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!