The Sims 3 as a Machinima Tool . . .

*** UPDATE 04/11/2012 *** Since this posting is still receiving attention, I thought it appropriate to bring it current, since it was first published two and a half years ago. As it is well known, a lot can happen in that length of time. 

Although I am currently not creating any machinima, I still feel obligated to address my earlier opinions.

So much of what we "feel" about things is closely connected to how familiar we are to those things, and so, when abandoning the old for the new, there is always a measure of reluctance or unwillingness to accept the new over the old. The Sims2 had captured the majority of my life back then, and even today there are things about that game generation I miss.  But, "after all is said and done", the newest generation of the Sims game offers better and more interesting game play than Sims2 did.

As I had suggested in the original post, time would tell and bring us more options and objects with expansions. The Sims3 engine does allow for better in-game creating, especially with landscaping, and this is definitely a plus for machinimators using this engine. I'm still not convinced that a seamless neighborhood is an advantage with this particular engine, because, depending on your PC's capabilities, the rendering of neighboring lots takes time to load. There is the capability in "settings" to adjust the degree of detail of rendered lots, but with greater detail comes the demand for better performance. Even the higher-performing machines can sometimes have difficulty adjusting to the demands this places on the processor.

This newest generation offers better and more varied animations for the Sims, which in turn would allow for more options in story-telling. However, I am still unhappy with the way the Sims walk in the Sims3 engine. 

The only other draw-back, I see, in Sims3 vs. Sims2 as a machinima tool is that the Sims3 still does not have near the amount of custom content available to it as does its predecessor.

 *** The original post ***

With the release of Electronic Arts' third generation of the popular video game, "The Sims" (relevantly titled, "The Sims3"), we are back to taking baby steps, both as players and machinimators. A couple of months ago, I had posted a thread, hoping to receive some advice and/or criticism on TS3 (the Sims 3) as it pertains to making machinima. Unfortunately, there was not much response, and one member suggested that if I needed custom content in order to make a video that it might be best if I wait for custom content to be created before I made an investment in the new game.
In addressing that point, I'd like to point out that I don't "need" custom content in order to create a piece of machinima with TS3, but I "choose" to use custom content, and I am elaborating on this point because there is something to be learned here ...
If you are the type of artist or video director that places emphasis on creating mood and atmosphere in your machinima, you will not be able to achieve the desired mood or atmosphere without the use of custom content.
A good example of this can be supported by the picture above. The photo is taken directly out of gameplay in TS3. Notice the hair texture. In the second generation game, the hair was animated, giving a more realistic flare to the game and to what videos were made with TS2. But, in the above picture, the toddler has a hair texture provided by the game, and the mother's hair is made with custom textures. Though not animated, the mother's hair has more character and realism than the toddler's.

OK ... moving on ... having received very little feedback to my question, and having had been unsuccessful finding much information at the time about the comparison of the two generation games for the purpose of machinima, I bought the game, installed it, and I have been playing it.
And it does seem that the more I play it, the more I miss the older generation, The Sims2. I'm hoping I will enjoy the new generation more as expansion packs are released, providing better dynamics to the game.

And as I played, the more evident it became that the lack of custom content was just the tip of the iceberg. There seems to be more bugs with this new generation than with the last one, and the bugs from the last version have resurfaced in the new version. You would think EA could sort out the lazy coding by now. The most annoying thing is the pathing problem, and I did a little experiment and discovered that the way the sims move into the path of another sim seems to be a deliberate action coded into the game.

So, I found myself back to square one, trying to get this new game "set up" to my liking, but without the availability of "hacks" to fix things. I spent three days searching for a "censor patch", because that mosaic blur is just down right annoying. Thankfully, that patch is now easy to find and is now on Mod the Sims, for those of you just getting your feet wet with TS3.

There is an unnatural gait with the way the sims walk in TS3 which makes the sims look more like computer-generated avatars and less like humans, and there are not nearly the number of interactions that were offered by the last version. Perhaps, that is something that will also be fixed with time and the release of new EPs (expansion packs). One of things that really disappoints me and greatly affects movie-making is that sims do not get in or get out of vehicles. They go to the curb, a vehicle appears, the sim disappears from the curb and reappears in the vehicle. A nice new feature is the bicycle, but the sim does not get on or off ... it is the same process as the vehicles.

I think what I miss the most from the older version are the different seasons and snow. There are other things missing ... NO POOL TABLES! I loved the pool tables. Here is a list of things that aren't in the new generation game (as I am able to recall) ...
-- Seasons and weather
-- Pets, vampires, witches, zombies ... etc.
-- Pool table, card table, dart board, hot tub

-- Swimming in the ocean ... or beach activities
-- Diving board or slide
-- "Woohoo" on sofa or cars (basically woohoo only happens in the bed ... except for the rare occurrence which must be triggered by game play.
-- Vacations

As far as playing the game goes ... we're back to the grind of skilling and making friends in order to further your careers, and then raising a family. There really isn't much variety available. Again, maybe this will fix itself with time and EPs. I should mention here the introduction of the "rabbit holes". I'm not too thrilled with this. It has changed the dynamics of commercial lots and how sims interact with those lots. On a commercial lot with "rabbit holes", the sim enters the rabbit hole (which is a structure, like a building that is an object) and then disappears from view. The sim remains out of view until the desired task is completed and then pops back into view outside of the structure. There still remains the ability for the user to create a building or function on a commercial lot, but the lots in a neighborhood are predetermined and defined. And, when building your commercial lot, you are limited to what is available. For example, you can build a restaurant, but you won't have the NPCs like cooks or servers. Or, you can build a bar, but there won't be any bartenders or pool tables, etc. Not much of a bar, if you know what I mean. You can build a shop, but you don't have things like mannequins or cash registers, etc. and sims don't buy things like clothing. They buy groceries and books, but they buy these things in the rabbit hole shops.

Now, it's not all bad. The seamless neighborhood is a nice touch, but I don't think it really aids or detracts from creating a video. And the water is absolutely beautiful and very nicely animated. The trees are animated, and, in fact, the detailing with all the outdoor plants is very nice, and will definitely be a plus with video creation. The biggest plus is the ability to recolor almost every item in the game. There are some things which can't be recolored from within the game, such as stairs, fences and chimneys, but everything else can be changed by the user, and that is definitely a huge plus!
Once you get used to the new ways things are built and manipulated, building is actually easier in this version, and more things can be accomplished.
Another nice touch are the birds, clouds, and angle of the sun and moon, all moving in "real time". This is most definitely a feature that will enhance movie-making.
I am a bit clueless as to what they were thinking over there at EA when they coded the infants, because they look like "papooses", and they are not well animated. However, the toddlers have been improved, with more animation and abilities. And this is where I have to end things, as none of my families have progressed beyond having toddlers. Perhaps I can update once my toddlers graduate to children.