Making Poses With Blender Part II - Loading the rig and animation

Menu

A - Load the rig you want to work on
B - Clone your animation file
1) Find the animation in the EA folder
2) Or you can use a previously cloned file
C - Import the animation file in Blender

This might look like a lot, but I have given the most precise indications I could, along with a lot of pictures. This shouldn't take you more than 3-5 minutes once you know what you are doing.

A - Load the rig you want to work on

So when you open Blender, the logo will appear every time. Just click on it to close it.

On the top left menu, select "File > Open..." or use CTRL+O

Browse your computer to the place you have placed A's rigs.
If you followed the way I did in the first part of this tutorial you will find it following
"Desktop > Making Poses > Sims Rigs"
Select the rig you wish to work with:
afRig = adult/teenager female
amRig = adult/teenager male

cuRig = child female and male
puRig = toddler female and male

If you would like to create a pose for a pet:
abRig = adult deer
acRig = adult cat
adRig = adult large breed dog
ahRig =  adult horse
al Rig = adult small breed dog

ccRig = kitten (child cat)
chRig = foal (child horse) 
clRig = puppy (child small breed dog)

Once you have selected the rig you want to work with, press "Open Blender File"

As you can see, after that the screen totally changed, we are now in Pose Mode, ready to keep on.

B - Clone your animation file

There are two different ways to get them, find the one that best suits you.

1) Find the animation in the EA folder
Start by opening S3PE.
Make sure that those are your settings:
- Sort must be checked so that you can see things in alphabetical order
- Preview must be set to Value
- Display by Names

Go to "File > Open..." or CTRL+O there as well.

You need to locate the FullBuild0.package which is normally situated in this directory: 
C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/Packages/FullBuild0.package
Important: Do not forget to check "Open as read-only" before pressing "Open"

Now let S3PE starts loading the ressources, it might take a while but you can see the progression at the bottom. When the list will finally show up, we will use the search so we won't have to scroll through the whole page.
Now the name you will enter depends on the rig you decided to chose:
- adult/teenager male and female use the a_xevt_701 animation file
- child male and female will use the c_xevt_701 animation file
- toddler male and female use p_xevt_701 animation file

As for the pets, they are located in another folder:
C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3 Pets/GameData/Shared/Packages/FullBuild0_p10.package
- cat you can use  ac_simbin_simpose_neutral01
- small breed dog you can use al_simbin_simpose_neutral01
- large breed dog you can use ad_simbin_simpose_neutral01
- horse you can use ah_simbin_simpose_neutral01

In the bottom part, type in the name of the animation you are looking for.
Remember to use the animation that is related to the rig you used.
I used an adult male rig, so I need to download the adult animation.

Once you have written the name, make sure to check the mark in the box next to it, and then press the set button. It will copy the name on the lower case. Now you can check to activate the filter on the left, it will make the screen load once more and here is what I get after:

Now that only the file that we need appears on the screen, right click it and choose "Export and rename..." at the bottom of the list.

In the pop up window, insert a unique name as it will be the one people will need to type in game to play your pose. Most creators use their name or part of it to make sure there won't be any conflict with someone else's pose.

Make sure that you save it in a place that you will find easily, preferably in a folder where you can add anything you will need, without mixing them with other unrelated files.

You will now see in your folder a file with the .animation extension. You are ready to start your pose, but before that I will show another way to get this animation file more easily and faster.


2) Or you can use a previously cloned file
For this you will need to actually clone the animation file like previously explained, keep this in a safe place with a name such as "a_adult_base" and use it as a base for cloning each time you want to create a new pose. Or you could use the nice file Kaleeko compiled which includes all sims and pets animation file for you to use whenever needed and that you can find here.

Open S3PE like you previously did, "File > Open..." or CTRL+O.
Browse to where you saved the file. If you placed it like me, it would be on your desktop, in the pose folder next to the rigs .

Of course, no matter how many times I try to load it now I don't get the message I usually have, but if you get a pop up asking you about replacing duplicates, press ok (or import I forgot, I will update this next time it asks me). It should then ask you if it should auto-save after importing, select no.

You should now see this screen:

The names are pretty explicit. Like in the previous example, right click the animation file you want to use, then select 'export and rename'. For my example I would have exported the "a_Creator_AdultPoseName" and renamed it "a_Kilhian_MaleTutorial".

You can close S3PE for now, you won't be needing it again before you are ready to try your pose.

C - Import the animation file in Blender

Back into Blender, go back to the top menu and go to "File > Import > Sims 3 Animations".
If you do not see the 'Sims 3 Animations' at the bottom of the list, go back to the first part of this tutorial, you need to set up the correct plugin.

Use the left side of the screen to locate your animation. In my case, I choose "Desktop" then go through the folders showing on the middle part until I reach the one containing the .animation file. Once you have found it, select it before pressing "Import Sims 3 Animation".

You are now back to the previous screen showing you the rig you want to work on for your pose.
You can now go to the third part of this tutorial for detailed explanations on how to keep on. Cheers!