How To: Auto Height for Shoes
Haiii! As promised, here is the tutorial to make it so your custom shoes no longer require a shoe slider!
Thank you to the bestie who took the time to pick through Madlen's package file to figure out how it worked. And of course, thank you to Madlen who did the majority of the work figuring out how to make this possible in the first place!
♥ Tut below cut ♥
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Set Up Your Blend File:
We're going to add a plane that will act as the mesh for the SlotRay which will allow for you to adjust the height of your shoes!
Open your blend file that contains the shoes your wish to adjust.
In the 3D View, press Shift + S and in the menu, select “Cursor to Center” In the 3D View, press Shift + A and in the menu, hover over “Mesh” then add a plane.
Now size this plane down as small as you can get it. You don’t want this plane visible in game.
Double check to make sure the plane has not moved from the center!! Your sim won't be centered in game if it has! If you see that it's moved:
Press "Shift + S" and click "Cursor to Center".
Then Select your plane and press "Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C", click "Origin to 3D Cursor".
Press "Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C" again and click "Geometry to Origin".
Navigate to the “Object data” tab and under “UV Maps” add a new one then name it “uv_0”.
Next, navigate to the “Scene” tab and under “S4Studio CAS Tools” set the cut number.
Depending on how many cuts your shoes have, you’ll want to adjust this number. For example, if your shoe has 3 cuts (0000, 0001, 0002) then this plane would have a cut number of 0003.
Since my boots only have one cut, I will put the number as 0001.
Now select your shoes and enter Edit mode. Select a face/vertice/edge on the very bottom of your shoes. Look to the panel on the left side of the screen (if it’s not open, press “N”). Under “Transform”, note down the number next to “Z”
After that, save your blend file under another name so you can distinguish which is which. I’ll name mine “Boots_3_Height Cut”
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Add a New Cut to your Package File:
We're going to add an additional cut in your package file for the new plane!
Open Sims 4 Studio, make a new package file for your shoes and import them.
Go to the Warehouse tab and select your LOD 0, it will be the geometry with the largest file size. Sometimes you have to close then reopen the package to see the geometry.
Duplicate this geometry and in the box that pops up, change the last character of the “Group”. It can be any number or letter as long as it’s not the same as the duplicated geometry. On the duplicated geometry, note down the Group, Instance & Type values.
Find the “Region Map” and next to “Entries” click “Edit Items”. Add a new entry and in the “Layer” box, type the number you used for your cut. Since I used the cut number 0001, I will type 1.
Keep the “Region Type” as “Base” and move to “Models” then click “Edit Items”. Add a new Model entry and paste the Group, Instance & Type values you noted down before. Save and close each box.
Find your “CAS Part”, this is your swatch.
If you have additional swatches, it is a good idea to remove them and add them back once you are finished with this process.
Scroll down until you find the “Lods”.
Click “Level: 0” and next to "LOD Models", click “Edit Items”. Add a new entry and paste the Group, Instance & Type values again.
Save & close each window and return to the Warehouse.
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Adjusting SlotRays:
We are now going to edit the SlotRays for the new cut which will adjust the height of the sim for your shoes!
Return to the new duplicated Geometry and in the “Data” tab, find the “SlotRay Intersections” and click “Edit Items”. Add a new entry and find the “OffsetFromIntersectionsOs” box.
You'll want to change ONLY the middle coordinate number. That will be the height of the sim.
You want to take the “Z” coordinate that you noted down from blender and replace middle coordinate number. If the number you wrote down is negative (i.e -0.01234) make it positive (i.e 0.01234).
In the “SlotHash” box, change the value from “00000000” to “FEAE6981”. This is the hash for the b__ROOT__ bone in the Sim's Rig.
Save and close the dialogs then return to the warehouse. Next, reimport your mesh and save your package file. You can now test your shoes in game!
Please keep in mind:
You have to do this for every LOD of your mesh
You can freely replace the mesh of your shoes and adjust the height since the cut with the plane has the SlotRay data
Animations may be off since EA hasn't made the game to support taller sims
CAS windows may move slightly if your sim is using poses/animations where they are leaning to the side. This won't affect gameplay
I recommend using Helgatisha's Stand Still in CAS mod to make sure your sim is absolutely centered
Hope this helped :)
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How to make little bat/dragon wings for your ankle boots:
I was going to put a little blurb in here about EGL fashion and the difficulty of finding shoes detailed enough and blah blah, but I don't need to.
You're going to make tiny dragon wings for your boots because it's AWESOME. You don't need another reason.
These are pretty easy to make on your normal sewing machine, but I'll include a machine embroidery file and instructions on that too.
There's a pattern to download here. If you print this at 8.5x11, it will be the correct size. The grid lines on the image are 1cm. If you're a little bit too big or too small, it doesn't really matter on a project like this.
(Actually, the only reason there's an embroidery file of this is that the easiest way for me to make a PDF to print at 100% actual size is to just digitize the file. Emb instructions at the end)
This is going to print you out one wing for the left foot and one wing for the right foot. If you want wings on both feet, print the pattern twice. The process we're using to do this will destroy the pattern piece, so print one per wing.
For each wing, you're going to want a piece or scrap of vinyl or faux leather that you can fit the wing pattern on to, a piece of craft felt the same size, and a washable glue stick. You can also use something like washable spray adhesive, but I like the glue stick because you can get them at the dollar store. You will also want thread (decorative thread is an option) and something to poke or cut holes for the laces.
We're using washable glue here because vinyl is really difficult to transfer marks onto. Chalk and markers don't stay, and any holes you put in it with pins or a marking wheel will be there forever.
So we are going to make a little sandwich. Everything we cut will be oversized, and we'll trim later. Cut your pattern piece out, roughly, and put a line of glue on the back. You don't need a whole lot. Then, stick it onto your roughly-cut piece of fake leather, and then stick another couple of lines of glue on the back of that and stick it onto the felt. Squish it all together and let it sit for a couple of minutes for the glue to settle a bit. You don't need to let it dry all the way.
Now you're going to sew along the lines in the pattern. I've found that the easiest way to do this without weird lumps is to start with the lines inside the wing. You can do the outline after you do the inside part.
You're going to be stitching through the paper, and you'll tear it out later. Each wing rib has two close-together lines. To make this easier on yourself, sew along one line for each of the little wing lines. If you sew both of those lines, it's much harder to remove the paper pattern.
See how there's two lines of stitching along each wing vein? Don't do that. It'll make it really hard to tear the paper out. This is how I know it'll be really hard to tear the paper out.
Once you've done the inside wing lines, you can go around and do the outside lines. If you printed your image in color, it'll be pretty clear that there's a cutting line and a stitching line just inside it. If you have a black and white printer, like I do, just remember to sew the inner line, and the outer line is for cutting.
The bottom edge of my pattern is unnecessarily complex and you can just sew straight across the bottom.
Once you've done all the stitching, grab some scissors and cut your wing shape out. Then, start ripping the pattern off.
A few things that make this easier: 1) Don't use too much glue when you're sticking the pattern onto the vinyl. If you want to be extra smart, put most of the glue you do put down in areas that you'll later cut off. 2) Don't wait too long after you put the glue down to do this stitching. Try to do it all in one day. 3) Do not accidentally buy non-washable glue.
Once you've ripped away as much as you can, you'll want to use water to get the remaining paper and the glue off your project. If you used craft felt and some fake leather for this, it should be pretty washable. If you used real leather and merino wool felt, or something, good luck.
Another tip: When you're done, squish the wings up as hard as you can on the side of your sink. This is the easiest way I found to squish all the water out of the felt, and it makes them dry much faster.
If there's any leftover paper that you can't get off after getting it wet, it'll usually brush away after it's all the way dry. If you have a fancy printer that'll print on soluble paper, congrats, your job is much easier. I suppose you could also use tear-away stabilizer and just hold it up to a window to trace the pattern onto...y'know this is getting complicated. You'll figure something our. Y'all are smart.
You can now go back and add that second line of stitching on the wing veins (any scientists out there willing to tell me what that part is called??), if you like.
If you want, you can do all that topstitching in a cool decorative color. And there's your first set of wings.
Take the lace out of one of your shoes, and lay the wing over where you want the final thing to lace. There's a lot of different ways to cut holes in something like this. If you have an eyelet punch, that's an option. I used a sharp metal stick and just stabbed it through a couple of times. You could also cut an asterisk pattern with the tip of a small exacto blade. Whatever you pick doesn't matter too much because you're going to put laces through it and hide your resulting hole. If you need to, you can chop some of the lacing strip off if it's too long.
And you're done!
If you want to do them on your embroidery machine, here's some steps:
File for Right Wing | File for Left Wing | File for Both Wings on One Hoop
You can do these one at a time in a 5x7 hoop, or do both at once if you have a bigger hoop. The left and right wings are identical but reversed so if you're low on space, you can download just the one and flip it in the machine.
There are three colors on each file, but you will sew them all in the color you want to use. The colors themselves are so that you can keep track of what step you're one.
Hoop just your stabilizer. I used a medium cut-away. The red color blocks are for the felt layer.
For block 1, it's going to sew the outline of the wing directly onto your stabilizer. Place your felt over the outline and run block 2. Block 2 is going to double-stitch down the felt. You can now trim off the excess felt next to the stitching and run block 3. That's just one more running stitch to keep it in place. Once you've finished your last red color block, it's time to get your vinyl.
There's no placement stitch for the vinyl, because you don't need one. So, before you run your first green color block, place your vinyl down, then run the block. BTW, I don't tape things for this. I just hold it down with my hand. I do almost all machine applique by just holding it down with my hand.
Your machine will sew the vinyl down, just like the felt. Grab some scissors and trim that all close to the stitching line, and then run the final green color block.
(That extra running stitch line is there because I ALWAYS trim my applique too short and cut the placement line at least once. The last line of running stitch really neatens it up).
The final blue lines are the decorative lines in the wings. If you want, you can switch to some decorative thread and make these extra sparkly.
Let the machine sew those down and you'll be done! Time to cut the stabilizer off and then follow the steps for punching holes in the lacing strips.
You might also be asking why the felt is on its own applique layer, and why you don't just hold it and the vinyl together, like you did for the non-embroidery version. There's two answers to that. The first is that doing them individually makes the wings just a little bit puffier, and I like that look. The actual answer is that, if you want to be very over the top about it, you can do the felt layer on the REVERSE side of the stabilizer. You'll run the first block take the hoop off, tape a piece of felt to the backside of the stabilizer, put the hoop back on, run the next block, take off the hoop, trim, etc. Then, you have the felt on the back and you don't see your stabilizer in the finished project! Cool, huh? I thought it was WAY too much work for the end result, but your mileage may vary. You've got the option if you want it.
And there's both versions. This was such a fun project, and I hope you get a chance to try it out.
You know those light-up shoes that kids get? Why don't they make those in adult sizes? I want some light-up RHS.
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DIY Twinkle Toes-style shoes
If you’re a 2000s kid, you might remember twinkle toes. They were very popular in my gradeschool, and I owned a pair when I was around 8, which happens to be around the age that I regress to. Unfortunately, they do not make these in adult sizes, but I still wanted a pair, so I decided to make my own.
Disclaimer: while this is an age regression and dreaming blog, it’s best if you make these while in a big headspace, because of the delicate details and materials required for the project.
With that out of the way, let’s get into the tutorial:
To make these you will need:
One pair of basic canvas sneakers with the laces removed
Glitter shoelaces
6mm rhinestones
Nail glue
Masking tape and sticker paper
Scissors
Pencil
Paint brushes
Fabric paint
Tweezers (not pictured)
The first step is to tape off the area around the rivets where the laces go like this:
This ensures that you will get a clean line. Now, if you are using dark shoes like me, you’ll want to paint this area white so that the color you choose to color it with shows up brighter.
If you’re using light shoes, you can skip this step.
Now, choose whichever color you like, and paint over the area with it. If you want the fabric paint to dry faster, you can use a hairdryer.
When you’re done, it should look something like this.
Now, you can create designs on the rest of the shoe. I like clovers, so I decided on a clover motif.
Draw the design you want on the sticker paper like so:
And then cut it out from the inside. this will be your stencil. Paste the stencil wherever you want on the shoe, and then paint inside of it like you painted around the rivets earlier. You can also write words on the shoes.
Now for the part you all have been waiting for: the rhinestones. Using tweesers, take eache rhinestone and dip it in nail glue. Then place the rhinestone onto the white part of the sneakers like this:
When you’re done, they should look like this:
Now,once the glue is dried, you can lace them up with the glitter laces! I put beads on mine.
Ta-daaaa!!!! You’re done! I hope this tutorial can find the people who wanted a pair but never got one, or just would like to wear them again!
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