rhino_tips_and

Since we already have the STRPIX up and running, scroll back to mesh #8 and export that mesh. Save it as mesh #8.dxf.

Now, back to Rhino. Open head mesh (#31) and then import meshes #46, and your newly modified torso mesh. Drag the torso mesh into approximate position. These will be deleted later.

First, you'll want to rotate (TRANSFORM>ROTATE ) this mesh 90 degrees so that the low end is facing the back of Lara's head. Do this in the 'RIGHT VIEW WINDOW' This doesn't have to be exact, because it'll have to be adjusted later. Now mirror this from the 'FRONT WINDOW' (TRANSFORM>MIRROR). It should look something like this...

Now, nudge the highlighted portion one or two spaces to the right. (This spacing varies because of the mirror point variations. (In all the times I've done this,one space os the fewest, three is the most)
Highlight both sections and scale them down a bit so they're not so big. As long as they're still highlighted, you can drag them into place around Lara's head to check the fit. Once they clear her head, you can nudge them aside again to finishe building them.

Now would be a good time to fix Lara's hair. Go ahead and import mesh #8 as well, and nudge it to the left six or seven spaces (Alt + Left Arrow). What we're going to do with this is delete everything except the bun and then nudge it back into place.

NOTE: When you get to the point as shown below, you'll have to turn on control points and delete the remainer as groups of points.

Once you get to this point, you'll have to experiment with rotating and scaleing the bun to fit over the pony tail opening. The better the fit you can get, the better your finished project will look. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT MOVE THE POSITION OF THE HEAD MESH ITSELF, AS THIS WILL CAUSE THE NECK TO NOT LINE UP!

Now, we're going to build the breathing tubes.
Import mesh #246 and nudge it about twelve sapces to the left and ten to the front (Alt + left arrow and Alt + Down arrow).

Now that you have the proper spacing, simply draw (TOOLS>POLGON PRIMITIVES>3D FACE), the polys to close it up front and rear. Remeber to draw your polys in a COUNTER-CLOCKWISE direction so their faces are facing out!
Once you're satisfied, nudge it back into place (Highlight it first) and check the fit.

You may also want to add a 'mouth piece'. This can either be drawn in "free Hand" or as I did, import Lara's head again, move it aside and delete everything except the two mouth sections, resize and drag into place on the tubes. Both ways work!

IMPORTANT! Once you have everything like you want it, move the pipes to the side one more time, highlight them and join them in to one mesh (TOOLS>POLYGON MESH>JOIN). This will make the next phase much easier!
Now, move it back into place one final time, check the centering and fit, being certain that nothing is colliding with Lara's head or the tank.

If all is well, delete the neck and torso meshes and save this as headwithpipes.dxf. Open (maximaize) STRPIX, and after you,ve gone back to the head mesh (#31) import this new mesh into your wad. Retexture the pipes (I used text #1225 which is black, but any solid color texture will work) and the bun (Text #'s372 and 240). You'll have to rotate the mesh to see all the faces of the pipes, and zooming in helps a bit too!

Remember, Lara has two faces in the game. The other is mesh #47 in this wad.
Open mesh 47 in rhino, then import your 'headwithpipes.dxf' as well but nudge this one to the side. Remember how many spaces you nudge it!
Delete everything of the head with pipes, except the pipes and the bun. If you accidently delete too many parts, you can easily restore them by going to EDIT>UNDO MULTIPLE. Go ahead, take a look any way!

To make the final step easier, once you've retexture everything the way you want it, re-export this mesh over the one you just imported (headwithpipes.dxf). What this does, is saves the texture information in the mesh, so you won't have to re-texture the bun and pipes again later.

Now, simply highlight the pipes and bun, and nudge it exactly back into place again on the head mesh (#47). BE CERTAIN THAT THE HEAD MESH IS IN THE ORIGINAL POSITION! Once you've checked the fit, save this as angryheadwithpipes.dxf .

Back to STRPIX, find mesh #47 and import your lates mesh into the wad and VIOLA! instantly textured and modified mesh!

Save the wad and load it up into your TRLE/graphics/wads folder after you make a backup of the original. Build it with TOMB2PC.exe and you're ready to play with Lara wearing a wetsuit, complete with scuba tank and breathing tubes!

Lastly, go to the meshes page and download the "Tiny Pony Tail package and replace the normal pony tail with these parts. (Meshes 60 through 65).

I hope that this project has given you a basic understanding of how to modify Lara's meshes, and a basic understanding of the wonderful Rhino3D program. Quite likely, you can use these same methods with any cad program. As long as you make copies of your originals, and save often, mistakes can be undone, or projects can be started over. Never let the complexity of the program deter you from trying your hand at something as entertaining as this!
Tommy Tomb Raider