you know where I can find instruction on how to extract one of the in game files poses from an animation?

[Margo May Kane]

I don't particularly understand the question--could you clarify please? Give an example?

[Astra Argoulet]

Ah well I saw a video were someone was using blender and had an animation file up an was going though the poses in the whole animation clip. They chose a pose from the animation to start on their own.

[Margo May Kane]

That's from the video tutorial I made--the link to it is in the first post of this thread.

I do explain how to do that in the video, but for reference:

1.) Open up the "Blank_Poses.package" file in s3pe (download link in the tools section above).
2.) Once open, find a clip file called: ah_Creator_HorsePoseName (You may need to put a check-mark in the 'Display: Names' box at the bottom of the window to see the names.)

3.) Right click this file, and go down to "Export and rename...", and replace "Creator" with your name and "HorsePoseName" with the name of the pose; for example, "ah_Kaleeko_HorseLove01" (Make sure to keep the 'ah_' prefix.)

4) Back in Blender, open up the horse rig. (The file called ahrig.blend)

5.) Go to File->Import->Sims 3 Animation--find the ah_YourName_PoseNameHere you just made, and double click to open it.

Follow these instructions, but:

- Replace "Blank_Poses.package" with the FullBuild0_p10.package; you will find this located in C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Pets Limited Edition\GameData\Shared\Packages

- Instead of exporting 'ah_Creator_HorsePoseName', sort the list of files in the package by name and look for animations with the prefix 'ah_'. When you find a clip you want, export that.

- When you open the clip in Blender, follow the steps I gave in the video, by moving to the point in the clip that you want to use, hit 'a' to select all the joints, 'ctrl-c' to copy; then open up a blank clip, and 'ctrl-v' to paste on the pose. You can then edit it from there.

[Astra Argoulet]

Thanks. I've been all over the place so I feel dazed and confused. XD

*edited*

Well.... I have manged to make it all the way to copy, then it does not want to paste onto the blank pose. It says "Copy buffer is blank" every time I try to paste it on the other it fails.

[Margo May Kane]

@astra: Are you making sure to highlight all the joints on the rig first before you hit "Ctrl-C"? You may need to hit 'a' a couple of times, to ensure all the joints turn blue before you copy them.

@valerie: Glad to hear it!

[Astra Argoulet]

Yup. All the joints are highlighted when I copy, no problem with the copying. Its the pasting that wont get done. I'll try again, from step one, once I get time to read through everything again.

[Margo May Kane]

The "Copy Buffer is Blank" message only appears if the initial copy is not successful, since it means basically that the clipboard is empty. The fact you're actually getting that message is good, though--it actually means the paste function *is* working properly. There's just something funky going on when trying to copy the joint positions to the buffer.

Give it another go--let me know if you have any different results. Not sure why it's causing issues though, there's not many places for things to go wrong, there. Hmm.

[Susa Pernics]

What am I doing wrong, if my horse takes a blank pose, when it's supposed to work the pose I made? This problem also appears on some of your (and Amanda's) poses.