Upload: Content dump

[aquilegia]

In which I unload upon this journal everything useful I've accumulated but not really warranting a thread or post of its own.

Policy.

Maxis match eyebrows - default and custom.

When I decided to run a very Maxis match game, I had a big problem when it came to face content. Eyebrows were one of the worst--I had lots of nice brows, but they were all a touch too non-Maxis to satisfy me--and two of the three choices of Maxis default brows offended my aesthetic sense.



I altered the 'bushy' and 'tweezed' brows using some of the 'combed' alpha and some of the BV witch doctor brows alpha and textures. Instead of thick caterpillar brows, now they've got some definition, but still fit the aesthetic.

Download Improved Maxis Default Brows

strange_tomato made an alternate default using Oepu's brows as the tweezed option and my bushy brow edit, giving the defaults a smooth, consistent look across types.



I also did the same with all of my favourite brows.

Download Brows Made Maxis Match


Default Replacement Eyeshadows.



These are pretty much straight copypasta of the textures from the wonderful Simple Life. I matched the shadows as well as I could to the thumbnails, but there isn't much colour variation--the variation is mostly in the shadow shape where there are two otherwise similar colours. Somehow, I managed to seperate out enough different shades of gray to go with all the gray of the defaults. WTF, EA?

I didn't replace the swirl or cat's eye shadow for lack of any ideas of what to put there. I'll make a file to replace those once I've figured it out. I'll also make an eyeliner replacement when I can find two eyeliners universal enough that I like.

OFB and Basegame replacements are in two seperate files in the archive.

Download Default eyeshadows using SLU textures


Sentate tops for teens.



As requested on Garden of Shadows.
Download Sentate Rolled Sleeve Thermal and Rolled Sleeve Raglan for teens


And finally two things I couldn't be bothered to make previews for--

Club Crimsyn costume makeup made into default replacement costume makeup

... Because I might as well while I was at it. Club Crimsyn's costume makeup comes as layerable blush, but these are facemasks. Did some minor editing to remove eyelids from some or to tweak alphas so they could work on more skins, and major editing of one. Tried to make them all wings-themed, but failed. C'est la vie.

Contains both Basegame and OFB replacements. Replaces all but the aging line masks.


Delicious Skintone match Louis Elf Ears (w/ fixed mesh)

Because I needed them for making the Elven hair preview. I knew I'd want them all eventually, so I just made the lot--and fixed the mesh while I was at it, since it takes about a minute to do. It'll no longer flash blue.


Now to dig through the stuff packs I arrrquired for meshes to chop to bits.

Comments

[simlish]

I can't believe no one had left you a comment so far, if only to squeal (and I hate that word!) at the gems you've got here!

Those eyebrows are just what I was looking for! I used to have the Rensim ones as default replacements, but I went back to the Maxis ones because I never liked the colors very much (especially the blond one, they looked invisible on dark skintones) plus they didn't match my Maxis-Matchy characters. Now I can have them back! Among some other nice ones like those HP ones!

Your default are also amazing. I already tried them out with my Legacy sim and they look very nice.

I wasn't sure about the costume makeup at first, because I thought that characters like the Veronaville sims wouldn't look the same, but now that I peeked at the Summedream's in my Megahood, you did a nice job replacing them. They are different, sure, but they still somehow match the original ones. I like them very much!

And your eyeshadows are just what I was looking for! I've had your lipsticks for a while, so I love having matchy eyeshadow too.

Please excuse this long "fangirly" comment, but I just wanted to thank you for your lovely work. I'm gonna "pimp it" in my Livejournal as soon as it's back .

Thanks!

[aquilegia]

Articulate fangirling? Well, I suppose I can let you get away with that... XD Seriously, this was an awesome comment to see first thing in my online morning. I'm really glad that someone other than myself is benefitting from my picky, completionist nature.

Eyebrows: I hear you on the Rensim brows. Love the alphas, but the colours and textures just don't work with Maxis match. Since there was a serious dearth of Maxis match brows out there (I think Fanseelamb is the only person who's made any), I thought I'd give it a go, mixing alphas I liked with the Maxis 'combed' alpha.

Costume makeup: I actually agonized over which would replace what. XD It took me forever to settle on the choices--I wanted what I picked to be a more or less logical substitute for what it replaced. I had to take some liberties with the antiglare and camo makeup though. ;) I'm sure Tank Grunt looks pretty interesting about now...

Eyeshadows: Simple Life totally did all the hard work on those. I was SO happy to find those eyeshadows because I was having zero luck painting my own. They've also got a 'bright' set on their site that's more dramatic (which is why I didn't use it--neutral is best in default makeup, imo), but still lends itself to Maxis match and doesn't obliterate eyelid shape.

And you're very welcome. I hope you continue to enjoy all the face stuff lots. :D

[strange_tomato]

I can't believe I'm only just finding these! I've been thinking of doing something very similar to this myself. I've always disliked the thick texture of the bushy and tweezed Maxis eyebrows, but I've preferred them to the textures of most cc eyebrows (and ended up using the brushed brows for just about every sim in my game as a result). I really love these replacements.

I also appreciate your new versions of those cc brows. It's always nice to have options. Thank you!

[aquilegia]

You're very welcome! :D I'm glad I could fill a niche for us Maxis Match fans.

[strange_tomato]

It's very appreciated. ^_^

I hope you don't mind that I've made a an edit of your default replacement set, which replaces the tweezed version with one that's the same shape as the Maxis version (by Oepu, from Maxis Dreams). Your policy suggested that you'd be cool with it as long as I gave credit (and I did), but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

I'm going to use your eyeshadow replacements in my game too, and I'm sure to get lots of use out of these eyebrows. Thank you so much!

[aquilegia]

No problem whatsoever. :D I take it you've got it for upload somewhere? I'd like to link it from here in case people who wander by want a slightly different option.

[strange_tomato]

Yeah, your policy seemed pretty clear in that regard, but I thought it'd be nice to let you know. Thanks for being so cool about it. I'm also all about the "share and share alike (as long as it's not pay)" policy for my own handful of cc.

I just posted my edit for others to download on my journal. You can find it right here. I'd love it if you linked to it. I've directed people back to your original in my post.

Is there a non-default version of your tweezed brows? I made the default edit to keep the characters in my sim story looking consistent, but I'd love to have it as an option as well.

[aquilegia]

I'm glad you told me, because if I get tired of my current tweezed option, I'll know where to get a different one. X) *edits post!*

Unfortunately I didn't make a non-default option--when I made these I didn't even consider that I might share them some day, and I was a total numbskull and didn't save any of the original texture files. :/ If you don't mind not having perfectly perfect textures, you can make a custom version from the default, although that'd take SimPE fiddling. If you don't have SimPE, I can do it, it'll just take a while 'coz I'm pretty slammed with RL stuff. :)

[strange_tomato]

Does the texture quality go down much when you work from pre-existing cc that way? I've heard other people mention it before, but I've never noticed it. I guess every little bit of processing would take away from the quality, even if it's not so noticeable to the naked eye (and some people have a better eye for it than others).

Don't worry about making a non-default version for me. I did consider doing one on my own, when I get around to it, though I tend to get easily distracted from my cc plans. RL hasn't been allowing me too much time for sim activities lately either, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

Thanks again for the great cc! ^_^

[aquilegia]

Texture quality does go down--how much depends on how much colour variation the texture has and how many details. Compression algorithms, from my understanding, 'group together' areas of like colour do it doesn't take as much space to encode. This means some fine detail/shading gets lost and larger areas of the image are more similar. If this image is taken out and then re-compressed, the algorithm groups together even larger areas of colour now that they're much more similar than on the original image and even more detail is lost...

This is what gives that 'crunchy' texture effect, where areas of colour look like they're in blocks. This is the most obvious on skintones and clothes, especially darker ones--the game has a real problem with with colours darker in shade than about 60% grey.

(I hope that made sense, I'm running off of fumes at the moment.)

It's not really a big deal for smaller things if the texture hasn't been extracted and recompressed tons of times. I think the end result of making my default tweezed custom would look fine, but some folks are very much purists. :D

And aww, thank you for the compliment! I can't tell you how much the warm fuzzies mean to me right now. :)

Amaryssobellus

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you so much for making these wonderful custom content, especially the defaults and the maxis match eyebrows. :D

Re: Amaryssobellus

[aquilegia]

You're welcome! n_n

[rockabilly_autopsy]

I needed some default replace eyebrows. Most I've found were too thin and curvy, too girly. Thanks!

[russianspidercat]

I love the eyebrows <3

A (possibly dumb) question! :)

[salbab]

Hello and THANK YOU, for all these lovely creations. (Among others I adore the eyebrooows ~ ♥___♥) So my question - as a maxis-match lover I couldn't help noticing the hairstyle on the teen girl, on the 'Sentate tops for teens' girl wearing a yellow shirt. Is this hair from an expansion- or a stuff pack, or is it from the internet (looks to me very maxis-matchy)? Thanks in advance. :) Your creations never cease to amaze me.

Re: A (possibly dumb) question! :)

[aquilegia]

Hi there, and thanks! :) Thaaaat is an old hairstyle from Ninika/Neena_Needles on a MYOS mesh, and it is indeed a Maxis Match retexture. You can get it at GoS, here. The mesh itself has a link on the second page of the thread.

Re: A (possibly dumb) question! :)

[salbab]

THANK YOU THANK YOU. I'm so grabbing that for my game! Keep up the good work! :)