Mesh making for novices?

[Seemetron]

Hello my fellow simmers. I've finally gotten the hang of recoloring clothes for the sims 2, but I'm not satisfied with not having the meshes I'd like in my game at my finger tips. Where can find a program to start creating meshes for my game? also where can I find in depth meshing tutorials?

[Theraven]

There are beginner-to-advanced tutorials in sims creation at Modthesims, including some meshing (the object tutorial has a quick beginner meshing tutorial, which might be the easiest to start with. Clothes and bodymeshes requires a little more know-how, but there are beginner tutorial for those, too).

Meshing tutorials depends a bit on the program you want to use. The game seems to like Milkshape best, and most game tutorials are based on it. It costs money, though...

Blender is a free alternative, but might be trickier to understand.

Personally, I switch between Milkshape and 3D Max (which might not be in the beginner class of meshing programs, and is in a class of its own on price). Max for detailed meshing and meshing from scratch, and Milkshape for game preparations, simple body meshing or simple adjustments to a mesh - I really don't like the work flow, and I'm lousy at meshing from scratch in there.  

There are other programs too, but I'm not familiar with most of them... I thnk there might be a list on Modthesims.

For in-depth tutorials about meshing you've got Google and Youtube. Depends on what program you want to use and whether you like written or filmed tutorials best.

[Seemetron]

Thank you The Raven , I prefer video tutorials so I guess I'll head to youtube. I really want to start off with hair.

[Theraven]

Hair is one of the most difficult things to make. Meshing and UV-mapping hair can be quite tricky, and the SimPE stuff isn't the easiest either. Making it look good is even harder. I do suggest you start out with something a little simpler to practice, and move on to hairs when you're more comfortable with meshing. Saves a lot of frustration.

[Seemetron]

I was interested in making this hairstyle first, would Sim PE be good enough for this ?

and which milkshape link is the best to download?

[Theraven]

http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/ms3d/download.html
the second, I think. The trial period is 30 days or something, and then you have to register it (which costs money).

You need SimPE for most CC that you can't make in Bodyshop. Mesh packages, for instance. You'll need to use Bodyshop too.

Here's a tutorial, but I strongly suggest you start with something simpler than hair - or at the least find a similar hairmesh that only needs adjustments. Meshing hair from scratch is not easy.
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=158048

[Seemetron]

I think I'm going to try sim PE just to be safe. Not to keep dragging this out where can I find a suitable SimPE download?

[Theraven]

The one and only
http://sims.ambertation.de/

[Seemetron]

Thank you TheRaven, I can't wait to test it out :

[Theraven]

You can't mesh with SimPE, just so it's said. It's a program for creating and handling .package files for sims 2 and such.

[Seemetron]

Ok so I'll only be able to recolor objects in Sims PE ?

[Theraven]

SimPE is only for the package editing itself. You can change resources in the package file, like picture images, mesh files, text references, and so on - but you can't do the actual meshing or recoloring. For recoloring you'll also need Photoshop or GIMP or some other picture editing program.

It's sort of like a very advanced form of Bodyshop (which I assume you've already used). You can create recolor package files or mesh package files (be it for furniture or body meshes), but the recoloring or meshing itself needs another program. SimPE is for everything you can't do with Bodyshop, however.  

Hope that clears it up.

Maybe you should read some tutorials. There are hair and clothing tutorials at MTS.

Beginner body tutorial
"Beginner" hair tutorial