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Obviously, the easiest way to get custom pictures for your Sims house of anything you want is to find an image of it on the
web and use the Maxis supplied Art Show program to make them into picture objects. Registered owners of the Sims may download
Art Studio at:
The Sims Art Studio
Warnings!
You will also need Object Organizer from the Maxis site if you have Hot Date or all your pictures will be in the "Other"
subcatagory of "Decorative Objects" instead of with the Maxis supplied paintings. The link is at the bottom of
the page. Registered owners of The Sims may download Object Organizer at:
The Sims Hot Date Object Organizer
Art Studio has some major limitations -- it cannot read GIF files or large files. The first is because Unisys owns the patent
on the LZW compression algorithm. The second is just the way it works, but it would be nice if it would give you an error
message instead of hanging the software. However, this problem can be solved using nothing more complex than the Paint program
that is shipped with every copy of Windows since Windows 3.1.
1) Use the Browser to open your GIF or large JPEG file. Right click on the image and choose Copy from the menu.
2)
Open the Paint program (Start->Programs->Accessories->Paint).
3) Paste the image from the clipboard into
the blank image. If you see a dialog asking you if you want to resize the bitmap, say Yes.
4) Choose Image->Stretch/Skew...
Type 50 into the Horizontal entry field, then click the Vertical radio button and type 50 into that entry field too. Very
large files may need to have this step repeated. Your image should be less than 2 inches high and wide.
5) Save
the image as Bitmap or JPEG (if available). Your file should now open in Art Studio.
Helpful Tip:
Some sites disable right click so you can't just save off their images. Most of these images are copyrighted, which means
only the owners have the right to make copies, especially for profit.
However, you may use these images in the privacy
of your own computer. DO NOT use them on websites (even your own personal website) or in houses which will be uploaded to
Maxis, placed on your own personal website, or entered into any contests, or in any other manner which redistributes the copyrighted
material, either for fun or profit.
These instructions are specifically for Netscape Communicator. Internet Explorer
will be different in the details, but follow the same general process.
1) Examine the page to see what text appears
near the image.
2) Choose View->Page Source (the Page Source item on the View menu).
3) Press Control-F
and type a few words that appear near the image (from step 1).
4) Look at the HTML commands near the text. Image
commands are something like "<img src="mypic.jpg">". Choose the one you think is most promising.
5) Select everything inside the quotation marks after the src= tag and copy it to the clipboard.
6) Switch
back to your original browser window. If the file name is a "partial path," meaning it has only the file name and
not a complete URL, replace the portion of the url after the last slash (/) with the file name. If the file name is a complete
URL, simply paste it into the Location field and press enter.
7) If the desired image does not appear in the browser
window, switch back to the Page Source window and repeat steps 3-7.
8) The browser window now displays just the
image, which may be right clicked and saved or copied to the clipboard.
Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for misuse of copyrighted materials obtained using my instructions. These instructions are posted only
for people interested in using these materials for their own personal use and enjoyment.
The creators of copyrighted
software, art, music, and reading material depend on the income from the sale of copies of their works. Please honor their
copyrights!
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