Tutorial - Making custom beards compatible with face expressions and sliders

The Sims 2 tutorial:
Making custom beards compatible with face expressions and sliders
DIFFICULTY - MEDIUM


About
(First things first. This is my very first tutorial, so if you notice any mistake in the guide, please notify me!)
With this tutorial, you'll be able to create custom 3D beards that move along with your sims' face structure and expressions! As I mentioned above, this guide isn't advised for the creators who JUST started creating CC. I suggest starting out with something simple first (ex. clothing, accessories).

Details
This tutorial is offline, which means, the more detailed version will be available to download, on the bottom of this thread! (I also included 2 "small" unedited videos of me editing in Blender, for those, who are new to it.) Here, online, I'll mention everything in a nutshell, that'll be in the offline tutorial, for a little in-sight!

Here, you'll be downloading the things you'll need for this tutorial (programs, plugins, package files etc.) and extract the necessary files from the packages. I also left a few tutorial links for both Blender and Milkshape!

Part 2 - Editing the mesh to fit the TS2 face + Video

In this part, you'll be using Blender to edit the beard's mesh to fit the TS2 AM face! An unedited video of this, is included in the template folder.

Part 3 - Adding bones and backfaces

Now it's Milkshape time. I think this part explains itself. You'll assign weight to the skeleton's bones and add backfaces to the mesh. Also, writing in the mesh's "comments" section.

Part 4 - Adding morphs + Video

Back to Blender. This one, WILL. BE. TEDIOUS.
For the first time, it took me 2-3 hours to finish with 11 morphs, but now it takes me like 10-15 mins, so there's no need to panic when you get error message, after error message. Practice makes perfect. I'll also add, that "Alpha beards" are more difficult to make than "Clay beards", because of the bigger amount of faces.

Part 5 - Importing the beard into the game and testing

Now, you'll be importing the finished product into the game via Bodyshop. After that, in SimPE, you'll edit all kinds of resources, ex. material definitions and textures, to make the beard appear in the game how it should be.
Then, the "best" part of the whole guide. Testing. You will probably spend the second most time in here, making sure everything works perfectly.

Well, that should be all! The .pdf tutorial will say more interesting stuff, than me, in here. :D
If you stumble into any problem, having difficulties, send me a message on my tumblr! -> https://www.tumblr.com/applewatersugar


Credits, 'cause this guide wouldn't be a thing without them
Creators of SimPE
simnopke for the help and tips
beestew for the help and tips
LordCrumps for the testing and help

Attached files:

The Sims 2 Tutorial - Making custom beards.rar (154.48 MB, 53 downloads)