Yep, you read right.  I don’t have Sims 3 yet so please stop emailing me questions.  If you’re wondering why I didn’t buy it yet or plan to anytime soon it’s simple.  I really don’t play the game anymore and use it to make machinima.  Yes the new camera and lighting tools are kick-ass awesome in Sims 3 but without hacks and cc,  I don’t see the point.  It took me 2 days to make that silly 1 minute featured movie on the Sims 3 site and that’s because I had to sit around for hours waiting to capture a specific animation.  It’s not worth it to me, especially when we have animation customization ability in Sims 2 now.   If you ask many other seasoned machinima directors, they’ll tell you the same.  It looks as though the community is working hard and fast at cracking the game though so as soon as we get the ability to hack, I’ll be buying the game.  Anyway, I don’t know how much of this information is out there but we did get a handout on how to use the camera tool so here is the most relevant info (this guide is for the experienced Sims 2 camera user):

The keys to move the camera around such as W, S, D, A, E, Q are the same as Sims 2.  The new tool is the dutch camera which allows you to tilt from left to right, letting you create those funky Twilight Zone style angles:
SHIFT- D: tilts camera to the right
SHIFT- E: tilts camera to the left

There’s also the ability to zoom using the keys:
Z:  zooms in
X:  zooms out

You can also rotate the camera around a fixed point 360 degrees by using the left and right arrow keys- a cool feature we didn’t have in the Sims 2 (the keys I’m not absolutely sure on since I didn’t take notes).

The keys used to saving camera positions are almost the same as in Sims 2 except 4 isn’t included.  The save camera keys are from 5-9.

Now on to the good stuff that’s probably not in the booklet included with the game that you’re too lazy to read.  Find the camera file.  I don’t know where it is, they didn’t have it in the game when we were at the camp and we had to add and link to it later.  At that time it was called videocamera.ini but it might be called something else now.  If you know where it is in Sims 2, I have no doubt you’ll easily find it in Sims 3.  I messed with a lot of the numbers a bit when I was at camp but didn’t take thorough notes.  The descriptions are pretty self explanatory so don’t be afraid to play around with the numbers to test the camera (make sure you keep a backup copy!).

Controlling camera speed can be easily varied by changing the Move numbers.  You can adjust these numbers from and to an infinite range.  But just to give you some guidelines, you’ll want to use .1 or higher for very slow moving close-up shots and 50 to higher to faster moving wide-angle shots.

Move = # – changes the camera speed for horizontal movement
MoveVertical = # – changes the camera speed for vertical movement

The most important and coolest feature though is the LerpDuration.  What this number will do is control the amount of time you go from one saved camera position to another.  For example:

LerpDuration = 10 – this means that it will take 10 seconds from the camera to move from one saved position to another.  How cool is that?

Other things you’ll notice is the camera moves from one save position to another very smoothly without as much lag (which, if I remember correctly, you can actually edit in that file).  Same as Sims 2, you’ll be able to save the camera file while the game is open and have it take effect without restarting.

Lastly, for those of you who have the game, we machinima directors asked for certain features that were missing in the game.  I don’t remember the whole list (it was like 10 things) but please let me know if they included the following:
-some sort of set hour cheat
-fluidity of animations like if you string 2 animations together, they don’t go into default stand mode for a split second between animations. Same with when you make them change direction while walking.
-ability to grab Sims when you are in the neighborhood with the move objects cheat
-ability to get rid of sleeping zzz’s, musical notes/halo effects on instruments, progress bar
-some sort of way to extract and queue animations (yes, it was a stretch but I asked them for that but have little hope)

I’ve released a guide for making Sims talkies for directors who are interested in venturing into them and it’s available on my Decorgal Designs site. It’s a very practical guide for directors who have some experience with music videos but not much experience with talkies. Some of the advice is intuitive while some of it is based on techniques I’ve learned and developed from working on so many talkies. If you’re not a strong director with mediocre cinematography and editing skills, I think you’ll find the most of the guide useful. If you’re a strong director with great cinematography and editing skills, the lip-synching tips should be most useful to you.

Even though I’ve released the guide just recently, there are a few minor things I thought of that I forgot to put in it! Isn’t that always the case? Maybe I’ll come up with another version later but I don’t think I left out much. Anyway, if it’s something you think you’ll find useful, please read it and let me know if there are any topics that weren’t covered that you’d like to see discussed for any future editions.

I received a really interesting email recently with a question I’ve heard others ask and I’m sure others of you have wondered about so I decided to blog it and share my thoughts as well as hear yours. CarinaWings asks,

I was just wondering something. I’ve seen a lot of sim movies all over the place. Quite a few have voiceovers, but a ton of them have subtitles too. I wanted to know your opinion, if you think it takes anything away from a sims movie if it has subtitles as opposed to voiceovers? I myself don’t think it matters as long as the plot, characters and camerawork are good, as well as effort. Being someone who uses voiceovers, I was wondering what you think?

The short answer to this, no matter the circumstance, is that the plot and characters always supercede anything else. No matter how well (or poorly) voiceovers are done, if a movie is missing these essential elements it won’t be good. With that said, I personally prefer voiceovers. Subtitles used to be commonplace and acceptable a few years ago when Sims movies were in their earlier phases but movies have come a long way and voiceovers are generally expected over subtitles. If the dialogue and filming are great, some misaligned lipsynching and moderate quality acting won’t really be an issue. If lipsynching is off on top of poor audio quality full of wind-puffs and extremely poor acting, then there’s a danger of distracting the viewer. If it’s difficult to find any actors with decent quality microphones, it might just be better to use subtitles but keep in mind that using them makes the movie appear, at least at first glance, more amateur than one with subtitles.

The bottom line is, whether it’s subtitles or other technical issues, I’ve seen plenty of rough work from aspiring machinima directors that have been worth watching because you know they have something to say with their work. On the flip side, I’ve seen many directors who focus only on fancy camera work and editing but lack a point of view and purpose (i.e. characters/plot). Of course the ideal situation is a movie that has it all but as long as you focus on what’s important, it shouldn’t be much of an issue and you’ll learn to overcome the problems as you gain more experience.

*On a side note, I updated the Radio Blog a while ago if you haven’t noticed with songs from the last AinD and some other music.

I wonder how many of you got my Sounds of Music reference but there it is. I thought it was time for me to update my hacks list. I still have one on here that I have tried to keep up to date with all the schisms and moving hackers have been doing. I’ll go ahead and include those hacks on this list as well so that this is a comprehensive list. Keep in mind I list these hacks as a movie maker- some might not find these useful. Some have been taken off the list since they are no longer required after new EPs.

Hacks I Use Every Time I Film

Merola’s Multi-Painting
This is one of the oldest hacks out there but it’s a goodie. This hack will allow you to change your sims’ motives, their aspiration meter, and personality.

Twojeff’s Movie Maker Bonzai
This hack will get rid of the zzzs when sims sleep. This does not work when they are passed out though. You can also use this hack to trigger nightmares for your sims.

Numenor’s No Jitters After Espresso
Don’t you hate the way sims shake after they’ve had coffee? This hack gets rid of that silly shaking.

Twojeff’s Perfect Plants (originally Inge’s)
When you’re filming you don’t have time to garden so use this hack which will keep your plants in perfect condition.

Squinge’s Hula Dance and More
This hack has too many cool functions to list here but you can do a lot with it. Some of the animations include panic reactions, watch loops, fighting animations, screen poses…the list goes on and on.

Monique’s No Spoiled Food
Before this hack came out, I was going crazy filming dining scenes where I needed food as props. This hack will prevent the food from spoiling allowing you plenty of time to film.

Hacked Dresser
I think Carrigon made this one but I can’t find it anywhere, including the new forum she’s on. This hack loads all the clothes when using this dresser for both male and female so you could ‘buy’ the items and use them.
EDIT: *Numenor and MaryLou cloned the dresser and updated it making a new version.

My Talk Standing Hack
Whether you’re looking for talking or reaction scenes while sims are standing, this hack will let you cue those animations.

My Talk Sitting Hack
Same as above except this is for sitting sims. This hack contains more reaction animations since that is what’s available in the game as well as lots of looping animations for your extras in the background.

Talk Overlay Hack
For those of you who have a problem with the cartooniness of sims animations, this hack will allow you to film more realistic scenes. This hack is to be used in conjunction with my talk sitting and standing hacks.

Jixs’ Prop Attachment Hack
If you need to have your sims holding anything whether that’s a coffee cup or gun, this hack is for you. This hack will allow your sims to do any animations you tell them to while holding an object.

Other Useful Hacks

Carrigon’s No School Hack (must be registered to view)
If you’ve ever tried to make a movie with kids, you know how impossible it is to get shooting time for them because they’re in school. With this hack, the school bus does not show up and no social worker takes your kids away.

Smonaff’s Ghost Hack
If you need ghosts in your movies, this hack is for you. This will allow you to change your sims appearance to that of ghosts and also allow them to float. You can also easily change them back to normal.

Numenor’s No Stars Around Head When Slapped
This hack will remove those ridiculous dancing stars around your sims’ heads when they get slapped.

Twojeff’s Buyable Career Rewards
All the career reward objects are available at your fingertips with this hack.

Numenor’s No Visual Effects While Playing
This hack will get rid of those cartoonish notes and halo effect on the instruments so that you can get that cool band playing shot.

Jixs’ Dance Animation Hack
This hack is essential for filming dance scenes. You can control the dancing animations for your sims and it’s particularly useful if you want to have a synchronized group dancing scene.

Squinge’s Single Slap Only
This hack will change the silly multi-slap to a single one. Be sure to download the alternate version because it’s more aggressive than the original version which is more like a light tap.

Shaklin’s Model Animation Changer
This hack allows you to change the way your sims walk as well provide facial expressions on cue.

Vampcat’s Hacked Gun
This is a working hangun. Your sims will pick it up and shoot someone with it who will cringe and then die (only to show up near the mailbox a second later). In addition to this, check out Vampcat’s other guns which are not functional but awesome for action style movies.

Squinge’s Pregnancy Wear Any Outfit
This hack will allow your pregnant sims to wear any outfit you own.

My Action Animations Hack (New)
If you need any action movements from your sims such as falling, hitting or any thing that requires special animations, then you’ll most likely find it in the action hack.

*Big cheers to Numenor and Twojeffs for fulfilling all these movie maker friendly hacks at our request.

Please keep in mind this is not a comprehensive list of all the hacks available for movie making. In fact, there are lots more great hacks out there I just happen to not use them for my own movie making so please don’t suggest hacks to be put on my list. I will be updating this list as necessary.

I’ve seen a lot of people with Sims movie sites who hardly promote them. The best way to build a fanbase is to build it off of your website. Here are some tips that I’ve used for my website since its inception in 2004.

Splurge a Little
If you are serious about sims movie making or i’s become a passionate hobby of yours, spend the money to buy a website. Free websites are not fun to visit, often have ads and have limited bandwidth and design options. If you’re brand new to movie making, a free website is a great way to get started but if you are good at making movies and plan to make many, buy a site. They are not that expensive.

Make it Professional
People won’t enjoy visiting your website if it’s poorly designed. Websites with busy background patterns, too bright colors and poor layout will definitely turn people off. Other things like looping music, too many sounds and trailing mouse cursors make be cute at first but quickly get irritating to visitors. Websites with lots of ads will as well- my personal preference is no ads because I can’t stand them and many others can’t either.

Keep in Touch
Start a mailing list. They are a great way to keep in touch with your visitors and keep them coming back. Don’t abuse it though or it will seem like junkmail to your recipients; use it to just make movie announcements or major news. A good way to encourage people to sign up for the mailing list is to offer them exclusive content whether that be early movie releases, previews, etc. Exclusive content is also a nice way to thank people for signing up.

Don’t Let Tumbleweeds Roam
People are not likely to return to your site if you rarely offer fresh content. Keep content fresh and update your site regularly. A great way to do this is to have a blog and use an RSS feed on your website. This way, you can offer fresh content whenever you blog and your website will be updated automatically without you having to manually do it.

Show it Everywhere
Put a link to your website in your signature for forums, your email and any other place you can promote it. You’d be surprised at how many people click those links when they see them.

Make Them Come to YOUR site
When making movie announcements, try linking people to your website instead of providing direct hotlinks to movies. Make sure though that the movie is easy to find on the page to which you link. Promoting your movies on third party sites is a great way to get your movies out there but make sure you don’t showcase ALL of your movies. If you do, you don’t give people an incentive to visit your website, instead they will only visit the third party site to watch all your movies.

Be Creative
Try to offer something fun and unique on your website whether that is a contest, polls, or something more creative. If you think it will enhance your visitor’s experience, then try it out. You can always change what doesn’t work and improve upon things that do.

Link Me
Make a link button which is typically 88×31 and ask people with websites to link to you or put buttons in your signature on forums with an address. Also, link to others on your link page. People whose sites you link to are more likely to be receptive to your request to link to theirs. Read people’s policies on links though- some prefer only to link to sites they like. I, for example, am starting a new policy to not link to free sites (with the exception of people whose movies I really enjoy) or sites that are rarely updated. Also, list your website with all those Sims fansite listings sites- they provide quite a few hits and new visitors who might not have otherwise found your site.

Be Involved in the Community
If no one knows you exist, no one will know to watch your movies. There are so many movies out there and most of them, quite frankly, aren’t any good. Most people will watch movies from directors they are familiar with instead of just watching everything out there (although I know people who do that). If you take the time to watch, review or comment on other’s movies, they will be more inclined to do the same for you.

The Master Plan
The most important thing in growing your website is to concentrate on making good movies. No matter what you do, if you don’t make good movies, none of the other advice matter.