Hi Guys - I wanted to give you some basics on how to get into Emotions and leverage your Sims' surroundings to have greater control over their Emotions. We're really excited that Emotions allows us to fuse Live and Build Modes in new ways.
One of the best ways (and most common) to get your Sim to enter an Emotion is the Shower! You can use the Shower to have your Sim become Flirty, Energized, or Inspired.
Fun Tip: As many careers require Focus, get a Computer and have your Sim Browse Simpedia.
So, my Sim is now Flirty because of the shower she just took. I bought her an Easel so that she can create a Flirty Painting. You'll see this option appear with the little pink nub on the pie menu.
Once she is finished painting, I name it, frame it (of course!), and put it on the wall. If I hover over it, I can see that it provides a Flirty Ambiance: 2. If you're ever curious what's changing your Sims' Emotions, hover your cursor over the objects to find out.
By default, most items do NOT provide an Emotional effect. You can Enable or Disable this by clicking the object. See the "Disable Emotional Aura" option? If I selected that, it would disable it.
Not all objects will immediately convey this benefit. You may need a few of them before they kick in. And, if you have several competing objects in the same room, say, 2 Focused paintings and 1 Flirty painting (or sculpture, or reward object), the dominant one will take over. In this example, Focused. Now, the Ambiance provided will sum. So, a single Ambiance 4 will be more powerful than two Ambiance 1s. Yay math!
Once I have the Emotional aura activated and enough of them around, I can View the object, or simply be near them to gain the Emotional benefit.
You can see here that my Sim has a Romantic Decor +1 Flirty Moodlet. Now, it currently isn't powerful enough to change her Emotion, which is Inspired, but if she gets another one it might push her towards the path of love.
You can paint all sorts of Emotional paintings. While in the Focused emotion, create a Mathematical Diagram and put it in your computer room to optimize your Programming or Video Gaming sessions. Put some Flirty paintings in your bedroom. /wolf whistles.
If you're telling the story of a moody teenager, fill his or her room with Sad paintings. Working on an angry jerk? Fill his home with works of Anger.
You can see Emotional outputs in the many things you craft. The food you cook, the paintings you paint, the books written, or the sculptures hacked together. When in an Emotional state, click on your Sims' crafting objects to see what, if anything, can be made!
Happy Simming,Grant