Getting Closer - Positioning Sims for Picture Taking

I so often see people wanting to know how to place two sims close together when they are using poseboxes, and since the previous tutorial I had made for using the invisible magisplay tray and OMSP's was done so long ago, and there is so much more in the way of cc available for posing sims for pictures, I thought it was about time to update things a bit and hopefully make it even easier to follow. This guide covers the very basic steps for placing your sims close together, and how to place them at different heights.

Downloads required 1. You will need a posebox or animbox. There are heaps available, just take a look through the Posing Sims list or the Posebox Reference List, and find one you like. I do suggest starting with only one or two until you get the hang of things, so try not to go on too much of a download spree. Just a few of the poseboxes and animboxes available. For this tutorial I used Amber Pose Box 3 - The Lover Man. 2. You will need a tray or OMSP's (one more slot package) that allows you to place a sim on it. Any of these four will work, but I prefer the first two. SilentLucidity's OMSPs Revisited and Improved!. You probably only need the first base game set for basic posing. Eletrodj's "Magistray" to Base Game! AnoeskaB's Object Rotators - 5 degree angle (booty link). OFB required. This allows you to place items at additional angles, but is trickier to use. I recommend getting it after you have become more used to using object trays and OMSP's. Pfish's Invisible magisplay tray recolor - OFB required. Also please read this tutorial before you use this tray! Cheats Once you have loaded up the lot you are taking pictures on you will need to enable two cheats. To open the cheat box, just hold down Ctrl, Shift and C, type in the cheat code and then hit enter. The first is: Moveobjects on – this will allow you to move objects you are not normally able to in buy mode. To turn this cheat off later just open up the cheat box again and type in Moveobjects off The second is: boolProp snapObjectsToGrid false – this will allow you to place items anywhere on the lot, not just within the grid squares you see during buy mode. To turn this cheat off later just type in 'true' instead of 'false'. If you have the University EP you can also use a third cheat if you want: boolProp allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true. This allows rotating any object in 45 degree increments with < and > keys. To turn this cheat off later just type in Use 'false' instead of 'true'. If you have OFB, I would also recommend using: Plumbbobtoggle off. This cheat makes the overhead plumb bob invisible Once your cheats are enabled you are ready to start posing. Placing sims 1. Go to buy mode place your posebox (it will be in hobbies/misc or misc/misc) and your tray (read the creators comments to see what menu to find the one you downloaded) on the lot. 2. In live mode, select the two poses you would like to put together from the posebox menu by selecting a sim and then clicking on the box. The poses will be listed as a pie menu. 3. In buy mode, arrange one of the sims in the position you want them to be in for taking your picture. The second sim should be placed on the object tray. You then pick up the tray and move your sim into position. 4. Now click on the decorate button and recolour the tray invisible. 5. Switch back to live mode and take your picture. 6. When you are done, stop the poses and switch to the buy mode to move your sim off the tray. You can recolour the tray to visible if you are planning to set up more poses, or just delete the invisible tray so it isn't in your sims way when they walk. Height Adjustment Clipping Some poses “clip” into the ground or even into one of the sims and you want the sim to be just a bit higher up. You have a couple of options for fixing this. The simplest is to download BakaSolo's Sim Poser OMSPs - Ground and use this in place of a tray. Just place your sim on this little block and move them into place in buy mode, recolouring it invisible as you would a tray. Since its short and small, you might have to lower the walls and move your camera angle way down in order to grab the block to move it. Just make sure you avoid showing the sims feet when you take your picture, since even if you recolour the block invisible, the sim will be hovering a tiny bit above the ground. Different Surfaces If you want to place your sims on a surface that is a different height, you will need to use OMSP's for this. There are many sets available, but I would suggest the following: Everyone needs: BakaSolo's Sim Poser OMSPs - No OFB required. You can place your sim directly on these. If you have AL also get: SilentLucidity's adjustable height OMSP's sets. You can place your sims directly on these in buy mode. Just place the sim on the height you want, or move the tray up and down with the [ and ] keys until its the height you want, then move it into position and recolour. If you don't have AL also get: Moune's Invisibles. These have to be used with a tray. Place your sim on the tray first and then move the tray on top of the OMSP. You then need to move the sim in place by grabbing on to the block, and then move it into position and recolour. More height options: There are several more sets listed here. Most of these will require you to place the sim on a tray first, and then place the tray on the OMSP. You then move all three by moving the OMSP into position. How to adjust pose heights Poses which have the sim sitting or lying on the ground will just need an OMSP that is the height of the object you want to place them on. However, if you want to use pose that is of a different height, you might have to try a couple OMSP's to find just the right one. This is particularly common with trying to raise sitting poses to be bed or counter height, since they only need to move up just the difference between the chair and the taller object. For example, a sitting pose adjusted to bed height uses (non AL) Moune’s Ayuthaya Dining InvisiBlock and a tray or (AL) an adjustable OMSP shifted to the correct height: And a sitting pose to counter height uses BakaSolo's couch OMSP or (if you have AL) an adjustable OMSP shifted to the correct height: If you want to lower a pose, you will have to use the underground set from SilentLucidity's adjustable height OMSP's. Note about downloads I did not create any of the downloads listed here, like you, I just use them. However I know of a couple of quick fixes to general problems. If a posebox does not show up in your game (they only appear on residential lots), try redownloading and reinstalling. If it still does not show up, you might want to try a different program for extracting the files since some programs don't recognise Asian character file names. Some of the poseboxes do not list which EP's they are compatible with. If one crashes your game, you do not have the necessary EP to use that posebox. Just remove it from your downloads and try another one. There are so many, you are bound to be another one that has a pose you like and will work for what you had in mind. If these fixes didn't help, or you are having other problems with something you downloaded, I recommend you refer to the information posted by the original creator, read through any questions or comments posted to see if they list a fix, and then contact the creator if you are still having problems. If you have questions about this tutorial, you are more than welcome to ask questions here. Recommended Downloads and Guides When you are a bit more used to how the basics of moving your sims around for picture taking, you might want to take a look at some of these to help out with adding even more variety to your pictures. Maybesomethingdunno's Fourth-Wall Options (look at me hack) - this hack allows you to make your sim to turn their head in a particular direction. Treeag's Freezer Clock - this hack allows you to freeze your sim in place. Particularly useful if you are using animboxes rather than poseboxes, or want to use the “look at me” hack on more than one sim. Goodbye_sun's Face overlay catalogue - these just show what expressions are possible using the facial overlays from Decorgal's Custom Modeling Poses Overlay Hack V2. Lachesis' Posebox Catalog - A catalogue of the different posebox, and some animbox poses. Further tutorials, hacks and mods can be found in the links listed here *** Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments for adding to this tutorial, I'm bound to have forgotten something, or someone out there has a shortcut I don't know about. And seriously, if you can come up with a better title, please share. And of course, please ask questions if something isn't clear or if you are having any problems with something in this tutorial.