Sunday, March 28, 2021

free papercraft Mikage Town public hall and Danjiri float


The Mikage Town Civic Hall was badly damaged several times - including during a terrible firebombing attack in World War II, even though in the emotional 1988 Ghibli movie Grave of the Fireflies the stone building is briefly seen standing solemnly in a sea of traditional Japanese wooden houses that have been completely burned to the ground... 😔

It was restored each time however  and has had several uses over the years. At the present, it houses a small local museum and you can rent a space for your meetings or events.

The danjiri is a traditional float that is pulled (and pushed) during Danjiri Festivals all over Japan, including through the streets of Kobe. 

(as you can probably guess the papercrafts are not to scale 😉)

    

Download + build your own free papercraft Mikage Town public hall and danjiri float (by Kobe City):

free papercraft real-life Japanese shops


If you want to know what some real-life small Japanese shops and restaurants look like, try these free papercrafts from Paper Craft Shop Association! 🏪😊


Download + build your own free papercraft real-life Japanese shops (by Paper Craft Shop Association):

(Note: click the green "ペーパークラフト素材ダウンロード" buttons below the pictures) 

Saturday, March 27, 2021

free papercraft Willer Trains railway car on the back of the Kyotango City Public Transportation Guidebook brochure


Even if you're not planning on visiting Kyotango City, you might want to get a copy of the Kyotango City Public Transportation Guidebook brochure (because there's a free papercraft of a Willer Trains railway car on the back cover 🚃😊)

(but if you find it too much trouble to go to Japan and pick up a hardcopy, you can also download a PDF version from their website 🗾😉)

Download + build your own free papercraft Willer Trains railway car (by Kyotango City):



(Note: click the "京丹後市公共交通ガイドブック (PDFファイル: 12.0MB)" link just below the "鉄道:令和3年3月13日改正、バス:令和3年4月1日改正の時刻表" header; the papercraft is on the back cover of the Kyotango City Public Transportation Guidebook brochure)

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Picking up where I left off 9 years ago: papercraft Tomb Raider III RX-Tech Mines vignette WIP 1


Q: How do you know which is colder, the Himalaya mountains 🗻 or Antarctica 🧊?

A: In Tomb Raider II, Lara still wears her trademark shorts with her warm flying jacket, but in Antarctica in Tomb Raider III, even Lara opts for long trousers in the Antarctica levels... ⛄😁

 

All jokes aside: looking through my "papercraft ideas"-folder, I've been planning an RX-Tech Mines vignette planning since 2012...! Nine years later, I guess it's time to finish it. 😉


Luckily, I already explained how you could extract the 3D models if you want to use the actual game models to make a classic Tomb Raider papercraft before: link

So I picked up right where I left off 9 years ago; I always think a vignette looks extra nice with some scenery (I think that's what makes it a vignette!😉) 

Usually you'll have to extract each object like the minecart , the switch lever, direction sign etc. separately; Lara's ponytail and weapons are usually separate objects too. Then in Metasequoia (or another 3D modelling program you like) you can put it all together in a nice little scene.

I made a new base in the theme of the RX-Tech Mines level, but in the end I decided not to include the direction sign. The minecart is quite big for the stand already, and I want to keep all my papercraft Tomb Raider vignettes the same scale. 😇


When you extract the actual game models, you'll get the actual texture file too, so you can make the papercraft vignette look almost exactly like it does ingame!

You'll always need to adjust the 3D models though, to be able to make it into a buildable papercraft, which usually means changing at least the layout of the textures with it. I always just take the fragmented extracted texture image, and stitch together the jacket, face, and anything else that is broken apart.


And even though this might not really look like much progress, but I guess it's actually more than in the past 9 years combined. 😉

Stay tuned!