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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 7th Oct 2020 at 7:00 PM
Default List of my high-resolution LibreOffice Draw templates
I couldn't post on the "Share your modding know-how here" area so hopefully this is a good spot to post links to my painting templates.
I use LibreOffice Draw as the final assembly tool for my painting templates, because I can create many textures in the same file rather than a 1-file 1-texture program like AI, PS, etc.

Most of my template textures are 2x to 4x resolution of the original, often times with custom frames or modified texture layouts such as this or this or this at Sims4Studio.
You're free to use/modify the templates as you see fit.
Beneath this list of templates is a generic set of instructions on how to use. Libreoffice (completely free) can be downloaded here (I'm using 7.01).

One thing to know, these are my "simple" templates without layers. Layers, while a versatile tool for me to use, are a bit of a barrier in LO draw for people used to how layering works in AI or PS or Paint.net, so these templates have everything dumped on the same layer. No biggie in terms of output (File, Export as PNG).

Templates:

Link Sims4Studio 3-Tile Wall Object (particular to Sims 4 Studio)
Link S4S Painting 1F (particular to Sims 4 Studio)
Link Shallot Portraits (Get Together required)
Link Still Life with Apple and Pitcher (base game).
Link Still Life with Apple and Pitcher (base game, with custom frames)
Link SuperaSymetry (base game). Thing to know about this object, the default game shadow is way off. You hit ] to enlarge, the shadow appears below the frame. Still useful if at default size.
Link Sul Sul Poster (base game)
Link Teen Cool tape-up poster (base game)
Link "don't you want that" backlit billboard (City Living required)
Link Sign Of the Times (City Living required)
Link Teen Idol poster (base game)
Link Thick Decor Book (works with any of the default "thick" debug books in the game (such as the "Bawdy Language" or BookRWCareerScience books. Note that some debug books do not have texture bases and can't be used such as "Programing Volume 3").
Link Biome Light (Get Together required)
Link Treebra painting (base game)
Link Inspirational Mouse poster (base game)
Link Mega Couple Of Books (base game)
Link Small Team Photo (base game)

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Step-by-step instructions are beneath this preamble.
Enjoy!

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My templates are all basically used the same way, just right-click on the existing photo(s) and replace with your own, then select File, Export for each slide. Done.

If you find, after importing your image into one of my LibreOffice templates, that the image is blurry, that means the image is too low resolution for the surface that the template must cover on the object. You don't need to have precisely the same pixel dimensions as the sample pictures, just something close as far as the proportions go.

While on a LibreOffice Draw slide, you can select all, then hit F4, and you'll get the option at the bottom of a dialogue to freeze elements in place or move them around, so in some cases, you might want to unfreeze the picture part that you replace to stretch the image one way or the other to meet your needs. As long as the image still covers the same region as the one I put in the template, you're good to go.

In some cases, included with each template download is a png-based DST file which I've specifically crafted to remove glare and the original raised surfaces (that don't exist in my templates). With S4S open, go to the Warehouse tab, find the DST item, and import the one I included. You only have to do that once per file, not once per swatch. Sometimes there are two DST entries in a file, but a quick visual comparison tells you which one to overwrite. If it's 10x10 pixels, that isn't it. Some have a pinkish cast them. If my DST also has a pinkish cast, that's a match. Sometimes, but not always, because my templates are far higher resolution than the original objects, the DST file may be larger in dimension than the original. That's fine.

Bit of a bummer, but starting with Libreoffice 7.0x, LibreOffice introduced a different rendering engine (Skia), so any transparent element on a given slide will goober the output. I've logged several bugs about this and they're aware, but there hasn't been any movement on any fixes yet (that I can see, anyway).

If using 7.x of LibreOffice, the work-around is to import an image that already has alpha mapping less than 100% (i.e., the image is already somewhat transparent) rather than using the property sidebar in LibreOffice to set the properties of an object to be transparent. I use 7.x and just do the work-around.

If you have no transparent objects or transparent properties set on a given slide, good to go. If you export something and the results look weird, there's a transparent property set somewhere. This is true for my book cover with the transparent stripe across the bottom for the title. I'll have to go in and update that template at some point for that (or you can blow away the transparent box yourself).

So, basic steps:

1. Open S4S
2. Beneath the Object button, select Standalone Recolor
3. Click the Object button
4. From the list of available objects, select the object type (the picture, poster, or whatever) that a given template recolors
5. Export this, which will then be your new recolor mod.
6. Open the corresponding LibreOffice template (6.4.6 if you don't want to deal with transparency issues).
7. Right-click in the middle of the sample photo or image and select Replace...
8. Navigate to your own image and select it
9. Export the slide (File, Export)
10. Import the slide as a new swatch in your S4S package. You may have as many slides in your LO template as you wish (Insert, New Slide)

Repeat steps 7 through 10 for each recolor. 35 recolors per package is high but doable. If the images you're importing are large (3+ MB), consider not having so many swatches per package.

Steps for templates whose download include a DST file:

1. Open S4S
2. Beneath the Object button, select Standalone Recolor
3. Click the Object button
4. From the list of available objects, select the object type (the picture, poster, or whatever) that a given template recolors
5. Export this, which will then be your new recolor mod

One-time steps (per package) for the DST:
6. With S4S still open, click the Warehouse tab
7. Scroll down the list until you see entries named "DST Image"
There are usually two DST entries that matter: a gray DST, and a gray DST with a pink and/or green tint.

8. Click the DST that most closely matches the enclosed DST file (based on color). This will never be the 10x10 tiny little DST or any DST that looks like an imported swatch.
9. Hit the Import button on the extreme lower right of the S4S window
10. Navigate to the DST file included with the download and select it.
11. Click the Studio tab

You're now done with the DST part for the life of the package, and can concentrate on developing individual swatches:
12. Open the corresponding LibreOffice template (6.4.6 if you don't want to deal with transparency issues).
13. Right-click in the middle of the sample photo or image and select Replace...
14. Navigate to your own image and select it.
15. Export the slide (File, Export)
16. Import the slide as a new swatch in your S4S package. You may have as many slides in your LO template as you wish (Insert, New Slide)
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