Creator Help? New modder here

[jadecai1313]

Hello guys!

 

This is my first post and my first cry for help. I'm not sure if this is the right place so please correct me if I've done wrong.

 

I've looked all over the internet and I can't seem to find any articles on this.

 

I'm hoping to create an animation set for pregnant sims that includes the mesh for a baby as an object. A realistic birth mod if you will. I've searched for something like this my entire sim-playing career (since the year 2000) and I can't seem to find anything that really fits what I want. For the Sims 4, there seems to be nothing other than poses that you must move sims to the correct place to get them to look right and they are basically only for story telling purposes with photos, not video. I'm looking to make something kind of like WW has with their animations that you can click couches and beds and other objects to initiate the animations. And click the sim to "begin labor" and cycle through different animations and stages on hospital beds, home beds, bathtubs, standing, laying on the floor, and squatting, with and without other sims (father, doctor, midwife, etc).

 

I've pulled the mesh for the baby from Sims 4 Studio and imported to Blender. I can move all the joints and everything as I want and I can move the mother sim (I got a modded rig here). I understand how to create an animation and how the frames work and the looping of the animation and all that. I can change the baby mesh position to where it is scrunched up (like actual babies are in the womb) and it hides it completely within the belly of the mesh of the mother. While animating, I can then move the baby down and out the vagina to have it be realistic. This is all I have done so far on this idea of mine. Most of it is still conceptual in my head, since I've never made a full animation clip or mod or CC before. I know I should probably start smaller, but this mod is something I've been wanting for so long and I've seen many other simmers request something like it as well. I'm no programmer, but I'm more than willing to learn and to take this step by step. I want to have a basic release, then add features and animations into it, like WW has done over the years.

 

I have a few issues and questions that I'm hoping a more experienced animator/modder can answer for me to help me bring my ideas into the light of day. 

 

So, my first issue. I would really like to recolor the baby object mesh to be nude. I know that is a strange request, but babies aren't born with diapers or onesies on lol. I'm not very good with 2D editing to make the texture for it from scratch to look realistic or fit the mesh properly. I tried to pull some images off google for the flat texture for the toddle mesh, but again, it wouldn't fit on the baby mesh and I'm not sure how to resize it. I looked everywhere for a pre-made one, but was unsuccessful in find it. Any tips or tricks to 2D edit a texture for a nude baby mesh, or how to edit toddler meshes to be nude and resize them would be greatly appreciated.

 

Next, I would like to learn how to add objects into animations. And be able to click objects to trigger animations. I would like for the mother sim to be able to click the object baby and be able to select for "labor" (mock labor since its an animation probably, unless there is a way to actually mod the labor system in TS4, but from what I've read on post of other simmers requesting it, its extremely difficult and buggy), which would teleport the object baby to the area in the mother mesh where it is hidden in the belly. Then be able to use different objects and sims, like listed above (beds, tubs, etc). Ultimately, it would be really nice to not have to have an object baby to click really. It would be awesome if there was a way to click the sim itself to "start labor" which would generate the object baby within the belly mesh so you don't have to purchase it in buy mode, it is just generated by the animation (kind of like when sims create sculptures, cook food, use a bookshelf, or like Nissa's Whicked Perversions has the daughter of the Easter bunny that lays eggs).

 

I have a ton of other ideas that I'd like to add in time, but these are the basic issues I'm facing and i'm looking too the modding community to help a newbie out. I want to be able to get a basic functioning mod/animation set out to itch that scratch for realism when it comes to childbirth.

 

Like I mentioned, this is my first project. I don't know all the lingo and vernacular yet, or advanced techniques. If you could dumb down your responses, or include pictures, GIFs, or videos to help me better understand, it would mean the world to me!

 

Thanks so much for all your creations that already exist and your efforts into the ones that you are currently working on, you guys are amazing!