Welcome to Rexy's Guide To Editing, a comprehensive tool for learning new skills and tricks for creating beautiful sim art!

This guide includes several tutorials that help you learn everything from the basics of editing to more advanced techniques. Hints and tips for editing and modeling competitions in general are also included. Rexy's Guide has become a community showcase over the course of its existence, so please feel more than welcome to browse and show off your own edited pictures!!!

Much love to you, I hope you enjoy exploring my guide!!!




Hints & Tips 1-4..................................................Page 1
Hints & Tips 5-10..................................................Page 8
Hints & Tips 11-15..................................................Page 22
Making A Successful Modeling Competition.................Page 228



- Denotes Photoshop Tutorial. You can get details and purchase Photoshop CS5 here!
- Denotes Gimp Tutorial. GIMP is a free editing program. Download here!


Cutting Out Sims..................................................Page 2
Shadows and Angles..................................................Page 15
Pose Combining...............................................Page 85
Super Easy Green Removal From Hair..................................Page 206
Adding Non-TS3 Objects..................................................To Come!
Realism..................................................To Come!




(Results Post/Comments)

CONGRATULATIONS to two very talented editors placing first, ixSydney and generalflame!



ixSydney's entry displayed one of the principles of great editing: attention to detail. She made sure to add in subtle elements that really took her picture to the next level. generalflame is a newcomer to the Sims 3 Modeling Community, but certainly not to editing! Her gorgeous photo showed expertise in the areas of clothes drawing, hair drawing, and lighting.

Recognition also goes out to our editors placing second and third, and those receiving honorable mentions:

Non-hair Editing:
2nd Place - ladybug65
3rd Place - Mystical_night
Honorable Mention - deepdown
Honorable Mention - CUTEPEACH

Hair Editing
2nd Place - ilovesims56
3rd Place - GlamBunny8189
Honorable Mention - StrawberryCayke
Honorable Mention - penskii
Honorable Mention - Simanims
Honorable Mention - TheMeeepMoop

Wanna see your own edit featured here? Head on over to 'Shop Me Stunning and try your hand at editing a screenshot!! Take part in a competition like no other... (Click the banner)

Alright simmies, here are my first 4 tips! I hope they help some of you, please give your feedback!

TIP #1: Realism
-This, right here, is my biggest thing. When you’re making a modeling photo, remember that that’s exactly what it is: a photo. I don’t like to use glowy lines around my sims, or text, or anything that makes it look like it wasn’t a snapshot.
-Also, when you think realism, think shadows! Think angles! They make a world of difference when it comes to editing, because they make everything fit together as one. When you add a sim or object onto your background, you need to make sure that the angle at which you’re looking at them from (I’m talking height-wise here) is the same as the angle the background was taken from. After you’ve made sure the angles are correct, you can go in and add shadows behind to really blend them into the rest of the scene. Make sure all your shadows are facing the same way! Pick a light source.

TIP #2: Take new risks with every picture.
-Don’t be afraid to try something new every time you’re making a picture. Push your comfort zone. If you stick to the skills you already know, improving is going to be really slow progress.

TIP #3: Have patience.
-Making things look good is going to take time, there’s no getting around that. Even when you think you’re completely done with a picture, go back, zoom in, and look at every area close up. It helps immensely to do so, I find little mistakes that way in almost all of my pictures.

TIP #4: Pay attention to detail.
-Detail is what really makes pictures come to life. Think about what sort of objects might fit in well with your background (think clutter-type stuff). It’ll be totally worth it and can take a picture from plain to extraordinary.

Omg I am so glad you've decided to do this Rex You know I absolutely love your work you are one of the most talented simmers around and now your offering to teach us how to create awesome pictures like yours. Super cool of you
Bookmarked

Great tips! Thanks . Waiting for more.

PS: I love your work! You're like a master . Thank you for posting thins .

Awwwh, you guys are so nice! You make me all bashful.

Btw, I love your avatar Simmersaurus and your username .

:O
You are just TOO pro
I want photoshop so much now.
Anyway to get it cheaper?

Oh and I forgot to add that I love the way your siggie blicks the eye ! And where is the mask from on your avi?

I hope someone else with Gimp does a tutorial page too! That would be extremely helpful. Though hopefully some of the advice you post will be helpful thanks

I'd love to know some tricks about shadows and pose combining it's something I'm currently trying to teach myself

This is great!
I'm so glad you're making this. My editing skills are
Thank you so much!

Mkay, big list coming.

@SilverDragon: Thank you so much for all the compliments!! My username just kind of came to me one day long before TS3 came out, when I was trying to think of the perfect name. I was super proud of myself when I finally did. I was like "I am super kinda clever-ish!!" And thanks for complimenting my siggy, too! I'm pretty proud of it, I'm just starting to learn how to animate with Photoshop. It's actually ridiculously easy, I was really surprised. The mask is from Lady Frontbum, right here.

@chocchikcookie: I'm pretty sure if you Google "Download Photoshop", there are places you can get Photoshop 7 for free. Granted, it's not a very new version, but it's still a wonderful program.

@PistolKitten: That would be awesome! That's the one thing that's kinda lame about this, I can't help everyone because of the GIMP users. But that's also why I'm posting hints and tips and not just tutorials, because the tips are universal and anyone can learn from them.

@vanilija: Thank you so much!! I really really hope this guide can give you some really great pointers.

This is great Rexy! Even though I don't use photoshop, I'll be coming back to see your other tips!

Bookmarked! ^-^

Wow Rexy, your such aan amazing editor, thank you for sharing your tips! I will keep checking in on your tips & tricks!

*Bookmarked*

I am soooo book marking this !