Category: Decorative -> Sculpture
EPs Required: None – base-game compatible
Cost: $2000
Poly Count: 
(>2300 polys, but on 5x5x2 tiles)
So. The TSM orrery. You know, that huge thingamajig that sits high, high in the ceiling of the wizard’s tower and rotates in fifteen different directions at the same time. That orrery. I’ve been looking at it askance for some time now, wondering if I were brave enough to attempt animating it. Yes, it would require a bazillion joints, but it’s just going ’round and ’round, right? And if there’s one thing I’m good at animating, it’s things that go ’round and ’round… so I did. Like so:
When you’ve placed it, the orrery will start rotating automatically as soon as you go into Live mode, but you have a menu option to stop it (and start it up again) if you so prefer. Of course, your Sims can also view it – it is deco, after all – but when they do, if you have Free Time they’ll gain enthusiasm for science, not art as usual. It made more sense to me that way. 🙂
Compared to the TSM orrery, I’ve scaled this one down a little, but it’s still quite big. Like this big:
As you can see, it’s attached to the ceiling – but on the second floor. It was simply too large to be comfortable as a one-floor thing; your poor Sims would have had to crawl under it to get past (and risk being decapitated and/or deplumbbobbed in the process) and that just seemed… no. So two-floor orrery it is. A two-floor orrery with a footprint to match – it’s no less than 25 tiles (5×5) on each floor.
(Edit, May 2022: I might do something about the footprint at some point; it made sense to me at the time to make it zOMG huge, but looking at it now it really doesn’t need to be that huge… 😐 )
Speaking of getting away with things (I hope), between fourteen rotation joints and the Mother of All Footprints, by the time I got to making recols, I had quite run out of steam, not to mention that I was getting a little fed up with the thing. So this time, I’m afraid you’ll just get two recols, the original TSM wood and metal:
And now to something completely different. 😛 As I was fiddling with this, I noticed a lovely little detail that I think almost qualifies as an Easter egg. If you look at the size comparison pic above, you’ll notice that the second planet looks a little bit Earth-like, what with blue oceans and green continents. If you zoom in on that planet, you’ll see this:
A castle (and a little 3D one, at that!) with a wall around it, does that seem at all familiar to you TSM players? Like your kingdom in TSM, perhaps? 😀 Yes, they’ve actually marked out which planet it’s on! How’s that for cute?!
Nixed Sims 
To be honest, I have absolutely nowhere to use this. But I’ve got to have it! It’s too awesome to NOT download. (And I can always build something just for it, lol.) Thanks Nix, the master of round-and-round and mother of all footprints. 😀
Hee! Yep, if you’re looking for things that go ’round and ’round, I’m your gal. 😀 I don’t think I’m going to do any more items that require 51 GUIDs, though. 😛
I am going to MAKE a place for this. It is magnificent! It stirs my imagination. I have some weddings to do in my game and then the offspring and adults are going to have a wonderful museum full of amazing marvels. This Orrery will be the crowning glory. Thank you, Johanna! xxoo :o)
Aww, you’re welcome! ❤ A museum full of amazing marvels sounds like the perfect place for this to live. 🙂
*-* Congratulations, here is a medal and a trophy and a plaque and a ticker-tape parade. Thank you!
Thank you! 😀 *wipes confetti off trophy while watching parade*
This is so very very cool. I know exactly how to use it: in a science museum, of course!
Perfect! 😀 I’m so glad you like it!
This is just awesome sauce. I poked around in the guts a bit, and all I can say is WOW! that is one complicated skeleton. If I ever get around to it, I might do some recolors/remeshes. Regardless, it’s a masterpiece.
Thank you! The skeleton looks worse than it is, though. 😉 It does have a lot of joints, so it’s complicated in that respect, but most of them are siblings, for want of a better word (all child joints of root_trans) and only three of them have children (but no “grandchildren”, the child joints don’t have any child joints of their own), so that way it isn’t all that complicated. And they all rotate around the same axis, too. 🙂 But the “animation speed in Temp 2” BHAV was my best friend for this, I don’t think I could have done this if I’d have to figure out how many keyframes this anim must have to move at this speed compared to that anim for all thirteen of them. *shivers*
It’s here it’s here it’s here!!!!!!!! I have been waiting and watching for this since you first mooted that it was so. I love you so much for this!!! Oh my Will Wright – here’s my happy Day#2 – #5!!! (I’m doing 100 days of happy).
Breathe, Kiri, breathe! 😉 But yay, glad I could make some of your days of happy, happy!
This is so neat!
At first I was like, “Pene, this is fantastic, but do you really need this (been trying to curtail my DL’ing)?” Of course the answer ended with “Yes, yes. I need this and so do my Sims.” I too think this will be a wonderful addiction to a museum, or any space themed lot. Thank you so much! 🙂
I’m so glad you like it! 😀 Even though I should probably feel a little guilty for keeping you from cutting back on downloads. 😉
Wow, Nix. So glad I stumbled on the thread for this over at PBK! Absolutely fantastic, My mage and alchemist Sims thank you. (as do I) Greywolf3
I’m glad you stumbled on it, too, and very glad you like it! 😀 This was fun to make, even if I was getting a little dizzy towards the end. 😉
Thanks Nix. This is absolutely fabulous and I shall be abusing this as of NOW (for my PBK Guild project which I decided to treat myself and build after being swallowed whole by Sim file reorganization)!
BTW. I’ve finally moved beyond the sadness of my files being tossled over 2 years ago. I didn’t realize until this past month how utterly consuming it was to have my Sim files in shambles until I actually committed myself to a complete overhaul over the past few months. I actually finished the general structure of reorganization as of two days ago. It’s brilliant and so easy to locate what I’m looking for. I’ve added images to every object that I could, recollected lost files and culled out a few unused files from my archives (which now sit at a comfortable 101 gigs)! Ridiculous right? It was worse! So…after I create my lot for the PBK Guild entry, I will backup everything doubly and take a small break… before getting back into true lot building, texture making and (these days) a bit of recoloring!
Which for you means…If you still can use them I will have a small collection of Christmas presents for you of the B5 walls kind (Med lab especially) and you have a few medieval goodies that I want to add a few more recolours to as well!
Thanks for all of your brilliant work Nix and for the wondrous creations you have shared over the years! Your contributions are greatly appreciated! .
Glad you like it! 😀 I won’t deny I’m proud of this thing, it was an interesting challenge to animate (even though it looks worse than it is, things like the speed I set through BHAVs and not through the anims themselves – much easier that way).
And colour me impressed by your reorganization skills! 101 gigs?? 101 gigs?!?!
Holy mother of everything!
I’m so glad you like what I’ve been putting out, even though I don’t know if it’s all that brilliant.
BTW, in case you don’t have TSM yourself, if you let me know what you’d like to recolour I can send you the original .dds files, so you don’t have to use my recols as a base (unless you want to use them as a base, of course – in that case, knock yourself out 😉 ).
And I’d love more B5 walls! Even if I’m personally not in a sci-fi mood right now (but that can change at the drop of a hat), I know I’ve got B5 and other sci-fi fans amongst my downloaders that will be thrilled. So that sounds like a great Christmas present! 🙂
Since I’m multi-tasking (and am too engrossed to open e-mail), I wanted to leave a personal “Thank YOU because you are absolutely sugar-coated AWESOMENESS” message for you.
As a result of my obsession with this object and using it as a centerpiece in the Medieval Philosopher’s Guild lot on PBK…I tracked down 4 culprit files that were creating oddities with other objects in my lot (including this wonderful orrery). Here are the links to the lots for your convenience:
Hotel Philosophers’ Guilds
http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=7089&p=72724#p72724
Apartment Philosophers’ Guilds
http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=7088&p=72722#p72722
Residential Philosophers’ Guilds
http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=7087&p=72718#p72718
But more importantly, thank you for providing the Static Version as well. I used both (the Animated in the “Deluxe” Versions and the Static in the “Reduced” Versions. It really added that much needed bit of authenticity to the Towers and you dear Nix were pivotal in me actually being able to share my vision with the Medieval masses.
Totally awesome creation my friend.
Wow!! Oh my Wright, those lots are amazing! I mean, I knew they would be good, but these surpass my wildest dreams. WOW!!! And aww, thank you for the credits. ❤ I'm thrilled that I could contribute a little in getting these awesome lots out there!
I'm so glad – and relieved – you could track down the problem files so you could share these amazing lots. 😀 Even if I was quite sure it couldn't be the orrery, you know how it is, you still have this little nagging worry at the back of your head going "what if…?" What if I missed something really obvious? What if I would have got an error if I had just done Q, but I missed it because I was too busy looking at X, Y and Z? What if? What if? As I've said before, I take pride in my craft, so I would be devastated if it turned out I'd put out a bad object. So I'm very happy the orrery has been exonerated.
I'm also happy that the static orrery could be of use. Now philosophers on a budget can have one, too! 😉
You’re welcomed! Oddly, It would have made my task a lot easier if it were the Orrery. But that would have been good for me…but bad for you! 😦
So…glad that the due diligence on your part, led to due diligence on my part! 😀 After all…it was I who created the cause for pause anyway.
BTW – You gonna upload the Static Orrery? A few lot builders might find it handy for general purposes. 😉
Yeah, had it turned out the orrery was the culprit after all, I’d probably have crawled under a rock somewhere. 😦 I’m glad it wasn’t – and I’m very glad you took the time to find out what was! ❤
I haven't thought about it, but I probably should. 🙂 I know there's at least one other non-animated orrery out there, but its footprint is on several tiles, so it isn't OMSP-friendly. I'll upload mine soonish.
Oh my goooosh. I was just poking around looking for things for my first reinstall of ts2 in over a year, and I run into this? I might swoon. I will swoon. I am, at this moment, swooning (and imagining what I’m going to do with this truly gorgeous bit of work).
*gets the smelling salt and fans you*
While I do apologise for making you swoon, I’m very happy you like it. 😉 This was fun to make, in a slightly insane way.
This is the best orrery-related sims CC ever! 😀 I’m so happy I’ve found this, it is perfect! Thank you very much, Nix, beautiful work!
Ack! SO sorry for the late reply; for some inexplicable reason, your comment was flagged as spam (I have no idea why, there’s nothing in it that should have triggered the spam filter), and of course this would be the time I forget to check my spam queue.
Sorry about that!
Anyway. Thank you for commenting! I’m so glad you like it! 😀 This was really fun to make, even if it was a bit frustrating at times. Worst skeleton I ever built, that’s for sure. 😛 And I’m really glad you can use BHAVs to set the rotation speed, I’m not sure I could have pulled this off otherwise. This way, I could make all the animations the same base speed, and then tweak it in SimPE. 🙂