#recolouring tutorial

STEP 0: OPEN YOUR B&W PICTURE IN PHOTOSHOP (file > open) AND YOUR REFERNCE PICTURE

we start of by using a reference photo photo with similar lighting as a reference for the skin tone. This process won't be needing to do contouring cause adjustments in gradient map and blending will ensure highlights and dark tones.

I was too lazy to remove teh allure mark so i just coloured the without watermark photo @iiasha posted. thankyou zero<3

STEP 1: MAKING SKIN TONE PALETTE WITH A REFERENCE PICTURE

Pick colours from different tonal values. I'd suggest one colour of skin from each of the degree of contrast; different levels of brightness from the ref picture.

here's something basic about tonal value.

darkest being called blacks and lightest being called whites.

Go to brush tool and set its size according to you and its hardness to full. Make sure your Sample Size settings are set at 5 by 5 per average and Sample is set at All Layers.

With Brush tool selected, Press ALT and you'll see a colour picker, select a colour ; use that brush to make a swatches on any place on the b&w photo so that its easy to access during gradient map.

Select the marquee tool and select the palette and press CTRL + J / CMND + J. this will create a new layer which you can later delete after you're done using the palette.

STEP2: MAKING GRADIENT MAP WITH THE SKIN TONE PALETTE

go to adjustment layers and select Gradient Map. Make sure your palette layer is above the gradient map layer. If not, the it'll become a part of the gradient map and we don't want that since we will be using it for sampling.

click on the small bottom left square, it will open up a colour picker. Select "whites" from the Reference skin tone palette. Select "blacks" from the ref palette. You don't necessarily have to stick with the palette you created. Sometimes, to may be too extreme because in the end it is from a different photo. To adjust the skin tone, you can play with the tones according to your wish.

Now, the gradient may look pretty dark. Select Gradient Map layer and set its blending as "COLOUR".

To add more colour to the skin, you can adjust saturation of each colour too. Select the small box who's colour you want to change and it will open a colour picker, on the right side you can see Hue, Saturation, etc. You can play with both the Bars

The skin tone still looks very unrealistic. To manage that we will edit the layer style. Now, right click Gradient Map layer and Select Blending Options.

If you try to adjust directly with left & right triangle cursors, it will be too extreme. Photoshop allows us to break each of these cursors into two. Press ALT and click on the Triangle cursor and it will split it into two parts. These settings may defer from picture to picture.

STEP3: PAINTING THE SKIN WITH GRADIENT MAP INVERTED MASK

Select the White part on the gradient map layer and click CTRL + I / CMND + I to turn the mask into an inverted mask. The mask will turn black. It looks like we came back to square one, doesn't it? Don't worry! We just turned on inverted mask for us to colour the skin.

Select your brush tool again and start painting/colouring the skin parts. It's okay if you went out of lines. We can easily correct it by erasing the colour that went out of lines. Smaller the eraser, precise the colouring looks after touching up. i'd suggest Kyle's Eraser- natural edge or Soft brush Eraser.

adjust more of skin tone by using Selective Colour adjustment layer and playing with reds and yellows.

reds: +10, +7, +9, -56 | blacks: 0,0,0, +11 | whites: 0,0, -48, +3 | yellows: -43, -10, +5, +29

To darken the Vest and Hair just increase blacks in the Black Colour in Selective colour.

COLOURING THE LIPS & CLOTHES

LIPS

Select Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and turn on inverted layer mask with ctrl + i / cmnd + i and tick Colourise in properties of the layer so that it's the actual colour and not a colour influenced by the gradient map colours.

Select your lip colour and you can lighten or darken it with Lightness bar and adjust the saturation with Saturation bar.

my settings were: HUE= 0 (red), SATURATION= 70, LIGHTNESS= -27

CLOTHES

with the same process as of colouring the lips, mask the clothes and socks part with Hue/Saturation inverted mask and adjust the colour of the clothes according to your linking by playing with Hue, Saturation and Lightness.

To change overall settings of the picture, use Brightness/Contrast and/or Selective Colour. I added more brightness and increased the contrast a little too.

One upside of this method is that you don’t have to re-mask or re-colour if you want to change colours, you can just play with the Hue and change the colour. So, no double work!

if the Skin tone seems very yellow-ish you can use Red PhotoFilter (50% opacity) and colour on the skin using inverted mask again.

FINAL OUTCOME

if youre done with your whole colouring process and still want to change colour, of example clothes; just play with hue/saturation adjustment layer and blending mode ! Ta-Da you have your new colour.

STEP 1 - preparing your image

if there are any imperfections, now’s the time to get rid of them. use the marquee tool (1) to select the part you want to erase (2), go to edit > content aware fill (3) and let photoshop do it’s thing.

STEP 2 - selecting areas to colour

grab the polygonal lasso tool (1) and create a new layer (2), then zoom in and go to town selecting the area you want to colour (3).

STEP 2.5 - continue to select areas

using the multiple selection tool (1) continue to select more areas to colour with the same shade (2).

STEP 3 - filling in your selection

while making sure you’re on your new layer, go to edit > fill (1), select “colour” using the drop down menu (2), and select your first shade. you’ll want to go darker than the colour you want to end up with (3).

STEP 4 - adjusting the layer 

now we’re going to change the layer blending style to “colour”. This is also a great time to reselect your areas and adjust the fill colour as needed.

STEP 5 - optional step for more colour adjustments

if you can’t get the desired shade with the initial layer you can duplicate it (1), change the blending style to multiply (2), and lower to opacity (3). Once again feel free to reselect your areas and adjust the shade as needed.

STEP 6 - adjustment layers

1. Open your picture in Photoshop

If you’d like to set a certain canvas size, you can do so by going to File > New and keying in the appropriate sizes in the fields. Then, drag in your picture from the folder you saved it on.

Alternatively, you can open your picture first, then crop it (Ctrl / Command + C). To do so, drag your picture directly into Photoshop, or go to File > Open and locate your picture.

Tip: Use the Ruler tool to help align your picture better.

Press Ctrl / Command + R to enable the rulers on your workspace. Go to View > New Guide and set the sizes to your liking. 

2. Removing unwanted blemishes (optional)

If you’d like to do any photo editing (e.g. removing text, adjusting brightness, etc.), now is the time to do it. If not, you can skip this step.

Since this photo has text on it, we’re going to remove it with the Spot Healing Brush (J) tool. Press the letter ‘J’ key on your keyboard to get it, or you can click on the band-aid icon on the sidebar.

If you don’t see the band-aid, don’t worry! It might appear as one of the other icons shown below. Just right click on it and select the Spot Healing Brush tool.

Q: I got a pop-up telling me to rasterize my layer. Is that normal? A: Yes, it is! Rasterizing your layer/picture just means that you’re converting that layer to pixels, which is necessary to use many Photoshop tools.

After selecting the tool, just paint over the area with text. You may have to paint over it a few times to remove it completely.

3. The Colouring Process

Wait, so quickly? Yep. 

Now it’s time to rely on your eyesight, your colour perception and hopefully the 2 to 3 hours you set aside to colour this picture. Perhaps grab a snack and go for a quick toilet break first 😅

I’m kidding! You’re free to take as many breaks as you want, but I’m not kidding about how time consuming this process is.

3a. Setting the Colour Palette

Since it’s a black and white picture, you have free rein on the colours used. It’s completely up to your taste and preferences.

Create a blank layer by clicking on the ‘New Layer’ (+) icon at the bottom right of the Layers tab.

Select a white colour (#ffffff) for the foreground colour and then click on the Paint Bucket tool. Click on the blank layer to “paint” it white. This will help your colour palette stand out more.

Use the Marquee Tool (M) to create little squares on the white layer. Use the Paint Bucket to fill each square with the colours you use throughout the process. Create a text layer (T) and indicate what you used that colour for.

Place all the text layers and colour palette into a group (the folder icon beside the ‘New Layer’ button). Click the eyeball beside it to hide / reveal the group.

Q: Can I skip out on this step? A: You can, but remember that if you are painting and accidentally revert the colours back to default, you will not be able to get back the same colour exactly.

Q: What if I use the eyedropper tool? A: You will pick up shades of grey from the original picture as well. The only way would be to isolate the coloured layer and then use the eyedropper tool, which might be troublesome if you have many layers.

3b. Colouring the Skin

Above the black and white picture, create a new layer. Set the blending mode to ‘Multiply’.

Select a suitable skin tone colour in the colour swatch panel. Then switch to Brush mode (B) and start painting over the exposed skin area(s). Make sure that your brush has a hardness of 80% and over so that the edges won’t look fuzzy.

This part of the process is the one that takes a lot of time, especially if you are a perfectionist. Don’t give up!! You got this! :)

3c. Contouring

This step is optional, but it will give your picture more depth so I highly recommend it!

The method is the same as in 3b, but there are some changes you have to make. Firstly, create two new blank layers and name them ‘shadow’ and ‘highlight’.

On the ‘shadow’ layer, use the colour picker to select a colour LIGHTER than your chosen skin colour. Change the blending mode to ‘Multiply’.

On the ‘highlight’ layer, use the colour picker to select a colour DARKER than your chosen skin colour. Change the blending mode to ‘Soft Light’.

If the shadow and/or highlight is still too harsh, you can select different colours or turn down the layer’s opacity. Alternatively, you can change the brush hardness to ≤ 20% for a softer contour.

Q: Why do we pick a lighter colour for shadows? A: The ‘Multiply’ blending mode lays one colour on top of another, making it darker. Choosing a dark colour for your contours would make the shadows way too dark.

A: Similarly, the ‘Soft Light’ blending mode makes the colour on that layer really bright. If you were to pick a light colour for it, it would overpower the layer underneath it.

3d. Colouring the Rest of the Picture.

Yes, very few steps, but incredibly time consuming.

Now that you know the basics of how to colour grayscale pictures (steps 3b and 3c), you have creative freedom to colour the rest of the picture!

Play around with the colours, shades and opacity levels to achieve the desired outcome. 

Q: What if I have coloured the whole picture but am not satisfied with the colours? Is there a way for me to change the colours without redoing it? A: Yes! Depending on which part of the picture you would like to change, there are different methods.

The picture on the left is just the plain colouring.

The picture in the middle has a Levels adjustment layer added to increase contrast, giving the picture more depth. The adjustment layer was added above ALL the other layers.

The picture on the right has changed the cardigan’s colour from green to purple. To change the hue of a specific layer, click on that layer (in this case, the cardigan layer).

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (Ctrl/Command + U) and drag the slider until it lands on a colour you like.

4. TL;DR

Key takeaways from this tutorial:

Take note of colours used for specific areas.

Change layer blending mode from ‘Normal’ to ‘Multiply’ before painting over the image.

Brush hardness ≥ 80% (≤ 20% for contours)

Light colours for shadows + ‘Multiply’ blending mode.

Dark colours for highlights + ‘Soft Light’ blending mode.

Adjustment layers will affect everything below it.

Go to Image > Adjustments > … to edit specific layers.

And that’s it! 

You’ve come to the end of this tutorial. I hope this has given you a good idea of how to colour grayscale pictures :)

Honestly hairs are the easiest thing to recolour ever. You don’t need to change the base and you only have to work with one layer the vast majority of the time.

I’m writing for Windows. I’ve never used a Mac before and I intend to never use one either.

You’ll need: 

Photoshop (I suppose it would work with Gimp? But I’ve never really learnt how to use that program, only PS and PSP. I think most actions are for Photoshop though) There are links for it flying around simblr. I have a version I got years ago though, so maybe some things will look differently in my screenshots

DDS Plugin for Photoshop

Sims 4 Studio (registration required)

A palette. You can make your own or download one like Noodles Sorbets. I’ll be writing specifically for Noodles, but generally this will work the exact same way for other palettes.

A hair mesh, obv

Once you have everything downloaded and organised in whatever way you prefer and is easily accessible it’s time to get started!

Creating the Package and Exporting Textures

If this is your first time using Sims 4 Studio, then you will need to open and set it up first, including entering your creator name in the bottom right. Put the hair package in the S4S Mod folder. Normally this can be found under Documents -> Sims 4 Studio -> Mods. And also put the s4spalette files of your chosen palette in Documents -> Sims 4 Studio -> Palettes.

Open S4S (or close and open it if it’s still open, you need to refresh it every time after adding new files).For creating a hair recolour the only area that is of interest for you is this:

Create CAS Standalone means the swatches will be displayed separate from the mesh ones in game. You’ll have two items in CAS.

Add CAS Part Swatch means the swatches will be added on to the ones in the mesh file. So only one item in CAS.

Standalones are mildly easier to create, but, in my opinion, clutter CAS up (they also require a custom thumbnail to not look weird). I’m going to explain how to make addons, but standalone are technically the same, minus all the steps in the Warehouse tab.

Alright, after selecting Add CAS Part Swatch and pressing the CAS button you’ll be greeted by a list of all EA CAS things and the custom ones you’ve put into the S4S mods folder. If you don’t want the EA stuff switch Content from All to Custom in the filter bar. You can also just use the search bar by typing in the name of the hair you want to recolour.

Shift-click one of the swatches and it will select all the ones that belong to the same hair.

Optimizing…

Press next and S4S will prompt you to name the new package. I usually create its own folder for it and go with the naming scheme of MyName Creator Filename Palette, just to be able to search for it easily in my merge folder.

Afterwards this screen should pop up.

Click on the Dirty Blond swatch (which in this case is #8) and press export under the Texture field (make sure it’s on Diffuse, but it should be there by default). Save as dds. I usually name it base.

Recolouring the Textures

Now it’s time to switch over to Photoshop! Open your base. Load Using Default Sizes and with alpha. If you haven’t already load in the palette actions. Double click the actions file or in the Actions window (top bar, Windows -> Action, or Alt+F9) press the four bars with an arrow next to them and select Load Actions and select the action.

Click on Tutti Frutti and then on the little play button at the bottom. Let the action do it’s thing with the Dirty Blond base. It should now be pink.

Go to File -> Save As or press Shift+Control+S. I usually name them in the order of the swatch order. So Tutti Frutti “1.dds”, Strawberry “2.dds″, Rose “3.dds”, Pomegranate “4.dds”, Himalayan Salt “5.dds”…. it’ll make importing into S4S later easier.

Save with these settings.

You’ve got your first swatch texture done! Now do the same thing with all the other colours. 

Creating a Batchaction

To make this process a lot quicker in the future you can create a batch action. Meaning you’ll automate this entire process by creating your own action telling Photoshop what to do when. You have to create your own and can’t download one because the saving process is linked to your computer’s folders.

There are multiple ways to do this, but I will show you mine. It requires for the base to always be the same name. As before I recommend “base.dds”.In the action window click this little eared paper thing to get started.

You’ll know it’s recording when the record icon is red. You can always pause the recording by pressing the stop button and resume later by clicking the last step in the action and pressing record. That is also how you edit actions.

Once you have the unedited base open, record is on, you’re ready to get started on your batch action.Like before, play the Tutti Frutti action, let it play, and save. But this time save it in a folder created just for dds files, not specific to one hair. For example make a folder in your Recolours folder called “DDS Files” or “Textures”. Mine’s called “Hair” from when I only did hair.

After it’s finished saving go to your History window (top bar, Window -> History) and select the top most snapshot, it should have the name of your base.

And do the same thing with the next colour, Strawberry. Keep record on for all of this. You’ll see your new action slowly be built on the side.

Keep recording until you’ve saved all 76 swatches.

Now for future hairs you only need to open the base.dds and play your created batch action. Photoshop will do all the action playing and saving for you. All you need to do then is go to your texture folder once it’s done and transfer the dds files to the folder of the hair you’re working on.

Importing Textures to S4S

Once you have all the textures it’s time to go back to S4S. Open your file through “My Projects” in case you closed it.Select the Warehouse tab, which you can find under the menu bar, select the last CAS Part file on the left and on the right scroll down until you find SecondaryDisplayIndex.

You’re doing this to find out what the highest number of SDI is in the file, which is where the new swatches will start adding on. In this case 90. It’s 90 for nearly all hairs unless they have more than the standard EA swatches (the normal number of swatches is 18), so usually you don’t have to check this for every hair. You can just assume it’s 90.

Go back to the studio tab and delete all swatches except for one with “Remove Swatch” on the right.Now back to the Warehouse tab change the Secondary Display Index of that swatch to something higher than 90. 91 would work, 95 is the standard format cause it usually goes on in increments of 5, 96 is the recommended number for Sorbets.

Back to the Studio tab add swatch and remove the old one, just to be safe that S4S will work with the new index number.

In the menu bar go to Tools -> Color Palette.

Since you’re doing hair select the “Sorbets Remix - Hair” and press “Apply Palette to Package”.S4S will import the palette into the package and then prompt you if you want to keep the extra swatch. You can press either Yes or No. Personally I usually go with Yes and then remove the swatch manually because this gets rid of any order problems S4S sometimes throws at me.