This is at a very early stage, so I don't have in-game pictures yet. I'll add them later unless I'm persuaded to drop the whole idea.

When I recently had my first Sims pregnancy, Jenny McBain had twins. I wanted some of her friends to send cards for the new birth, but I couldn't find any for twins. So, I'm making my own. And I'm thinking of uploading them here as I suppose other people might like to send cards to Sims with new twin babies too.

Searches on Google for "new twin babies congratulations" and "clip art new twins babies" produced lots of suitable images, but, when I looked at the Creation Guidelines, I read that for paintings, you should respect the wishes of the original artists. Would this apply to greetings cards too? The images on Sims greetings cards end up much smaller than the ones in paintings. These are the images I'm currently thinking of using:

I've already actually created a card using the 3rd image, but will change the internal wording to match what's on the front of the card, because when it's shrunk to the size needed for the card, the writing is too small to read.
(It reads:
Two
Wonderfully
Incredible
New
Sweethearts)
I haven't actually tested it in game yet, so I'm a long way from actually submitting anything.

None of the images I've chosen so far come from commercial E-Card sites, as I feel those might be unhappy at their images being used this way (although, if I gave credit, it would effectively be a little free advert for them). Two come from picstopin, as I imagine their would be no problem using them. Another one comes from a school blog.

So..
1) Does it make sense to submit cards for new twins for uploading to MTS? There seems to be a gap in the current provision.
2) Would it be acceptable to use images like these from the web, or should I really try to create my own artwork? I think I could, but it probably wouldn't be as good as the images I can find online, and, as the end result is so small, I could put a lot of effort into producing that no-one could ever see!
3) Should I also include cards for triplets and quads? I don't use the triplets and quads mod myself, but I know a lot of you do.

I hope this is the right place to raise this. I almost live on the Sims 2 Discussion forum, but this is the first time I've considered submitting a creation to MTS.

It's not a question of how big it is, Andy - it's a question of intellectual property. You need to use your own images, or images in the public domain, or images which you have permission to use from the rights holder. Don't imagine - read Terms of Service, copyright/trademark notices, etc.

Stock image sites abound on the web. You'll be able to find usable images.

What I sometimes do with paintings is trying to find suitable photoshop brushes. I find that those TOU's are often more filesharefriendly and easier to find than for random images from the internet.

I'm afraid you've lost me there!

I have Photoshop Elements 8.0 bundled with my computer, but I've found it a difficult program to get my head round, and I haven't used it much. For what I've done in The Sims so far I've mainly used simpler graphics programs, which are less capable, but easier to use. For clothing recolours for my own game I've used Windows Paint and the Photo Editor that came with Microsoft Office 97. Still I'm sure it would be worth my while learning to use Photoshop, and I really need to get ahead and make these cards, not least because I need them in my own game. (The McBains must get their New Baby cards before the twins grow up to be toddlers!) If it was only for my own game, I really wouldn't care where the artwork came from (the chances of someone seeing and recognising their work being nil!), but if it's to upload to here, I really have to find something that's completely legal to share. There don't seem to be any cards for New Twins at present, so I think I'd usefully be filling a gap.

So please, what are Photoshop TOUs, and where can I find them? And/or can anyone recommend any sites that I might search for public domain or royalty-free clip art?

Sorry 'bout that Let's hope I can clarify a bit... Brushes are like preset images that you can use in photoshop to create your own pictures. Standard shapes that already come with photoshop are for instance the circles and squares. But very creative people have made their own, much more interesting images. For instance, I could download brushes of flowers and then create a floral pattern that is seamless with those different brushes, instead of having to find a floral seamless pattern from the web. I find this way easier because 1) I can make it in many different colors, 2) I add something of my own, 3) I am sure that there aren't any watermarks or other nasty bits.
TOUs are Terms of Use, so the rights of the original creator. What I meant to say was: I usually notice that creators of brushes are more relaxed about sharing than image creators. As long as you don't share them as they are, which you aren't because you are making Sims cards out of them, they tend to be fine with that. You still have to check though! Before I forget: brushes are usually made for a specific version of photoshop, if they are not compatible they won't show up. So check this to when downloading, most creators do provide this information

Some sites for photoshop brushes:
Obsidian Dawn - they have a generous sharing policy
My Photoshop Brushes - links to different brush collections, be more careful when checking the rights, like on MTS there are more creators with different policies.
Brusheezy - same as above
And of course good old Google usually does the trick too!

I'm not familiar with Photoshop Elements 8.0, so I don't know whether it is easier/more difficult than the newer versions of photoshop. I also haven't found a good tutorial yet, for me it was mostly trial-and-error and asking others for explanations What you could consider is downloading this absolutely free and legal version of Photoshop CS2. It is a couple of versions higher than Elements 8, so that means its probably easier to find brushes and tutorials for it.

Good luck!

Which creation guidelines are you looking at AG? Do you mean the ones on this site or the ones on the sites where you're finding the images?

I've made loads of those cards BTW, so if you have any questions, ask away.

Thanks Maxon.

I was looking at the guidelines here on MTS. There are no actual guidelines for greetings cards, so I was looking at the ones for paintings, as being the nearest I could see. I have lost heart a bit at the thought that I have to either somehow obtain the original artists' permission or else create my own artwork.

When I look at your most recent greetings card upload, I see that you get your designs mainly from the net, and I wonder if you got permission from the original designers. I can't help thing that, once the design for the front of the card is reduced to 128 x 87 pixels (or thereabouts) it's most unlikely that anyone is going to recognise their work, and even less likely that they'll care. When I think about it, I don't see anyone giving credit for the original designs of cards for MogHughson's system. So maybe I shouldn't worry either.

The cards are now needed quite urgently in my game, as I want the twins to get them before they grow up to toddlers! It's getting to the point where it's stopping me playing Veronaville. If they were just for my own game I really wouldn't care where I got the artwork from, but since there don't seem to be any cards available for multiple births, it seems a shame not to make them available to other people.

Andrew, just use copy right free art work. No need to ask permission from the artists there. There are some cute twin pictures here http://www.clker.com/search/twins/1

Aw, don't give up! Like Jo said, just use copy right free artwork, or artwork that people have explicitly mentioned that you can use them. Don't feel forced to write every single person who posted an image on the web, just only use those that have a little text next to them that says you can use it.
Side note: That's a great site Jo! Bookmarked for future reference :D

Glad someone can use the site. Hope you do too Andrew.

No, I shouldn't if I were you. I used images off the net which I was (fairly) sure could be used without permission. I didn't seek permission particularly but I did check the sites to see if there was a notice about usage. If you are worried by it all you could include a link to the site where you got the images in your download's thread. I did this with my John Lewis rug recolours, as an example. The John Lewis site didn't say anything about whether I could use the images or not but bear in mind that they posted the images to sell their stuff and I used them in a thread where I basically said, 'I LOVE the products from this company and thought I would share some of the images.' I provided a link to the shop's site in the thread too. I can't see that JL would object to that. What they're getting basically is some free promotion - from the best possible source as well: a satisfied customer.


Agreed - I'd really like to see them.

I reckon it's high time I got ahead with this. I haven't played the McBain family for over a year, because I at least want them to get their New Baby cards before the twins grow up to toddlers.

But my latest problem is with the GUIDs. I've forgotten the password I used to register with the GUID database. I clicked on the Lost Password link and it said it had successfully sent me an email. But over 12 hours later no email has arrived. Now I've really only used one email address since I started using email, so unless I mistyped when I registered, it should be right. I know email can occasionally get delayed, so I can still live in hope of getting something, but it's beginning to look unlikely. So, assuming I don't hear from them in the next 12 hours or so, I'm not sure what to do. I would try to contact someone running the site, but I'm not sure if anyone is monitoring the SimPE/GUID site these days. Quaxi hasn't been active here on MTS since 2008, and I don't think Numenor is active either. Does anyone know if there is anyone that I can contact about it? If I can't log into the site there seem to be two options left to me. I could re-register with a different user name and get a new block of GUIDs. But Numenor reminds us that the number of available GUIDs is limited, and that would mean wasting most of my original allocation. Alternatively, if SimPE lets me, I could manually enter GUIDs from the range allocated to me, and try to keep a note of which ones I have used. I seem to have been allocated 256 GUIDs, and that should be more than enough for my whole lifetime! Any advice on what I should do?

Sorry of this isn't the best place to raise this matter. But, since I'd already started this thread, and I want the GUIDs to complete this project, it seemed as well to post to this thread as to look elsewhere. I live in the Sims 2 Discussion Forum, and I'm not too familiar with the creation side of MTS.

Have you checked your email spam folder? I sometimes forget to check there. You cannot register for GUIDs any longer. I would use the GUIDs that you can get with SimPE.

Thanks!

Yes, I have checked my Junk and Spam folders and, unfortunately, there's nothing there. It's now nearly 24 hours since I got the message that an email had been sent, so I'm afraid it looks like I'm not going to get one.

I thought that, since I can't remember what password I used to register on the GUID database, I wouldn't be able to use the Get GUID feature in SimPE. Much to my surprise, I've discovered that, even though I can't remember my password, SimPE still does remember it. It not only gave me the next GUID in sequence, but it also updated my record on the database : andrewgloria has now registered two objects. Obviously me using the Lost Password feature didn't cancel my old password. I wonder where SimPE stores my password. And, unless and until I find out, I'd better be careful; that I never re-install SimPE!!

You say you can no longer register for GUIDs. Have they used them all up? Or is it just that no-one's administering the database now? Whatever it is, it makes me glad I registered last year!

I was under the impression that you could no longer register on the database. I'm pretty they haven't all been used up.