Carbint's Xnalara Modding Guide - Tomb Raider: XNA Lara - Croft ...

CarbinT’s XNALara Modding Guide
Unsurprisingly, by CarbinT.
Chapter 1
Lightmaps
Ok, so you’ve made a really decent swimsuit for the Wetsuit. It looks pretty good, but
it’s ruined by the sidestripes.
Fig 1:1 Irritating sidestripe cannot be coloured to match the pattern of the Bikini.
What’s more, when you go to change the diffuse texture (Suitstripes2_diffuse.png),
you’ll find it’s one colour, which is then repeated several times on the actual model;
Fig 1:2 One-colour diffuse for the sidestripe
So you can’t just add a white strip where it should go. Damn. But, what you can do is
this…
1. Firstly, colour the lightmap white. (Make sure that the colour actually looks
like this. The RGB settings should be at
254, not 255. Otherwise it’s too white for
XNA to handle, and it’ll show up black.)
2. Open the lightmap (Suitstripes2_lightmap)

Fig 1:4 The Suit Lightmap
3. Now open Suit_diffuse;
And just copy and paste it across to the suitstripes2_lightmap. If it’s too big or too
small, just resize it accordingly. Simple!
4. Save this lightmap and the suitstripes2_diffuse textures and open XNALara.
Load up the model and voila!

You didn’t think it would work, did you? Well it did! Ok, it’s a tad too bright. To
fix this, open up the Suitstripes2_diffuse and the suit_lightmap. Now colour
sample the Lightmap in roughly the same area as the stripes would be, and then
fill the diffuse with that grey colour;
Fig 1:7 The suitstripes2_diffuse is now the
same colour as the Suit_lightmap.

Fig 1:8 the stripe now matches perfectly with the rest of the suit.
There! Now how amazing was that! I’m not going to go into detail on how to do
the bump mapping for the same area, as it’s basically the same principal, except
instead of lightmaps, you’re using bump maps.

Chapter 2
Enlarging Images
This sounds rather simple, doesn’t it? It is simple, but it’s so effective. Imagine
you want to include a password, or a word or anything really small on Lara
somewhere (Or on any model, for that matter). In this example, I’m using the
default Snow_Heavy outfit, because its Diffuse for the coat is so small.
1. Open up the Jacket_Diffuse
Fig. 2:1 The Suit_Diffuse for Snow_Heavy is so small that ants use it as a
blanket.
2. Just go ahead and enlarge it by a big amount. I chose 1000% larger.
Fig. 2:2 The Suit_Diffuse for Snow_Heavy is so big that a small continent
could fall on it and you wouldn’t notice.

3. Now zoom right in and write your name. Do it somewhere you’ll remember! (I
think we all know where that is…)
Fig 2:3 Writing my name on Lara’s right breast has always been a fantasy of mine.
4. Obviously you should zoom out afterwards.
Fig. 2:4 At 9% zoom, a tiny white fleck isn’t visible at all.
5. Save your work (duh!) and open XNALara.

Fig. 2:5 It hasn’t come out where I expected it to…
Ok, I don’t think XNALara can handle images 10X their intended size. It’s just tried
to wrap the texture as it is, without scaling it down properly. Let’s scale it back down
to 10% of its current size.
Fig. 2:6 Scaling my image back to its original size has reduced my authentic signature to a single white
pixel.
At the close of an ineffective tutorial section, I must remind you that I only use this
method at about 200 or 400% sizes, mainly just for making higher quality images. For
example, my Bikini_Gold (below) has had its Suit_Diffuse scaled to 4X its original
size, so that the bikini segments don’t look pixellated around the hems.

Fig. 2:7 Upon closer inspection of the Gold Bikini top, it appears I forgot to increase the resolution of
the Mask Map for the Suit, but remembered to increase the size for the Diffuse. Hence the so-smooth
seams.

Chapter 3
Mask Maps
A Mask Map basically tells each corresponding Bump Map (generally Bump_1 and _2)
where to put themselves. You may notice that on the Jungle Shorts (and Pants), there
are two different colours to the top. Zooming right in shows you that there are two
different Bump Maps; one for each colour. The way each Bump Map applies itself to
the model Diffuse is laid out in the Mask Map;
Fig. 3:1 & 2 You can see the way the Mask Map works by comparing it with the Diffuse sometimes.

So, for this exercise, I’m going to change the Mask Map so that the stripes are
horizontal instead of vertical. Hopefully you’ll do the same.
Firstly you should change one Bump Map, so you can see the difference more clearly
on the model. I’ve decided to make one Bump Map have a sea-like texture to it;
Fig. 3:3 I’ve changed one Bump Map to look wavy. Isn’t this fun?
Now you’ve (hopefully) done that successfully, it’s time to learn a bit about the Mask
Map.
Fig 3:4 Inverting the colours

Notice what happens when you invert the colours? That’s right, it flips the colours
exactly. How neat and convenient is that?! So, here’s what we’re gonna do;
1. Invert either the pink area or the green area. It depends on which Bump Map you
want where: Bump_1 is pink and Bump_2 is green. Here, I’ve inverted the pink area, so
it’s all green;
Fig. 3:5 Making it all one colour
Don’t worry if you accidentally turn some of the blue area yellow; it’s not going to
show up. I promise.
2. Now use the Box Select tool to select horizontal strips across the areas like this
(here’s one I made earlier);

Fig. 3:6 Complicated Box Selection is the highlight of my day.
Then, invert these colours. Simples! Provided all has gone well, you should either end
up with this;
Fig. 3:7 One possible outcome of horizontal stripes Masking
Or this;

Fig. 3:8 The second outcome of the horizontal stripes Masking
The result that you get is dependent on the colour you started with (Fig. 5:7 started with
Pink and Fig 5:8 started with Green). This looks rather messy, but actually it will come
out fine. I won’t go into detail on how I changed the colour of the Diffuse as it’s an
entirely different topic, and in fact isn’t covered in this guide at all. If you’d like to
know how to do it, pop into any good book store and ask the cashier how to use Paint.
Fig. 3:9 Lara doesn’t look too pleased with the outcome of her Extreme Makeover: Mask Edition

Chapter 3A
Advanced Posing
This may seem a bit like a beginner’s topic, but I thought that I’d put it in anyway.
1. Remember when Dusan made XNALara so that you could save poses of certain
limbs? This feature is very handy, especially when it comes to things like facial
expressions and fingers. Here’s what I have stored on my laptop;
• Gunhandleft and right
• Faceangry
• Facesad
• Facesmile
• Faceoneeyebrow
• gungrabhands
• Fisthandleft and right
• Freehandleft and right
• Ponytailwindy
• Ponytailordinary
• Ponytailfalling
• Ponytailflying
These few poses are so extremely helpful when it comes to posing in XNA. Just load
the pose and away we go!
2. Try it out. It will probably make you feel stupid and, let’s face it, you look it too,
but it will help you get a much better understanding of how the body works and how
the pose should look at the end. What am I talking about? Act out the pose! Try and
visualise it in your head, and then raise your arms, or position your face, or whatever, to
try and get a much better understanding of the geography of the pose at hand. I do this
all the time, and yes, my family does think I’m crazy, but at the same time I get the
poses right. What’s more important, eh?
3. Pose everything. Why not bother posing the ponytail properly, or the fingers?
Or the face? What makes these aspects any different to posing things like the
legs, arms and spine? It’s still part of Lara’s body (or whatever character you’re
posing), so why just leave it? Posing all of the parts of your character’s body
will really add quality to your images, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned on
the XNA forum, it’s Quality not Quantity. (There’s actually over 50 things I’ve
learned, but anyway…) If you start bashing out half-hearted, slap-dash, spur-ofthe-moment
images like this;

Fig. 3:10 A shoddy, half-hearted and rushed attempt at a pose
It will be a shame, especially when you could be creating images like this;
Fig. 3:11 A far better attempt at the same pose, featuring fingers, toes, hair, facial expressions and
lighting effects.
So remember this when you next go to create a pose. And good luck!

Chapter 4
Transparency Effects
You know the textures such as hair, fur and Thor Glow? They all contain bits of
transparent data, and this means something great. Did you know, for example, that
you could make Thor’s gloves solid?
Fig. 4:1 Thor’s gloves have undergone a Transparency Makeover.
Or that you could make Lara have a shorter ponytail?
Fig. 4:2 Snip, snip, snip.

Well, you can do all of these things by changing their texture. You see, the texture
is laid across an invisibly surface, so any areas that are transparent in the texture,
are transparent on the model. Therefore you can change which bits are transparent
to give Lara (or, again, other characters and objects) a complete makeover! You
could even do the following;
Fig. 4:3 What?
And all this and more is accomplished purely by changing the texture (Note that
you can do this with absolutely any texture, provided that texture had transparency
in it to start with. Yes, even a very small amount means that you can do this.)
Well, I’m so nice, I’ll show you how to make Lara’s eyelashes look like hers from
TRAOD. Here’s an image to remind you;
Fig. 4:4 Low-poly eyelashes are apparently the ‘In Thing’ in Paris and Prague.
Firstly, open up Eyelashes_diffuse (I’m modding Jungle_Shorts again)

Fig. 4:5 Make a wish…
Now, here’s where you can do one of two things. If you want Lara to be wearing
mascara, just copy and paste this image over and over and over again, each time
onto a new layer, until you end up with something like this;
Fig. 4:6 Whoever heard of brown eyelashes?
Then flatten the image and colour the eyelashes black. Done!
Alternatively, you can change them to TRAOD eyelashes by this, far easier,
method;
1. Press CTRL+A (to select everything)

2. Press Delete (to… delete everything)
3. Select black in the colour pallete (Or whatever colour you want your retro-style
eyelashes to be)
4. Select the Fill tool and fill the whole canvas (To create the low-poly effect)
5. Save (to keep your work)
6. Open XNALara (to test your work)
Hopefully you should end up with something like this!
Fig. 4:7 Cheap makeup always goes blotchy…
How’s that for a mod? This technique can be used in many different ways. Try
redesigning the pattern of Thor’s glowing gloves!

Chapter 5
Appendix & Credits
• XNALara is a program made by Dusan, of Tomb Raider Forums
• Paint.NET is a free graphics program which, conveniently, runs on the same
frameworking as XNALara
• All of the textures have been created by me, with the exception of the Sealike
Bump Map (visible in images 3:3 – 3:9), which was found at
FilterForge.com, a wonderful free website for Bump Maps and Textures, all
of which support fully seamless tiling effect (cannot see any join when
placed next to itself)
• All of the models are originated from Tomb Raider: Underworld, made by
Crystal Dynamics and Eidos. They have been unpacked from the game by
Dusan, who has then created XNALara in which to pose them
• The model featured in images 3:10 and :11 was edited by XNAaraL, also of
Tomb Raider Forums.
• I retextured that model entirely myself.
• Image 4:4 of TRAOD Lara was found on the following website;
http://www.laracroft.tv/images/tr6/tr6-model-006.jpg, and I arrived there via Google
• This guide was made entirely by me (CarbinT). I received no help
whatsoever from anyone who has not already been mentioned above,
including the discovery of the methods described and documented in this
guide. If you obtained this guide from anywhere except the following link:
http://carbint.croftgeneration.com , and there was not any credit to me
(CarbinT), please let me know via the Croft Generation Forum immediately.
If you paid for this free Guide, also let me know where from, and demand
your money back.
• You are free to post this document on any website, anywhere in the World,
provided that you have not changed, duplicated, edited, redesigned, copied,
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• In failing to meet the above requirements, you agree to give up any copies of
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