Sara Altman

  Are you playing The Decades Challenge? Do you like to decorate your sims houses in out dated ways to update later? Or do you like that little bit of ugly sometimes? Well, do I have a floor for you! The Base Game kitchenette tile has been recolored in six nostalgic shades of avocado, harvest gold, rust, and burgundy!  CC Used: @peacemaker-ic 's Solid is Sensational Kitchen @faded-springs   Dahlia Bazaar Wallpaper @aroundthesims ​ Fold Out Leaf Table and Kitchen Accessories @brazenlotus ​ separated clutter collections @ravasheencc recipe book @imfromsixam ​ Kitchenaid Mixer Get it on my Patreon! (No link shorteners or ads, free)

I’ve been fielding questions from friends that don’t make CC or do 3-D imaging about how these screenshots mean they stole meshes and did the behind the scenes work to doxx people. So I did a bit of an ELI5.  CC is made up of a few parts,  the mesh, or form that makes the item look 3-d;  the UV Map, or textures, the part that has color; the programming that allows it to work. When we recolor something, the texture is split into 3 more layers:  the diffuse layer- the picture the normal map, also called bump map, an embossed layer that adds dimensionality without polygons;  the specular map, also called spec map, way of telling the game engine where to add shine and how much in what way. (I have a deep dive into spec maps here) When they talk about baking a watermark into the normal map that means that they are changing the bump map to have a very slight difference that won’t show very much in game, but will in their image editor. Assuming they keep a database of serial numbers and who t

A spec map, or specular map, is the layer of an item that tells the game how shiny or matte it is. The Sims 4's spec map is broken up into four channels: red, green, blue, and alpha (opacity). Each channel will produce different effects in combination with the others or by itself at different strengths. These matrices were produced by adjusting only one variable at a time and applying it to the t-shirt then seeing how it looks in game and taking a screenshot. The strength of color shown in the background is approximately the color the spec map looked for each shirt.  The alpha layer (see top matrix) adds a reflection or sheen at between 12.5% - 87.5% opacity of the colored channels. It’s more liquid looking than metallic and seems most effective at around 50% strength.  Green effects the brilliance of the shine making items appear to be made of polished metal. At low opacity, it still implies a metallic quality to an object such as a brushed metal tap.  The way that blue effects sh