Wallpaper Tutorial

I've discovered some useful tools to help me make new wallpapers. Whenever I look for tutorials for making Sims objects, they seem to be written by people who have Adobe Photoshop. I use Paint Shop Pro or sometimes even MS Paint for making wallpapers and even for recolouring or editing objects.

First, you'll need The Sims HomeCrafter (there is a copy of this doing the rounds under the name of HomeMaster - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't). Go to http://thesims.ea.com/us/getcool/ (it's free) and download it.

Got that? Good. Now let's make some wallpaper.
You'll need to know how big the wallpaper image needs to be. It should be 128 x 240 pixels.

Using MS Paint

MS Paint isn't the most versatile tool around, but at least you can mix colours quite easily, and you can change the bulk of the colours to create different wallpaper shades.
Start a new document and make it 128 x 240 pixels (that's 128 wide, 240 tall). In MS Paint you'll be able to do that in Images, Attributes.
If you choose to use MS Paint for your wallpapers, you can pretty much take it from here yourself, but make sure you save your work regularly. If you want to make different wallpaper shades, use Save As... to create a new file each time.

Using Paint Shop Pro

The principle is pretty much the same as in MS Paint, except that in Paint Shop, you can paint with textures! Fill the blank document with one colour, then play with the options in the Effects menu. The chances are that you'll have created some pretty cool designs just by doing that. Then see if you can play around with the Picture Tube tool. You can paint with cats, aeroplanes, bugs and dozens of other things. You can also paint with a texture, rather than with solid colours, giving you a range of tools and effects to play with. The picture below is of six of my seven library wall designs, created in Paint Shop. The seventh design contains no books, so that it can be used on doors and windows without spoiling the effect. I painted with a woodstain texture to make the shelves, then used the Picture Tube tool to add the two cats.

Importing Your Wallpaper

When you've finished painting, save your work as a .bmp file, preferably somewhere where you can find it again! Then open HomeCrafter and select the wall icon (see right). Then load in your picture and give it a name, price and other properties. Click somewhere on the walls of the house seen in the program, and when you're happy with it, export the picture. HomeCrafter will save your wallpaper automatically, so just click OK and it'll do the rest itself.