The Sims 3 Create-a-Sim Guide
by Norma Blackburn
| Create-a-Sim | Hair | Looks | Clothing | Personality |
Hair Tab
When we first open the hair tab, we are presented with the choice of four sub selections for male Sims and two sub selections for female Sims. The default selection is basic hair followed by eyebrows and eyelashes, facial hair and finally body hair. Facial hair is only available for male Sims aged teen and up and body hair is only available for male Sims aged young adult or older.
Basic Hair
1. Outfit selection: By default when you select a hairstyle it is used for all outfits that the Sim wears. You can however unlock hairstyles so that you can choose a different hairstyle to be used for each outfit. To select what outfit the hairstyle is used with, go to the clothing tab and select everyday, formal or whatever you want. When you come back in to the hair tab, your selection will be reflected on the outfit selection.
2. Plain hair: Click this to select hairstyles with no accessories. This selection will include some ponytails that use plain bands.
3. Hair with accessories: Clicking this will give you a selection of hairstyles with hats or other accessories.
4. Lock hairstyles: If you click this, the icon changes to a partly opened padlock and you can select a different hairstyle for each outfit. If you click it again to close the padlock, whatever hairstyle was showing at the time will be the hairstyle used for all outfits.
5. Show custom content only: If you have custom hairstyles, clicking this will hide all EA created hair and show only the custom hairstyles.
6. Library: This is where all available hairstyles will be shown. Just click on a style to select it. Styles available will vary depending on what expansion or stuff packs you have or store and custom content you may have installed.
7. Delete saved hairstyle: This is only available when you have recolored and saved a hairstyle. It is also only available for hairstyle with accessories.
8. Share Hairstyle: Only available when you recolor and save a hairstyle with an accessory.
9. Save preset: Allows you to save a recolored hairstyle with an accessory.
10. Enter Create A Style: Allows you to recolor hair accessories on the selected hair style.
11. Hair color: Select your basic hair color here. This is also where any saved hair colors will show up.
12. Delete saved hairstyle: Delete any unwanted saved hair colors.
13. Share Hair Color: Available once you have saved a hair color.
14. Change color: From here you can change the color of hair including roots, tips and highlights.
Change Hair Color
The color of all hair can be changed using the change color option. You can use color swatches or custom colors using the color wheel. Head hair and facial hair also have the extra options to change the color of roots, tips and highlights. When we select the change color button, we are presented with the following screen (note that the color wheel is what you see when you click the color wheel button).
The top image on this screen shows what color certain parts of the hair will be. Click on the circle to select it, then choose the color from the selection below. For this example, I've chosen quite distinct colors to easily show the differences. Root, tips and highlight colors are not available for eyebrows or body hair.
1. Roots: This would be your Sims natural color.
2. Base: This is the main body of hair.
3. Highlights: This will color selected pieces of hair as accents.
4. Tips: Use this to color just the tips of the hairs.
5. Swatches: This tab gives you basic color selections. If you click a color here it will change whatever section of hair you have selected in the top field.
6. Color Wheel: You are not restricted to basic colors. Select the color wheel to choose whatever color you want for hair. You can use the wheel and slider below to select the color or you can put an RGB value in for very specific colors.
7. Save Color Preset: Once you have a hair color you are happy with, you can save it. Once saved, it will show up in with the other hair colors on the basic tab.
8. Cancel: If you decide you don't want to change the hair color after all, cancelling will revert the color back to the original.
9. Accept: This will accept any changes for this Sim. Don't forget to save the color preset if you want to use the hair color again.
Eyebrows and Eyelashes
1. Show Custom Content Only: If you have any custom content, select this to show only the custom content.
2. Library: All available eyebrows will be displayed here, including any custom content you may have installed.
3. Match Root Hair Color: If this is checked, eyebrows will be the same color that you selected for the root color. If unchecked, you can select a color from the choices below.
4. Color choices: Here you will see basic color selections for eyebrows. You can only select a color from here if the match root color box is unchecked. Any saved eyebrow colors will also be displayed here.
5. Delete: Deletes a saved eyebrow color when selected.
6. Change Color: Clicking this will bring up the color swatches as it does for hair color.
7. Eyelash Length: Use the slider to adjust the length of eyelashes.
Facial Hair
1. Show Custom Content Only: If you have any custom content, select this to show only the custom content facial hair choices.
2. Library: All available facial hair choices will be here. Scroll through to select which you want. Note that the first choice in the top left spot is an X. Clicking on this will remove any facial hair that you have added.
3. Match Root Hair Color: If this is checked, facial hair will be the same color that you selected for the root color. If unchecked, you can select a color from the choices below.
4. Color choices: Here you will see basic color selections for facial hair. You can only select a color from here if the match root color box is unchecked. Any saved facial hair colors will also be displayed here.
5. Delete: Deletes a saved facial hair color when selected. This feature is only available for saved colors.
6. Share: Exports a saved facial hair color. This feature is only available for saved colors.
7. Change color: Clicking this will bring up the color swatches as it does for hair color.
Body Hair
The body hair tab is only available for male Sims aged from young adult up. From this tab, you can add body hair on the chest and stomach, the back, arms and legs. Select the area you want to add hair to, next, choose a sub selection to determine what part of that area you want to add hair to and finally select the hair type. Body hair can also be colored.
1. Chest: Select this button and you will be given sub selections for adding hair to the upper chest and the stomach. You can select hair from either sub selection, or you can select from both.
2. Back: This button will give sub selections to add hair to the upper back, full back and lower back. You can choose a hair type from both the upper and lower back at the same time, however, choosing hair from the full back range will remove any other back hair.
3. Arms: This will give you hair to add to the arms. There are no sub selections for arms.
4. Legs: Selecting legs will give you sub selections for calves and feet. You can select one from both sub selections at the same time.
5. Sub selections: Here you will see the sub selection buttons for the area you are adding hair to. Note that there are no sub selections for the arms.
| Create-a-Sim | Hair | Looks | Clothing | Personality |
