**As of April 2012, this tutorial has become obsolete. To use this feature without going through tedious steps, please use this great mod.**This is a copy-paste of a tutorial I've done on another forum. I thought it was helpful information, and since there are so many creative people here, I'm sure it will be nice for them to know this trick if they don't already.
Intended for NRaas TheAnimator & The Pose Player users. This tutorial assumes that you already have knowledge of both mods, which means it does NOT teach you how to use them. For that, go to each mod's respective page.What is and why this tutorial?This small tutorial is for those who want to have more control on the setting when using sims in screenshots. With NRaas Animator and it's "Look here" feature, players have a very versatile tool in creating machinimas and photos. Cmomoney later created the Pose Player, which allowed custom poses to be made. While the latter allows a lot of creative work to emerge, the poses are completely fixed, which means you can't choose where the point of focus of your sim is, where they look at, and therefore, it could make some custom poses less useable and versatile than it should. This could be considered an annoying limitation to those who are quite perfectionists, like myself, when it comes to taking pictures for stories and such.
However, after trying a few things with both mods, I found out it's possible, through an easy but tedious process, to use the Animator's "Look here" feature with most of custom poses. It has its limitations and issues too, but it's still worth a shot. Here's a step by step on how to do it, what works, what doesn't and why. I'll use Ikura (the ganguro girl with the bleached hair) and Wakana (scene hair) as guinea pigs.
Using the "Look Here" feature of the Animator for the Pose Player1. With the Pose Player, enter the desired custom pose through Pose by NameIt's
very important to enter the pose through "Pose by Name" instead of choosing "Select Post From List". All this will be clear later.
After you've entered the desired pose name, click accept, and then
cancel the pose interaction. This will keep the pose saved so you can access it immediately with "Use Current Pose" later. This is necessary for this to work.
2. With the Animator, select a random idle pose to animateDo
NOT cancel the animation immediately like you did with previously with the pose. The animation you choose can be anything, but choosing an idle one (one that makes the sim stand the stillest, such as facial animations) assures your success more.
3. Use the "Look here" feature of the AnimatorChoose where you want the sim to look at. It could be a specific sim, an object or an object placed strategically so the sim looks like he/she's focusing at a desire location.
This part is very important because when you'll "switch" to the custom pose, the head won't be "following" that focus point anymore and will instead be turned and fixed towards that direction. This will be clearer in the next steps. Do
NOT cancel the animation yet.
4. Select "Use Current Pose" with the Pose Player and cancel the AnimationThis is where the "Use Current Pose" comes in handy. You have to select that option first...
...and then cancel the idle animation. Unpause. If done correctly, this should happen.
As you can see, Ikura is now using a custom pose but starring at Wakana.
Comparison: This is how the pose is by default.
After the Animator trick.
As I've mentionned earlier, you can see here Ikura doesn't follow Wakana with her head and eyes anymore like she does during the animation. That's because she's now fixed into the pose and frozen completely.
Here's another example with a different pose. This is Ikura in default pose (a_kavaiset_09).
After the Animator trick.
Be aware that it doesn't always work with every poses because of each's "nature". For example, this trick works wonderfully with HarukoMitsu's poses, while it hardly does anything to many of Meng's poses. Even so, if it doesn't work the first time you try with one pose, try again to see if you've done something wrong before thinking that it doesn't work with that specific custom pose. Also, I recommend NOT to super-fast-forward time while doing this trick. It usually freezes the sim before they could come to the pose.
Questions **Addresses very important issues so please read carefully**- Why can't I select the pose from the pose list instead of going through the process of "Use Current Pose" ?That's simply because time keeps on running while you search for your pose in the Sims. As you know, you need to unpause the game in order to select a pose, but when you're in the pose list screen, the game is still unpaused. This means that when you cancel the animation so it goes to the pose list interaction, your sim has the time to go back to their normal idle and won't be affected by Animator's "Look Here" anymore. Therefore, "Select From List" cannot work for this trick.
- When I choose "Pose by Name" or choose a pose from "My List", it pauses the game, unlike the "Select From List." Won't it be faster doing this interaction after canceling the animation instead?No, because for some reason, even if the "time" is stopped, the "game" isn't, not completely (look at the pool when paused for example). If you try that trick, you'll see that your sim, after canceling the Animator's interaction, won't be affected by "Look Here" anymore and will move their head back to its "default" place EVEN if the game is paused by "Pose by Name" or "My List". This means that these options won't work for this trick either and I can't do anything about it. For now, you'll have to go through the tedious process of using the "Use Current Pose" and entering a new one with its name, each time you switch to a different pose that you want to use with "Look Here".
- Does that mean that I can't use poses that I don't have the "code name" to enter in "Pose by Name" for this trick?Sadly, from what I know so far, yes, that's right. If the creator of a custom pose relies only on the pose list and didn't provide the name code, I don't think you can use that pose with the "Look Here" feature of the Animator. If someone can tell me how to find the code other than asking the creator themselves, please tell me so I can update this answer.
- I tried that "look here" trick, but the end result causes some strangeness, like the hand clipping into the head!Not all poses are meant to have the sim's head moved in other directions. If a pose is meant to be done with the head positioned in a certain way, it often looks the best that way. So far, I've only seen this issue with poses that have hands near the head. Sometimes, the head won't move as much as those I've shown you and, again, that's because of the pose's nature, so I can't do anything about that either.
I think that's pretty much it. I hope this will be useful for some of you! If you have any questions or need clarifications, don't hesitate on asking me. I'll provide as much help as I can. Also, if YOU find anything interesting that could make this trick even more useful, please let me know. Adding to this tutorial would be helpful for everyone.
Special thanks to my friend Amenti, having done the trick by accident in one of her pictures, which got me curious on how to reproduce it intentionally.
Subject: TheAnimator & Pose Player: Combination For More Precise Screenshots **OBSOLETE, READ FIRST LINE** 
August 23rd 2011, 7:12 pm
flashback hehe 
This mod is a definite must !! 
