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OUTFIT TIPS and TRICKS

Rhino Tips and Tricks

Hopefully, The tips and Tricks on this page will assist those who desire to modify Lara's meshes for use in the Level Editor.
In stead of rambling on about how to, I will again try to use screenshots to help.

Rhino offers many, many tools and features, of which we will only be using a few. Once you get the hang of the program , you can experiment with the other features on your own.

Of course, the first required tool will be a copy of Rhino 3D. Also, you will need to have a current version of STRPIX, TRLE, and a paint program. TRWEST is also very handy!

It may prove beneficial, to look through the tutorial that comes with rhino, in order to become a little familiar with some of it's features. At the very least, maybe try building a few simple boxes and shapes.

     For the first part of this project, we will be modifying Lara's Torso mesh. First, we need to get organized.
      Secure a copy of theTR2 Wetsuit from "Lara's Wardrobe " and un-zip it. This will give you a folder named Wetsuit with a modified coastal.wad file within. In this folder, create three folders; named meshes, original wad, and textures.
        Within the "textures" folder, create folders named "Tanks" and "Torso"
Go to your Trle/graphics/wads folder and find the newcity.wad and copy it to your new "original wads" folder

NOW WE BEGIN!
Start up STRPIX and open the newcity.wad and scroll through the list of meshes until you find the Nitrous Oxide Cannister (mesh #246) and export it to your "meshes" folder (save as mesh #246). Also, export the pipe mesh (mesh #240) so we can use it later.

Now open the Coastal.wad containing the wetsuit and scroll through the meshes until you find Lara's Torso mesh (Mesh #24) and export it to your "meshes" folder.
Locate the textures for Lara's backpack and texture #223 and save them to your "/textures/torso" folder.
We may not need all of the pack textures, but it's easier to find them now. We will be using these texture squares to re-color Lara's back later.

Minimize STRPIX and open Rhino 3D.

RHINO 3D FAMILIARIZATION:

    It should look this after you open the extracted mesh of Lara's Torso (mesh #24).
     First, we'll have to lose the backpack. To do this, simply left click on the various parts of the pack and delete them.

    You will often get the small window, asking if this is the item you intend to click on.

NOTICE the yellow highlighted triangle on Lara's pack.

Continue to delete until your mesh looks like this!

If you click the perspective window and then shade,
you will see a shaded view of this mesh that you can rotate

Your shading may be different. This is set to my preferences.

Now we start re-building her back to be more natural. Start with one side and highlight the polygons that are along the left side and turn on their control points.

HINT: if you pass your mouse over each button, they will 'explain' what each does.

Now we begin building, first we'll snap an existing polygon to a new shape.
Refer to the picture below for the first snap and how to turn on the 'Point Snap' Feature!

Repeat the same for the other side.
Locate the tools option in the top menu bar and click it, scroll down till you locate 'Polygon Primitives' and select '3D face'.
You'll snap your new polygon in a COUNTER-CLOCWISE direction in order for the 'face' of it to be facing out!

NOTE: To make triangles, you'll have to press ENTER after the third point. The default setting for 'polygon primitives' are for squares.

Once you've repeated this for the other side, it should look like this!

Now simply close up the remaining opening in the same way until it looks like this!

Now save this mesh as mesh #24a in your "meshes" folder.

Congratulations, you have just made your first modified mesh!
This could be re-imported with STRPIX, re-textured and used in the game as Lara without her pack.

BUT....

We aren't stopping here.
        Now for the scuba tank!
                With Lara's modified mesh still open in Rhino, find the file button in the top toolbar and scroll down until you locate 'IMPORT/MERGE" in the menu and click it. Open the Nitrous bottle (Mesh #246).
       When it opens in your mesh, it will be right on top of your mesh, and it'll be too big, and will throw Lara's "Balance" off. It will have to be resized.

NOTE: I tried this procedure with two tanks, but unless they are very small, they disrupt the meshes too much and you get the "Weird protrusions" Often referred to as the "Pony Tail Problem".
While holding down the Alt button, Press the left arrow key about eight or ten times to 'Nudge' the tank to the side like this!

    Now locate the SCALE option in the top tool bar and scroll down to 'SCALE 'and select 'SCALE 3D' from the menu. Place the crosshair at a point on the top of the tank and left click. 'Make' a straight line to the bottom of it and click again.
        Now move the mouse up and watch as the tank shrinks. The size you reduce it to is your own personal preference,
                          Mine looks like this!

Now we have to move the assembled tank into place on Lara's back. To do this, you'll need to box in the tank so that it's highlighted and nudge or drag it into place. To box it in, hold the left mouse button down and draw a square around it. I also flipped and rotated mine slightly for a neater fit, and to put the nozzle facing out.
Now we're ready to have a look at in STRPIX. Save the mesh you've been working on as Mesh #24b as a .dxf file.
Make sure the save options box looks like this!

Now, re-open or maximize STRPIX and go back to Lara's Torso mesh (#24). Select import .dxf from file menu and click your new mesh (#24b) have a look.
Here's mine

At this time, you can inspect your work carefully and see if all your polygon faces are facing in the right direction. If not, simply go back into Rhino, re-do them in a counter-clockwise direction and re-save.
Then re-import the mesh into STRPIX again.

Now it's just a matter of re-texturing the tank and Lara's back to suit your taste. Such as!

In this case, I used the exported backpack texture to re-color Lara's back as explained in the "Outfit Tips and Tricks"

Here's a sneak look at what we've done so far!

You may notice that Lara's Torso is considerably darker than the rest of her, Don't worry, we'll fix that later.

Hopefully, this hasn't been too difficult, because the next part is when its starts getting fun!

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