Game guide:Headshots of Sims

This tutorial is only relevant to The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4.

This tutorial will tell you how to get those high-quality, amazing accurate headshots of Sims in The Sims 2, 3 and 4, commonly found on many articles on The Sims Wiki.

Please note that it's recommended you use .png for headshots as .png is lossless.

The Sims 2 Headshots

Here is how you can get headshots for The Sims 2.

Step One

Save your Sim or Pet and make sure that they are either in the family bin or moved in to a residence.

Step Two

Install and/or run SimPE. SimPE can be downloaded here.

Step Three

Click on the Tools tab -> Neighborhood -> Neighborhood Browser. This can also be achieved by typing Ctrl+Shift+N.

Step Four

Select the neighborhood in which the desired Sim or Pet resides and click "Accept".

Step Five

From the Resource Tree (left-hand side of screen), click on "Sim Description" and find the desired Sim or Pet from the list.

Step Six

Select the More tab -> Open Character File from the Plugin View (bottom of screen)

Step Seven

From the Resource Tree, click on "jpg/tga/png Image" and select the image in the Resource List (there may be more that one image)

Step Eight

In the Picture Viewer, select "Export" on the right hand side, and save the picture in your folder.

Enjoy your headshots!

The Sims 3 Headshots

Here is how you can get headshots for The Sims 3.

Online Method

IMPORTANT!: You must have a Sims 3 account, if not please go here and register to get one: here

Step One

You want to make sure you are in CAS mode, here you will find the button to save and upload that Sim.

Look closely at this picture, at the bottom you will find that button and see the "Share Sim or Pet" action option. Click there and your Sim will be uploaded to your loader in a couple of seconds.

Step Two

Look for your Sim or Pet in the Uploads section and check the box next to their picture (make sure you are logged in). It will take a few seconds to be uploaded to your account on the account on the Sims 3 website, make sure your logged on there too.

If you can not find your Sim then try the process over again from the beginning or the site maybe on a maintenance schedule, it happens sometimes be patient.

Step Three

When that is all done you will have to log on to your account on the website (if you already did than good for you).

Hover at the top to the link saying "My Page" at go down to "My Studio", this is where you will find your headshot.

Now there it is! Only...it is a bit small and we want it a bit bigger. No matter, click on that small little headshot and it will follow on to the next page where it is bigger.

Right click on to that headshot and save it.

REMINDER!: When you save your picture, please do not save it with a generic name like "Screenshot" or with random numbers. Instead use your Sim's name, for example :"Headshot of Plumbbob Smith" or "Plumbbob Smith". The Sims Wiki does not allow generic file names to be uploaded.

Step Four

Now all that is done you can upload them to the wiki and place them on your Sim's page!

Remember to license your picture! It is located when you click the "More Options" link.

Happy Uploading!

Offline Method

Of course, for whatever reason you wish NOT to make an account with Sims 3, Fear not, there are other ways to extract the headshots.

Step One

Save the Sim, just as you would with the online method, with one exception: Instead of "Share Sim (or Pet)", press the "Save Sim (or Pet)".

Step Two

Run s3pe. s3pe can be downloaded here. Troubleshooting coming soon.

Step Three

When s3pe is opened, go to the File tab -> Open, and from there go to the directory Document -> Electronic Arts -> Sims 3 -> SavedSims. However, from there, it will display nothing, but by changing the "File of Type" option from "DBPF Packages" to "All files", you should be able to access the saved Sim. If you have named the sim before saving, the file should bear the sim's name.

Step Four

Having opened the file, you will get a list of files. To find what you need, first sort the files by the tag name by clicking on the tag tab, which will sort it in alphabetical order. Scroll until you get to the SNAP tags, which will hold what you want.

How it should look like: Notice the SNAP at the tag category.

Step Five

Once you have found the SNAP file that contains the headshot, right click on the item on the list, and then go Export -> To File. When saving, ENSURE to end the exported file with either a .png or .jpg: failure to do so will make the file inaccessible for immediate use.

Step Six (If you have forgotten to add the extension)

In the Win7, go to the Control Panel and select the Folder Option icon (if viewing Large Icon). Go to the View tab, and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types," then rename your exported file by adding either .png or .jpg behind it.

Step Seven (or Six)

PROFIT!

Optional: Making background of headshots black (or any non-transparent color)

This is only possible with headshots exported the s3pe way.

Exported headshots from s3pe has its background transparent. If you want to make the background of headshots black instead of white/transparent, it's possible with a few editing using a picture editing program such as GIMP. Unfortunately, headshots exported the online way has its background solid and thus, this is only possible with the offline way.

Step 1

Open the image in your favorite picture editing program

Step 2

Add a layer

Step 3

Move the layer so that it's below the sim's headshot

Step 4

Fill the layer with black (or any other color)

Step 5

Export the image and save as either .jpg or .png 

Step 6

Voila! You can now upload the now black background headshot to the wiki.

How to take family pictures

Step 1

Open s3pe

Step 2

Access the Open menu. Then go to the Sims 3 folder, by default located at Documents -> Electronic Arts. Then open the Library folder.

The Sims 4 Headshots

Here is how you can get headshots for The Sims 4.

In-game, make sure the game has generated the headshot of your Sim as desired, i.e. the Sim was played in the Fine emotion, or appears in the relationship panel of your played Sim. In this tutorial, however, we'll use the Sim in a Miserable (Very Uncomfortable) emotion.

Step Two

Run s4pe. s4pe can be downloaded here. Troubleshooting coming soon.

Step Three

When s4pe is opened, go to the File tab -> Open, and from there go to the directory Document -> Electronic Arts -> Sims 4 -> localthumbcache. This file saves all the thumbnails the game has generated, including, hopefully, the desired headshot.

The headshot as found in localthumbcache.

Step Four

Having opened the file, you will get a list of files. To find what you need, first sort the files by clicking on the instance tab, which will sort it in numerical order. Scroll until you find what you want.

Note the blur surrounding the Sim. This may occur when exporting the file, yet not when copying the image.

Step Five

Once you have found the file that contains the headshot, right click on the item on the list, and then go Export -> To File. When saving, ENSURE to end the exported file with either a .png or .jpg: failure to do so will make the file inaccessible for immediate use.

It may happen that choosing Export -> To File will not get a quality image. If this happens, right click on the image itself and choose Copy. Now the image can be pasted into an image-editing program and saved normally.

Enjoy your headshot!

The same procedure can also be used to save family portraits and object thumbnails.

 

This tutorial was a Featured Game guide in January 2013. Its layout and content is an example of excellence on The Sims Wiki.