An impossible thing we might have seen one day

So a couple years ago the subject of City of Heroes figurines came up. The problem was, apparently, that the models used for CoH were not conducive to making figurines: they aren't actually solid models, and don't form solid structures. So it was basically impossible to make figurines from the models we use in the game. So we were told.

Well, I didn't think it was impossible. I happen to have a Makerbot, and I did experiments last year to see what was possible in terms of extracting 3D information from the game, and then printing it.

Honestly, the results were rather rough:



But over time, I refined both the model clean up process and the printing process, and I now believe it would have been possible with a slightly better printer (the Cupcake I have wasn't quite precise enough in my opinion) and a slightly better Blender jockey (I know the math inside and out, but I'm not a 3D modeler).

It was getting much better:



That's *almost* good enough in my opinion. I think it would have been possible to make professional grade City of Heroes figurines of our characters. However, real life intruded and I had to temporary shelve my Makerbot. I was planning on revisiting this idea with a more advanced printer next year. I may still do that eventually, but with the game shut down the impetus to do so may fade. In either case, whether I figure out the best way to do this, there won't be a Paragon Studios to pitch the idea to anymore.

But I thought I would share anyway. If anyone wants to know how I got the models, I used OGLE. It should be searchable through google, and what it does is extract 3D models from OpenGL software. This isn't a pigg-dive, those two models were basically ripped from the OpenGL driver as the game ran.

It ain't that simple. You end up with your character, and all the geometry surrounding them, and you'd be surprised what invisible geometry is floating around. But sift through it, and you'll see your character there. Probably microscopically small because of the strange scaling that the game does to things. Scale it up, and you have the two models shown above.

I stuck them into Blender, fixed them up a bit, and specifically used some Blender filters to make the cape "thicker" so it would print (the thing is essentially two-dimensional in the game). Ditto the skirt, which is actually a real skirt in that print: its not solid it actually wraps around the legs. Then its just STL convert and send to the 3-D printer of your choice.

And spend a month calibrating the best possible print.

But yeah, if we had survived through 2013, I would probably be bugging Paragon to figure out a way to offer these. That second model took maybe two bucks of ABS to print. Factoring in the cost of my time, and it only cost about twelve thousand dollars to make.

Just one more thing we won't get to see now. I am sorry, Arcana.

12 grand?

Two please.

Wow... That would have been awesome...

Would these models have had animated hair?

Yes, this would get all of my want. If such a thing were possible, myself and others would like to have characters set in mold by sending you their costume files, should you get better refinement and equipment.... This could be glorious for those attached to their characters.

When are we getting to buff resolution for blaster models?

I would totally be up for that...what would you charge honestly? My Brute main toon would look amazing as a 3D figure.

Neat! I would have bought many, many character figures.

That rocks!

Hmm, so it's an OpenGL version of 3DRipper DX, nifty.

Sadly their webpage seems to be nonexistent, or down at the moment.

Aye, pigg diving the textures is one thing, but its a true hassle to re-UV map stuff in accordance to said textures.

At that point I'd just redo the textures by hand, unless they were laid out in a sane manner..


Still, even ripping the geometry gives you the mesh, and you could always do the textures at a later date/take your time.

Quick, somebody figure out how to hack the animation files so we can force everyone into a T-Pose for easier rigging!

That would have been awesome!

What about demo files and the demo launcher? Could OLGE capture the data from that while the launcher is playing back recorded scenes?

I'm more curious about pigg diving now than ever before. There are a variety of ways to convert models from one engine to another, and frankly... stick what we have in the Source engine and I'd be happy as a very, very happy coh player.

Arcanaville--I just wanted to say that I will miss your contributions to the game community, and your brain in general. If I ever get zombiefied, well...I expect you'll kill me with your mind.