Please help me! Im kinda new here and I dont know how to use the Sims 2 Body Shop. If anyone knows how, please tell me.
There are some good free tutorials out there. Here's one that helped me a lot: http://compsimgames.about.com/cs/thesims2/ht/bodyshopeyecolo.htm. It's a a good, easy starter. Also, I think there's a forum just for that on this site. You might get some good tips from previous conversations. But here's my take on it. It's easy to use once you know how. My 7-year-old daughter makes the craziest dresses ... First, you need a paint program. Open that along with Body Shop. In Body Shop, Decide what you'd like to modify, start a new project, and select your prototype (let's say a shirt.) Click the little arrow thingy at the bottom that says something like "load selected texture" (I don't have Body Shop on this computer so I'm doing this from memory. Use the tutorial for specific directions. I'm just giving you the gist.) You will be asked to name the project, which will be saved in My Documents/EA Games/Sims 2/Projects. Go to the paint program and open the file that ISN'T called alpha. Alpha is the pattern, which I recommend leaving alone until you get the hang of things ... open the other file(s) and change the colors however you like. You can also paste designs over it (I found a lot of fun stuff on the Internet). Don't worry about making them fit. The program uses the pattern and shapes it accordingly. Tres cool. Save it using the same name (in Photoshop you need to flatten image first). Don't use save as. The file should be a bitmap. Go back to Body Shop. Click Refresh. If the picture doesn't change make sure you changed the colors in all files (except the black and white pattern file). Sometimes there's more than one layer. Your project should show up. If you like it, choose your categories (every day, swim, etc.) and save it to the game. If you don't, go back to the Paint program and modify it again. I recommend twirling the mannequin to make sure you didn't miss a spot. Once you get the hang of it you can try creating your own patterns by cutting and pasting patterns together. Some important things: Making a new project does not change the original file, so don't worry about that. Modify away. You are stuck with the patterns in the game unless you download meshes or create your own, which I don't know how to do yet. All I know how to do so far is paste patterns together. For example, I made a dress without straps by using the bustier top and an existing skirt and saving them as an outfit. You can delete project files after you save the items to the game. In fact, I recommend it if you have a smaller hard drive. My project files were hogging 2 GB of my 12 GB HD, not good. (I upgraded. Yeah! 160 GB is soooooo much better.) Hope this helps. SBW
