Can Video Game files be ripped from a Game and be Used for CNC machining?

Popeanator here,

I've seen people talking on the forums about ripping files for using with pepakura, however I was wondering if they same idea can be applied to CNC/3D printing models. So can Video Game files be ripped from a Game and be Used for CNC machining?:behave



I'm pretty new to any form of 3D modeling, I have barely used pepakura I prefer to make things by hand.
However a friend of mine is planing on building his own CNC machine and we are keen to attempt to create some props with it. Any information would be awesome, thanks guys.I basically had this process in mind one the thing has been machined.

When My Brain Leaks, the Drops Drip Here.: Propbuilding 101 Part 2: CNC Machining the M9 Tempest Submachine Gun from Mass Effect 2

Any 3D model can be used for any 3D application. The only thing that varies is the amount of work in between the source and the machine.

Of course you can, but chances are some files will have to be altered. Even though games and game systems are getting better, 3d models for games are not as detailed as a 3d model for a movie.

Remember, 1 frame of Pixar cars could take up to 24 hours to render 1 frame, while video games have to render in real time, the second you move a hand, or begin walking, each frame is rendered instantly.

So sometimes on video game files, you are allowed to cheat a bit. So make sure the mesh is closed off where it needs to be, alter what you have to if you have to.

Now as far as ripping those files from a game, I have no idea how to do it. I am curious to know if there is a forum where people do that and then make them public.

TxBabyHuey said:

Now as far as ripping those files from a game, I have no idea how to do it. I am curious to know if there is a forum where people do that and then make them public.

Click to expand...

There are places that will walk you through the process, certain game engines are easier than others.

Not exactly legal though, so you will find it difficult, if not impossible to find pre-ripped download links

From a friend who is helping me learn model ripping from games

"Ok model extraction can be a complicated process. It all depends on the game engine and the system that the game is operating on. So first I'll go over the systems and the various tools.
PC games can easily be extracted from if you use a tool suck as 3D Ripper DX or if you use Ninja Ripper. Most of the time it can be as simple as finding the model package in the game folder files and extracting from the package and converting the files. However with 3D Ripper DX or with Ninja Ripper it does'nt rip just 1 model it rips the whole scene. Which has to be cleaned up later manually with another 3D software.
360 games can become complicated, where one game such as Halo can use one type of engine another game like Bioshock or Mortal Kombat would use a different engine, and this makes it complicated. However theres some tools out there such as Gildors Umodel or UEViewer that can access the models. You will need to make a ISO of the game disk and go into it with an extractor to get the various packages out first.
Now finally on my knowledge of ripping I'm just starting to rip from PS2 games, such as Killzone and others but you can still run into the game engine problem here. And depending on the compression the models can come out looking squashed. There's a handy tutorial for it here. [Tutorial] How to rip PS2 models v.2
In closing for all this you can always check out PSX-Scene for Playstation extraction methods I believe, or you can check out the Xentax forums which can teach you a thing or two about extraction and converting the various model formats. Always remember this is'nt easy. It will take practice, and you'll be learning along the way whether to fail or succeed, is all up to you.

Now onto already ripped models. Here's some sites.
Free 3D Models - free 3ds, max, c4d 3d model – Most of the models here are ripped from a game, some not.
Facepunch – Mainly used for Garrys Mod but under the modelling section people have been using it for ripped models, if you download a model meant for Gmod, you can easily convert the MDL file inside the files using the Crafty Object Viewer which can export it to OBJ
XNA Lara Recapitulative of the additional objects for XNALara - www.tombraiderforums.com Same idea as Gmod but you can use the XNA Studio to export the models, or even pose them before exporting.
There's also a wide varity of Anime style models used for Miku Miku Dance, but I'm still learning how to convert them to a usable format for something like Pepakura.

The Spriters Resource | Main Page - Site that hosts a wide variety of system models done by people who have ripped from a various game. You can also get game sprites from here."

Thanks for the info guys

I'm mostly interested in ripping game models from PC games, what programs should I use once I have the file and need to convert it into a workable format.

Lee Bratina said:

3D Ripper DX

Click to expand...

I downloaded, but every game I try to launch a game with it just crashes :/ (the game).

Free 3D Models - free 3ds, max, c4d 3d model Looks like a good place to star, probably try to CNC a few of them first before trying to make our own files.

If the game is a Origin/EA type game, Ninjaripper might work. But 3D Ripper DX works based off your Direct X I believe Direct X 7, 8 and some DX9 games will work with it.

NinjaRipper is essentially the same as 3D Ripper DX in the place that it rips a full scene, under the Ripping program setting it can be set to export to OBJ which can be imported with most 3D editors.

Yes and no. The game models are optimized to minimize the computing horsepower needed to render and animate them, so frequently they are low resolution and a lot of the detail is created via texture and normal mapping (images projected on the model). That means that there is no actual 3d modeled geometry for those details.

Look at this image. The low poly model would likely be what you ripped from the game. The normal mapping is a "cheat". Look at the furthest away end of the scope on the far right. It looks perfectly round and smooth but when you look at it end on, you can see that octagonal faceted shape of the cylinder is still there.

Ripped models work for Pepakura (in fact, are probably ideal) because you're already limited by the fact that you're folding paper, and you can only get so much "resolution" out of the folds.

As long as you've ripped the model from the game with the UVs intact, as well as the normal map, you COULD bring them into a program like zBrush and use it to actually create geometry, but it won't be perfect and it can get kinda complicated depending.

But a game model would be a great base for modeling a higher res version with all the details because the basic shape and proportion would be there. Most of the time that's faster than trying to hassle with the normal maps and the UV mapping and getting it all lined up.

But to answer your question, you could CNC a model ripped from a game, sure. It just won't be super nice. You could get it nice with a TON of work, but the end goal of doing it via rapid prototyping or CNC (in my mind, anyway) is to get the machine to do as much of the work as fast as possible.

Stormleader said:

You could get it nice with a TON of work, but the end goal of doing it via rapid prototyping or CNC (in my mind, anyway) is to get the machine to do as much of the work as fast as possible.

Click to expand...

It depends on your personal skill set, really. To some people, the idea of making a 3D model is foreign and scary and seems like an incredibly difficult and daunting task, and thus choose to go the route of hand fabricating everything. But for people who are familiar with working with 3D models, cleaning up and up-polying or flat out remodeling something ripped from a game would take 1/10th the time it would take them to make it entirely by hand.

Personally I fall into this second category. Could I make most of my projects by hand? Sure. But it would take me many many more weeks or months to do than it would take me to build a 3D model of first.

I have to assume that someone with a CNC machine would have at least a cursory familiarity with working with 3D models, and thus the time it would take that person to 3D model and send to the machine would be less time than it would take them to start from a block of wood and hand tools.