Mon 10 Apr 2001 ::
Squeezed out some time for a "soft" update - Red Chinese cabinet, open shower, and the frequently requested shrub! Enjoy...
A NOTE : Try to download recent and current objects if you are keen on getting the coming debut house, which will come furnished.
THIEF SITE ISSUE: Last week alone I have received a few reports about sites directly ripping off/ hosting my creation without permission. The hot items seem
to be the glass windows and the hammock. I won't mention them here, as these sites are typically unethical to be given
our attention. Besides some of them really weren't knowingly stealing, and do not deserve shaming. I have mostly resolved with
these sites amicably via email exchanges. Thanks to those of you who were kind enough to inform me. Really appreciate it! :)
Tues 3 Apr 2001 ::
Just a note here to let people know the site will only be updated this weekend. I do have a lot of objects made,
and would love to upload them, but web production is a far more tedious process than making objects. And hiring
someone to administrate the site just isn't justifiable at this point, given the way things are. So... There'd been a lot of
emails requesting for a house download page - yes I will be adding one as I promised some time ago.
But be patient! Simorphor needs to make a living in real life to support the bill of this fast, PAID web host
whose high speed connection you are currently enjoying :)
Thurs 29 Mar 2001 ::
Got my House Party pack!! Yeeeeeha! Apparently the English version for Asian region is packed in Singapore
that's why they're already in the shops! But then, just my luck, my main desktop system crashed and
I have to reinstall the whole OS plus only the work-related programs. No crash-prone gaming for now until my new pc comes in. Frustration city.
Now the HP box just sits there... And since the whole April will be a
crazy month of intensive work I wonder when will I get a chance to unwrap it... Oh well...
Tues 27 Mar 2001 :: All 5 new venetian blinds uploaded, as another borderless window
series from Simorphor! Like the borderless glass windows, these will also change the look of the houses
quite fundamentally. The tropical fruit bowl needs to be watered
occasionally to keep fresh, as it is cloned from the geranium flower. Otherwise it will wither into a pile of moudly, unappetizing things heehee [don't beleive me try it and see how moudly it can get]. The tall yucca plant [buy:deco mode], however, does not require watering, and have high room score of 7.
Got amazing
amount of email
feedback this last week.
Wow! Thanks for
the support
guys and gals. <OSCAR
SPEECH ON> Special thanks to those wonderful people who voted every visit,
and a few
who made some REALLY constructive suggestions about the
site, and to you who made some really interesting requests. You have made
a difference and brought smiles
and laughter here in my world! <OSCAR SPEECH OFF> Errr...and now some apologies: sorry about the face/ skin requests - I haven't had a one-continuous-full-day break in the last week, which I need to complete one face, so that will have to be proponed... But I haven't forgotten yet! :)
Oh and
friendly spanks to some who don't bother reading the FAQ! I do
have a real life job which also involves tonnes of emails, so
please please please remember - I'm not affiliated to Maxis, nor
am I paid for sharing my creatons, nor am I an expert on
gameplay, nor am I keen/ obligated to answer really vague but demanding one-line questions like
'I can't see my downloads what happen'? Read the game
manual for a start. And then check out the official
site Help page with extensive gameplay FAQ and information. And then READ THE Simorphor FAQ
[updated]. I have been patiently answering all technical-related emails. But too many non-Simorphor related technical
questions later - some of which are simply too basic or communicatively-challenged - it's become exchausting, even impossible. Please remember that I'm only
one person volunteering the sharing of my creations and even non-official technical support out of goodwill,
so I'll appreciate it if a few emailers don't act like I
owe it to them personally to fix their game setting problem or provide one-on-one tuition on how to play the game.
To the Newbies with lots of basic download questions, the good news is I will work on a Download Tutorial packed with visual guide, within the next few weeks. Meanwhile
newsgroups like alt.games.the-sims and Egroups like Simsaddicted
and Simwatch will have realy cool people who would help answer some questions. Try the very resourceful
The Sims Resources too.
OK...that addressed it I think. Excuse
my rant though, I
just need to
set the perspective right from time to time, to reduce unnecessary mental stress in future. Still, I'm
glad there're a lot of fun-loving people out there whom I enjoy sharing
these stuff with. :) Keep your feedback comin', and keep the good spirit
of this community alive! Love and light etc... :)
About SETS -
quite a few visitors asked for sets, dining, living room or bath.
Well, personally I'm not too much into sets, as I prefer the
spontaneity and creative process of mixing and matching. But as I go
along,
I am making more and more stuff with similar looks and feel, which I will soon package in themes. So stay tuned!
Sun 25 Mar 2001 ::
Mysterious system crash. My scheduled Sunday launch of venetian blinds delayed. Frustrations city...
Sun 18 Mar 2001 ::
It's been a very green week full of water and breezes and leaves and so here you go - a waterfall, a hammock, a betelnut palm, plus some pond lilies for your new landscape garden. These are my personal favorites!
A NOTE on
floating the lilies and waterfalls - first place the objects [mostly cloned
from shrubs] on where and which angle you want them, and then use
the WATER_TOOL command to place water over them. After this, if you try to move these 'floating' stuff around again they will refuse to be placed over water, and you will have to start the water-tool command allover again! So resist touching them after you float them on a pond ok? :)
I created these things for the dream houses I'm supposed to build for my sims but I still don't seem to find time to play the game, oh well at least I have the empathy of my affiliate Jee of newly launched Livinaroundthesims.com [who's "joyously suffering" from the same "object creation compulsive obsessive disorder"???]. But anyway...now I'm going to get back to working on a new, far more detailed FAQ and that long overdue links page! See ya!
Sat 17 Mar 2001 ::
A few really exciting outdoor things will be uploaded on Sunday. Stay tuned....
Sun 11 Mar 2001 ::
Very happy to receive lots of positive feedback about the borderless windows. Thanks thanks thanks. I'm now even more inspired to make a few different ones for next week. :) Stay tuned....
Sat 10 Mar 2001 ::
Made a few new shapes this week. Launched my ideal windows - borderless, transluscent. "Collected" new cultural objects for the new Asian Gallery. The transparency of the windows were particularly difficult to make, especially in getting the relatively distance between objects and sims. But I "saw" these windows from day one and wanted them so badly ad it motivated me to learn these tedious thing called z buffer....It was a long and tedious process but it was worth it. Ok let's not get too technical and just enjoy....!!! :)
Fri 02 Mar 2001 ::
It's been a busy week in real non-Sims life. Still, 10 files are uploaded today, including the frequently requested Chow Yun Fatt [6 straight hours' work] and 9 objects.
It was quite tough deciding which signature
hair style to give Yun Fatt. His Anna & the king crop, or recent special agent look. After some doodling with layers of 'wigs' I eventually settled for his classic 'gambling god' sleek-back look, which looks good going with a suit or godfather type trench coats.
As I dress him for the face shot I
realize I haven't been making clothes for the male sims. Poor fellows, have to put up with Maxis wardrobe. :D Think I'll do that next - back to wardrobe skins. Oh no more stuff to create. But then creation is a never-ending process full of branches and distractions...or other priorities...
Have
decided to create a gallery section to display
the my ever
increasing collection of decorative cultural objects, either based on real artisitc works or my not-accurate-but-quite-alright-anyway impressions. The Asian objects collectors should find this gallery a gem... :)
Wed 28 Feb 2001 :: Went to
Simcity.com
after a long break, and was excited by the number of great BAT works out there. Feel a loss of touch with Simcitying...and itching to get back to BATing again. [gee it's hard to not agree with Terence Mckenna abt the vocabulary-expanding role of computers]
Tue 27 Feb 2001 :: Feeling a little exchausted by the ongoing debates about ownership and copyrights in relation to all Sims related download sites. Since this ain't the first time I discuss intellectual property, I think I should write a specific FAQ just for how I feel about creativity and ownership...
It's a pity that excellent sites do close down due to lack of funding, or simply, morale support and encouragement.
If only most "users" and "audiences" empathise with artists' plight, we wouldn't have to live with a monopolised music industry with overprized CDs. But I shall not bore you here but rant on in my up-and-coming copyright FAQ...
Sun 25 Feb 2001 ::
Stainless steel counter uploaded. Yeah it's been a counters-and-sinks week. Made some interesting murals today. Will load it in awhile...
Fri 23 Feb 2001 ::
Made quite a lot of objects this week, about 30 or so...
Finally,
this Simorphor went into the kitchen: completed two sets of ultra
modern wooden kitchen counters - one stainless steel, one black granite stone. Some nice sinks to go with them too - rustic stone and ceramics. Two new elegant marble top bathroom counter with matching sinks too. The quirky "globe sink" is an off-beat experiment which of course has nothing to do with reality. But it's definitely a good functioning sink! If you don't mind weirdness in your bathroom let me know, I'll upload the rest of the globe sinks. :)
So far, 9 new items files uploaded today. More to be uploaded in the next 3 days.
Took a while to make all these counters : for the bathrooms, I wanted to use the Living Large shape to make one which non-LL people can use. That took some major convertions, and about 3 times as long. From now on, to the non-LL players, I'll just say: go buy LL, it's worth it. Afterall House Party is coming out. There'll be too much catching up to do!
Other site updates : Elevator tutorial notes at the end of the tutorial
The Things section is now organised into categories instead of page numbers. [Note to Sim webmasters who link to Simorphor site : please always link to the html pages on the main menu - these link names won't change, but the sublinks will]
Got
lots of interesting responses the whole of last week - well, yes, as
often, I love feedback! :) Time to have a guest book I guess... As
requested, there will soon be a house download section too. Yes I
know, I know, I'll get back to making faces and skins....!!!!
;)
21 Feb 2001 ::
It's time to network. Two Sims site Affliates to start: Livin' Real, and Moni's Sims. Welcome!
In line with Simorphor's own creative philosophy, Simorphor's now invites sites with a high priority in *originality* and *high quality* objects and skins to be our affiliates. :)
Sun 18 Feb 2001 ::
Dear visiting Sims webmasters : Simorphor has a new design for the logo and link banners. All can be found on banner page. Do update your links page. Thanks!
Sun 18 Feb 2001 ::
I found out during gameplay today that the 2 garden lamps are "yellow" in small zoom. The T-morging mistake has been corrected and please re-download the 2 lamps if you downloaded them on 17 Feb, or before you see this note. Sorry for the inconvenience...
17 Feb 2001 :: Uploaded garden stuff.
And yes, here are the garden rocks. So please don't bug me about
those garden rocks you see in the pictures again! ;) And dear
visiting object makers: maybe you'd empathise with this new
"problem" of mine - the adrenalin rush during the importing process
of Transmorgrifier. Who needs caffeine now!
:D
15 Feb 2001 ::
I can't believe it myself - the Walls & Floors page is finally up. Which also means that my stiffened neck will get a chance to seek out some ostheopathic treatment soon. Walls and floors zipping is...er...as physically stimulating as factory assembly work...
Anyway, after being
deprived by the limitation of existing Sims walls & floors
[which IMO are great in the dramatic way but lacking in the "basics"
area], am happy to have some walls of my specification to play
around with - if I have time left over to play the game in these
creation-obssesed days that is! No I'm not complaining
really, just ranting... At least, those who requested for walls and floors seen in pictures on this site have a section to explore now... :)
Other than that...expect some new faces and skins soon...
10 Feb 2001 :: Please update your bookmark - Simorphor site has her own domain now! www.metamorphor.com/simorphor is now www.SIMORPHOR.com
After hours of file
tranfer, the new location is finally up and running... Pheewww... Moving sites can be like moving house. Simply tedious - especially when Singapore's cable network link to US via China was down for like more than 24 hours. And those cgi rewrites...not exactly the fun part of site maintainence...nag nag nag. And since site moving wasn't exacly cut-and-paste, you may encounter minor hiccups. Keep me informed anyhow...
Good news
to elevator newbies -
the elevator tutorial is uploaded too. A tutorial link is added on the link menu [which point to other tutorials in near future? I'm thinking about it... Suggestions welcome]. While waiting for things to slowly upload I finished making Bjork too. Quite a productive day...
And Simsters, my English is far from perfect so please feel free to feedback typo or lethal grammatical mistakes. Yes thank you Jenn-Jenn for correcting ebony from "ebody" haha....yes of cos that's a typo! :D
After the site moving dust settles, I shall get to uploading some long overdue wall papers and tiles and new Asian "costumes"....
8 Feb 2001 ::
Registered Simorphor.com. Quite relieved that the domain name wasn't taken. Like you're suprised it wasn't taken heehee. Spent 6-7 hours making the elevator tutorial. Since I'm still not a veteran elevator user, I hope my building method works universally...it definitely works perfectly in my two different PCs with different setup.
7 Feb 2001 ::
5 new objects uploaded. Finally made myself some hot tubs I'd love to put in my garden! The Balinese chair could either be a standalone or match with the Borneon teak bench [Silverdreams - hope that answered your request!]. Actually the stone and bamboo tubs are not based on real life models - purely fantasy. :) The chair is a one tile lounge chair and cannot be used a dining chair, though I will get into making some high back Asian dining chairs soon. Lately I've been spending more time making stuff than playing the game. I wonder other how other Sims artists find time to play the game sometimes. Alright...back to making new skins...and that elevator tutorial I promised earlier...later...
20 Jan 2001 ::
Started making the two antique dining chairs and a zen garden last night, and managed to upload during early morning. It's Friday night, and my social meter is at half, but my mood is fine. What does that say.... As usual, being lazy [or just smart depending how you put it hee hee] I make my objects on the original shape so that I don't have to deal with the long and tedious Alpha/Z channels convertion. Still, am looking forward to the day Blueprint becomes fully functional so that we all can make far more precise things. Meanwhile, am feeling quite pleased for being able to "simorph" things more spontaneously and in much shorter time then before...
18 Jan 2001 ::
Added some animated and non-animated Simorphor banners for Sims webmasters to add to their links page. Check out the cute banners! :)
18 Jan 2001 ::
There seems to be a lot of people looking for elevator tutorial, or still can't get their elevators to work after going through existing tutorials. I personally have benefitted from a pretty good tutorial from Simjewel [found here at Links] - I think I'll work on a Simorphor elevator tutorial, if only as one more alternative. But it can only be done after my current "day job project" schedule relaxes...in a week or so.
17 Jan 2001 ::
Created a few polls and quizes for amusement, which can now be found on Musings page. Started this News section to keep my Sims diary and news updates
17 Jan 2001 :: While creating new Asian head meshes and faces, I
observed this : I think if you blend East Asians [Japanese, Northern
Chinese, Koreans] South Asians [Indians, Persians] you get what
resemble South East Asians [Malays, Thais, Philippinos]. There's
also some similarities between South East Asians and the South
American Hispanics, as well as the Pacific Polynesians.
3 Jan 2001 :: Happy New Millennium!
Created a few more new objects and skins on my laptop during the Xmas holiday long flights...not a bad way to kill boredom. Got quite a few emails requesting for specific skins...sorry can't meet all the requests - at the moment I'm only into making celebrity skins that I'm familiar with, especially the universal iconic types. But if there's enough requests for a specific skin I may give it a try.
NEW ASIAN FACES: Check out the new Pan-Asian, East-Asian and South-Asian skins. There are tonnes of Caucasian/ white faces and skins out there, as this game is made and have become popular first in the US. So understandably there's a shortage of medium and dark faces/skins. I hope this "debut shipment" will satisfy the demand, temporarily. More to come.... :)
21 Dec 2000 :: Since my launch on 19 December I've received a lot of encouragement and enthusiasm from some Simsters. Thanks! :)
18 Dec 2000 :: Why such extreme body shapes?
In my opinion, the bodies in The Sims[tm] are of Caucasoid build, except far more extreme than the real modern day Caucasoids in the "fit" department. The "fit" bodies are
beyond supermodel standard, nor do I think it's really fit, especially
when you could easily break the fragile arms of the "fit" female in halves. The otherwise slim yet solid Keanu looks steroid-pumped wearing standard fit male bodies,
and the "fit" female basically looks like.....tortured, surgically-enhanced "fit" bonsai
plants! :)
The skinny sims are possibly the only realistic ones, while
the "fat" people look more like the average folks
on American streets. As the Mongoloids and Polynesoids have different bone structures,
Asians or Hispanics would look mostly underheight or overweight
by The Sims official standard. Jennifer Lopez would be a "plump" diva,
and the super fit Jet Lee an underweight underheight and so on...
On the other hand, a
big
part of game-playing is about
indulging in "unreal" fantasies. The uber body types do exist in
real life: we have shapely femme fatale Angelica Jolie to convincingly play - or at least look Lara Croft. And who knows, The Sims' standard of body shape probably does accurately reflect that of North Amercia,
though it's certainly abnormal for at least 75% of modern human population...
Personally, I would
like my Sims to be a diverse lot, reflecting the reality here in
cosmopolitan Singapore where one third of population are expatriates [of which I'm one]. And then I found Bodywarp and the rest is a mesh-tweeking
story.
All information on this website are copyrighted by Simorphor, Metamorphor.com P. Ltd, and where applicable, Maxis, Electronic Arts Inc unless otherwise stated. All original works by Simorphor, including codes, meshes, bitmaps, htmls, site graphics on Simorphor site are free for PERSONAL USE ONLY, and NOT for public distribution. For public distribution of recolored original Simorphor creations on other sites: please FIRST apply to Simorphor for permission. Have respect for The Sims Community and The Sims Community will return the same. For more information on credits, linking and redistribution please see the Copyright & Distribution FAQ. _______________________________________________________________________________________
