m9986
Boutika News Manager
Posts: 186
(10/8/02 9:42 pm)
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SimCityUnderground
How did you get involved with making things for the Sims?
After months of playing the game and downloading all of the great stuff from TSR, I started wondering if I would be able to make some skins of my own. So without realizing there were tutorials out there I went to work editing one of the .bmps from a Maxis skin to make it into Raoul Duke...a character from my favorite movie. Needless to say...it looked pretty bad. After cursing at my pc for days wondering why my skin was a big peach colored blob I looked up some tutorials and the rest is history....
Where do you get inspiration for your skins and objects? Do you have a favorite or particularly interesting one with a story?
Well, I live in a big college town in California. We have a huge population of young people and so everywhere you look there are some great outfits and tons of great vintage clothing shops and other boutiques with my style of clothing. 3/4 of the time my skins just sort of pop into my head and I draw them like that, but I get a lot of great ideas from walking around downtown...and of course from the internet. As far as objects go...I really just started making them a few weeks ago. Right now SimCityUnderground has a big project were working on so the objects I'm making for that just kind of fit in with the theme. As far as a favorite goes...thats a tough one. Usually my favorite is my newest one at the time. 
What about a skinning inspiration? Is there a creator or site out there that really inspired you?
Definitely Brude. I've since realized that there are a lot of great sites out there with good "streetwear" type skins...but his were the first I saw on TSR that really made me go, "WOW" It was from seeing his stuff that I really started to think that I should give skinning some serious thought, and that instead of just trying to make a skin look okay, I could really make some stylish clothes for my sims.
You use a lot of Brude's meshes. What is it about them that you really like?
Well, even though I've since made meshes of my own...I continue to use Brude's most of the time because they have such a great shape to them. Some I use because there's no other meshes out there like them...but even his flares, which there are 100's of out there now, I continue to use because they really give the sim a great curvy look. It's hard to explain I guess..but I've used his since I started - and they're just beautifully made meshes...I love them.
Which do you enjoy making more, objects, walls/floors, or skins? Why?
I think skins will always be what I enjoy most. I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to objects so when I get frustrated and start cursing those alpha channels and z-buffers I just take a deep breath and start working on a skin. I just love coming up with an outfit and seeing it all come together in the game. It's very rewarding to me.
What's the most fun part of having a website? And the most dull?
Wow. The greatest part about having a site hands down is the people I meet. From fans of my work that e-mail me with their awesome compliments and support, to getting to know other webmasters and working together with such talented people. I've made more friends since I started the site that I probably have in my whole lifetime. I think the sims community is one of the greatest groups of people out there. I mean...anytime I run into a problem or a question, I can go to a place like the TSR forums, post it...and within minutes have answers, compliments, support....and a few laughs as well. It still amazes me. The only dull thing about having a site is paying those bills. Hahaaa..everything else is pretty rewarding.
What does your site have to offer that's unique to other sites?
Well, I get lots of comments that I make skins that the people themselves would actually have in their closets. That's really why I started making skins....I wanted to see outfits like I would wear instead of those umm..interesting Maxis creations. (no offense to them of course...) Aside from that I just really try to be as available to my visitors as possible. I've tried e-mailing sites in the past..and in some cases have waited months to hear a reply. Having said that...I can fully understand how much work it is to run a site and answer emails....but I really try to be helpful to people that take the time to visit my site and write me. It hasn’t been that long since I was a frustrated skinner myself...and I know the learning process can be a nightmare if you're trying to do it on your own.
Why did you leave SimVibes? Are you happy with your current situation?
Despite all of the mess that surrounded SimVibes at the time, I left them on the best of terms. I never personally experienced a lot of the negative things being said about the site...though I definitely sympathize with those who did. My reason for leaving was that I had some plans for SimCityUnderground that I felt exceeded what was available to me under the SimVibes free hosting guidelines. I felt I needed full control of my site - and that meant leaving SimVibes. I still have a lot of respect for the ideas behind the site...and the SimVibes hostees and forumers are easily some of the kindest, most talented people around. I wish them the best of luck. My current situation is ideal. I registered the domain and I came across a great deal with the hosts of my other site so I've got an insane amount of disk space and decent bandwidth limits to work with. It's not cheap but I've got total control now and I can really make the site what I want it to be.
When you're not making things for SimCityUnderground, what do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies, artistic or otherwise that relate to creating things?
I just took on a new job as a web designer so now my free time is pretty rare...but I love working with Flash and Photoshop and just playing around with all of the great software out there. I have another website www.wackycracka.com that has been pretty neglected since I started skinning but I'm trying to get back into that. I also write music and help my fiancée with his websites...doing animation and stuff. So...I'm always busy creating things....but I love every minute of it.
Is there anything else you'd like mention?
Well, visitors to the site recently may have noticed some new changes. I haven’t updated in awhile and I'm getting a lot of emails wondering if I've stopped skinning. The truth is that I've added a new focus to the site by bringing on two new artists...and it's kept me extremely busy. I decided that with all of the resources I have available on the site...and with the amount of visitors that I have that I could really do something with it. I was in contact with a couple of girls...one who had made some objects but didn’t know what to do with them....another that was determined to learn skinning but had never created a sims thing in her life. They both had such great personalities and style and enthusiasm that I thought I should give them a little spot on SimCityUnderground to get their work out there and get some feedback, etc. So having brought them on we got to work on a big new project. A themed set full of objects, walls, floors, skins, etc.... it's kept me so busy I haven’t had time to skin or update the site much at all...but once we release the set..you'll see why.  So the answer is that I'm definitely still skinning and SimCityUnderground is about to get much much better...just give us another week or so to get things straightened out and you'll see that the wait was worth it (hopefully hahah)!!!
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