If you want to add a little personality to the background of The Sims 4 or bring more dimension to your screenshots, animated CC is a fun and easy way to do it!
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You’d be surprised at how much movement is going on in the background when you think everything is “still.” Ticking clocks, steaming cups, the movement of you or your pets breathing, the air leaving your heating/cooling system…even the stillest moment likely has movement happening somewhere.
It’s this with this mindset that we’re bringing you a list today of animated CC to help enhance your gameplay experience. These are things that you might not fully be aware of all the time, but their absence will certainly be noticeable when they’re gone.
Animated CC Finds
For the purposes of this post let’s differentiate between functional and animated CC. Functional CC can certainly have animation as it’s typically something your sims will interact with, while animated CC will have movement to it but isn’t necessarily something that affects your sims. They can’t interact with the items and their presence doesn’t change anything about your sim’s experiences. It’s just a bit of nice “flavor” for the scene or moment you’re playing with. So think of this list as a collection of enhancements for your sims’ environments.
Angry Gnome
This gnome may be angry, but he’ll be sure to make you smile! Turn on the effect and this grumpy little fellow will hit his limit and steam will start pouring out of his ears. If your sim likes kitschy yard decor, this gnome will be perfect for their collection!
Click here to download!Steaming Cups
Confession time: this is one of my favorite and most-used pieces of CC. The steaming animation really makes those decorative cups help set the mood, and it feels like your sims aren’t drinking lukewarm coffee or tea. It’s also really calming to watch!
Click here to download!Ashtray With Animated Smoke
Despite our knowledge that smoking cigarettes is an unhealthy and dangerous habit, it’s still a useful tool in storytelling. In media that takes place in the past (when we didn’t know the dangers of cigarettes) are often seen being smoked by most adults, and in modern times it’s a habit often given to down-and-out type characters. Use this animated ashtray to set the scene or add some ambience to a mid-century playthrough.
Click here to download!Steaming CC
An animated steam effect with or without manhole cover. Use it to make your own community lots into mini cities, or add some spooky steam to anywhere that needs a bit of hazy ambience.
Click here to download!Animated Grandfather Clock
Remember animated clocks from older Sims games? I do, and the static time pieces of The Sims 4 still bother me to this day! Andrew has updated the tuning of the Grandfather Clock from TS4’s base game to add a swinging pendulum animation to the piece. The clock’s hands still don’t move, but the pendulum is enough to add some nice background animation and make the clock feel a bit more dynamic.
Click here to download!Animated Endless Timepiece
The Endless Timepiece grandfather clock from the Vampires Game Pack, reworked to add moving clock hands and a swinging pendulum. The clock doesn’t keep accurate in-game time, but then again the static vanilla clocks are only correct twice a day as it is!
Click here to download!Animated Kitty Clock
Did you know that the Kit Cat Klock is almost 100 years old? Invented in 1932, this iconic wall clock is made up of a friendly cat holding a clock face, its eyes and tail swaying as the seconds pass. Now you can bring this piece of history into The Sims 4 with the Animated Kitty Clock. The clock hands don’t move but the cat’s friendly face and tail swish along like they would IRL for a lovely piece that your sims will love.
The clock is only available in the classic black swatch, but Surely-Sims made some wonderful recolors as part of her Mini Atomic Object Pack.
Click here to download!Animated Maneki-Neko
Maneki-Neko is a common lucky charm in Japanese culture, a friendly cat sat on its haunches and waving a single paw to beckon good fortune. This CC version comes in 10 fun colors and can easily be resized to fit your space, plus it’s classified as a small object so you’ll have plenty of options on where to place it.
Click here to download!Animated Plasma Lamp
The humble plasma lamp, a staple of “offbeat” stores and cool kids’ bedrooms. Put your fingers on the lamp and the “plasma” will connect to your fingertips, filling you with a sense of power.
As this lamp was made with VFX already in-game, it had to be meshed around the effect so the item is much larger than most IRL versions. It still looks cool, though!
Click here to download!Animated Aquarium Frutiger Aero
Little decorative moving lamps like this were all the rage back in the day, and you could find them in almost any store. This animated object will add a touch of charm to any Child’s room, study, or even bathroom.
Click here to download!Animated – Waterwheel Pack
These base game compatible waterwheels will bring different features to your game dependent on what DLCs you have. At their core they are rotating wheels that can be connected to buildings that are adjacent to water, with appropriate VFX where the wheel and the water surface meet. Freestanding wheels have decorative slots where you can add one of Bakie’s many animated birds, and some of the wheels also produce power if you have Eco Living.
Although these waterwheels look amazing no matter where they are, they’re an especially great option for those playing historical saves!
Click here to download!Animated Breezy Curtains For Arches And Open Windows
Sims live all over the world which definitely means they live in some breezy places, and if you put the game on high speed and watch trees and bushes, you’ll notice them sway with the wind. The breeze doesn’t show itself much indoors though since sims usually can’t open their windows. These curtains can be hung in archways or open windows and they will gently sway as if being disturbed by the breeze just like trees do. It’s a tiny detail that makes a big difference!
You can see the curtain swaying here.
Click here to download!Functional Fan
A standing floor fan with animated blades that can be turned on and off. The fan is labeled as “functional” but the only thing you can do with it is turn it on, there’s no buffs related to being cooled off or anything like that, so I think it counts as animated CC over functional CC. The animation looks great regardless!
Click here to download!Animated Billboards
Animated billboards are commonplace in big cities and techie areas, and now your sims can get with the times and plaster these flashy billboards in their own retail neighborhoods. It will help the city feel more “alive” around your characters without them having to do anything differently.
Click here to download!Animated – Helipad + Helicopter
If you’re an older simmer you likely remember how in prior installments, sims who reached the top of their career would get to carpool to work in a fancy helicopter. Sadly it’s not a thing in The Sims 4 but with this animated CC you can relive those days to an extent. Your sims can’t actually ride in it but the helipad will spawn one of 3 different helicopters that will take off, fly around, and land on the pad. The pad itself has a large “H” on every swatch suggesting it’s a great decorative element to add to your hospitals, but you could just as easily plant it at a rich sim’s house, a news station build, a military location, etc.
Click here to download!Gamer Girl Collection
Gamers are pretty divided on whether or not RGB lighting is still cool. If you think it is you’ll like this gaming set, featuring functional and decorative pieces that have working RGB lighting. You’ll get everything you need to be the ultimate streamer or a cute solo gamer with a colorful setup.
Click here to download!Cherry Blossom (Animated)
This pretty cherry tree lazily drops its blossoms in live mode, and your sims don’t even have to rake them up.
Click here to download!Animated Wallpaper – Snowy Winters
If animated wallpaper existed IRL you know it would be trending on every social media site! Does it make sense? No. Is it cool as heck? Yes!
Click here to download!Vinyl Heart Victrola
This travel-size record player comes in a range of pastel swatches with English and simlish label versions. It features a bright red heart-shaped vinyl that spins around cutely when placed.
Technically this item is cheating because it’s supposed to be a functional object but in my testing there were no options to click/use it.
Click here to download!My Bedroom Set Humidifier
Anybody who lives in a climate where hot air is a large part of in-home temperature control knows how dry things can get. A humidifier is a useful and almost necessary item for these environments, adding moisture back into the air to keep us comfortable and well.
This humidifier object is actually a table lamp but it’s had animation added to show it spewing water vapor into the air like the real thing. Your cold-weather sims won’t have to worry about dry throats or static electricity anymore with this nifty humidifier!
Click here to download!Animated – Flowers + Bumblebees
Nothing makes you feel like spring has sprung like walking out to your garden and seeing it teeming with little lives. This animated CC is a clone of vanilla wildflowers with some new swatches added and a lovely VFX addition that adds bumblebees who bob along merrily above them. As a bonus, you don’t have to worry about being chased and stung!
There are 2 versions of this object, one with the regular collision data and a walk-through version so your sims can frolic through the fields of flowers if they want to live their best movie musical moment.
Click here to download!Wickedly Spooky Skull Wall Lantern
This spooky wall light is perfect for haunted, cursed, or Halloween spaces! A boxy metal lantern in black or grey with an ethereal wispy green skull floating inside. You can even change the color like other lights to set the perfect mood!
You can see a preview of the light in action here.
Click here to download!More on SNOOTYSIMS: If you’re wanting CC that’s more than just nice to look at, you might enjoy some of our favorite functional pieces!
Final Thoughts
Animated CC is an easy way to add a little more “life” to The Sims 4 without having to think about it too much. These pieces will add ambience to your gameplay, story scenes, and machinimas and just really make the world feel like a living, breathing place. Once you add some of this content to your game you’ll wonder how you ever played without it!
What’s your favorite piece of animated CC? If it’s not on this list, please share it with us so we can add it! Until next time, happy simming!