How do you rip Models

[Kharaxel]

Hey guize, it's me again.
I disappeared for some time, since my PC died.
Now I have a new one for some time now, with Windows 7 x64... and I WANT TO RIP SOMETHING FOR THIS SITE DAMMIT.
Because on my new PC, I am not able now to rip the models from Sam & Max... AT ALL... I decided to try and rip models from dolphin emu, like, from the game Tales of Graces.
I noticed that 3D Ripper DX does NOT work with the x64 version of the emu... so I decided to try and use the 32 bit version.
So I run the emu with 3D Ripper DX... everything is fine. There's this little overlay box in the corner and all... but when I want to actually rip the model, by pressing the correct key (I tried to set the ripping key under F5, F7 and F11) the emu completely hangs up... and the only thing I can do is close it through task manager.
So... is this normal? I know people are able to rip from Dolphin, and if so... then how?

DISREGARD THAT I SUCK PICKLES!
After trying for days, I tried this again now... AND IT WORKED.
I ripped Pascal and Sophie. I know Sophie is on the site, but Pascal isn't. So once I figure out how to set the model correctly and clean up everything that's unnecessary (like background elements) I think I'll submit it to the site.

[Shadowth117]

That's nice and all, but please try to organize your thoughts before posting so you don't look silly.

[Kharaxel]

Sorry, won't happen again (I hope). : P

[edsterisawesome]

3D Ripper Dx, huh. I'd also love to rip models from this but I'm still figuring out how to extract from the .apk and .acf files.

[Shadowth117]

Yeah, unfortunately not every game has an extractor and or model converter. If they did, I would have personally made sure SA2 was the first complete game on the site.

[Candescence]

I've decided to try and do some model rips from Digimon World Data Squad for kicks, (amusingly, to my surprise someone has already gone and figured out how to get to the model data manually), but, much to my shock and annoyance, neither 3D Ripper DX or 3D Via Printscreen work with PCSX2. And by "don't work" I mean none of the hotkeys I've tried even make them start ripping. And I've confirmed that both work with other Direct X programs.

Then again, considering how the game's data is stored, and that I hear it's an utter pain to rip PS2 models properly at the moment, it would probably be easier to just figure out how to get the models out of FS.Bin, really (and more beneficial, if you can get animations as well). Maybe. (Not exactly an expert on the subject.)

Edit: You know, I wasn't entirely sure if this was the best thread to post this, to be honest...

[Shadowth117]

I've decided to try and do some model rips from Digimon World Data Squad for kicks, (amusingly, to my surprise someone has already gone and figured out how to get to the model data manually), but, much to my shock and annoyance, neither 3D Ripper DX or 3D Via Printscreen work with PCSX2. And by "don't work" I mean none of the hotkeys I've tried even make them start ripping. And I've confirmed that both work with other Direct X programs.

Then again, considering how the game's data is stored, and that I hear it's an utter pain to rip PS2 models properly at the moment, it would probably be easier to just figure out how to get the models out of FS.Bin, really (and more beneficial, if you can get animations as well). Maybe. (Not exactly an expert on the subject.)

Edit: You know, I wasn't entirely sure if this was the best thread to post this, to be honest...

Meh, its fine posting it here. We're pretty loose with that honestly.

As for ripping them from the file, you may be able to figure out a bit from here: http://ps23dformat.wikispaces.com/ , but it might just be easier to use 3D Via or 3D Ripper as you'd mentioned you'd tried. The most obvious issue I can think of is that you're using Direct X 10 rather than 9 in your graphics plugin, but if you're already aware of that than there's nothing obvious that I could guess without a look at your settings. Also, it'd be best to make sure you don't have any hotkeys assigned for ripping that are used for something in PCSX2 because that could cause problems as well.

[Candescence]

Actually, I did mention that wiki does have a page on Digimon World Data Squad, though I will attempt to try again using my laptop - it might work, who knows-

*Suddenly finds that it works on PCSX2 0.9.6 (aka, the crappy version that has to be configured multiple times just to start up for some reason) rather than PCSX2 0.9.7 for some stupid reason*

WHAT.

Edit: And 3D Via Printscreen ends up ripping very little geometry at best anyway (and it's impossible to figure out what said geometry is), no matter what I try. 3D Ripper just crashes it on startup. Goddamn it. I swear, ripping from file seems easier at this point.

[Shadowth117]

Actually, I did mention that wiki does have a page on Digimon World Data Squad, though I will attempt to try again using my laptop - it might work, who knows-

*Suddenly finds that it works on PCSX2 0.9.6 (aka, the crappy version that has to be configured multiple times just to start up for some reason) rather than PCSX2 0.9.7 for some stupid reason*

WHAT.

Edit: And 3D Via Printscreen ends up ripping very little geometry at best anyway (and it's impossible to figure out what said geometry is), no matter what I try. 3D Ripper just crashes it on startup. Goddamn it. I swear, ripping from file seems easier at this point.

Sorry, I probably should have read your post better. If you've tried every graphics plugin for both of those versions than I'm not really sure what might help you. You may be able to use one of the much older builds like 0.5 or 0.4, but the thing is that while I think you could get rips with them that they come out completely flat with no real way to fix them.

If you want to try the manual you can, but I'm pretty sure that method doesn't even get the faces extracted which can be a bit of an issue.

[Garamonde]

Hey there, I know this seems really out of nowhere, especially from me, but how difficult is ripping models? And what console is the easiest to rip from? Reading all these things about needing different programs and having to save them in certain formats sounds really confusing and kinda drove me away from attempting this. I wouldn't try to do it any time soon (probably) but if I could learn about the process step by step and if it wasn't too hard I would try some day.

[Shadowth117]

Ripping models in general is usually relatively easy so long as you're comfortable with the programs you're working with. Occasionally you may need to get creative to get certain content, but usually its pretty straightforward. Ripping in general is a process of organizing things and cleaning them up to look how they're supposed to while keeping the rips as close to the original content as possible. Making them as usable as possible is understandably helpful too.

As for the easiest console in general... at the moment I'd say the Wii simply because so many games on it use the same model format and that format is virtually completely convertible to standard formats with the currently available tools. As for model ripping itself in general, it definitely varies from game to game. Some games have tools that will convert everything for you with minimal effort, some require you to use a printscreen-like ripper, and some games aren't even rippable without being really crafty and/or knowing how to program.

The formats aren't that much harder to understand than the average 2d formats once you get used to dealing with them though you need to keep in mind that there are more than texture and model files in a game to sort through. Sometime you'll get games with multiple model and texture formats too, but usually that's not as bad as it sounds.

Lastly you have to convert everything to the formats it needs to be submitted in in the end as well as you've probably guessed, but that's so simple it hardly counts.

It may sound like a lot, but its really fairly simple in practice. It'd probably be easier to explain with a specific example.

[Garamonde]

So if I were to rip a model I should rip a Wii model? I don't have Dolphin but I was curious about it and wanted to be able to do it when I was ready to (this sounds weird but even though I'm not ready yet I was anxious to ask). If I picked a game I wanted to rip I'd probably tell you about it so I could get help.

One more question I had was, I don't suppose there'd be any way at all to rip from a game whose models are stored in a special format? Like the GameCube game Bomberman Jetters, my cousin looked at it and said that Hudson stored the models in their own format and they're not accessable. I would love to rip from that game more than anything.

[Shadowth117]

Well for those Wii games I was thinking of, you'd really only have to have Dolphin to extract files from your Wii ISO's. I mean there are other programs to do it, but Dolphin is pretty user-friendly so I usually recommend that.

As for that Bomberman game, well you're in luck that its for Gamecube since you can use 3D Ripper DX with Dolphin to get rips from it. They won't be rigged, but hey at least you can do it.

Definitely feel free to ask about a game if you want. Some converters are hard to find, if possible at all now, and I have a decent collection of them as well as a good idea of how to go about ripping from most games. I can't say I know everything, but I'll help you as best I can with this stuff if you ask.

[Garamonde]

Thanks, I knew that you know a lot about this stuff so I think I might be able to do it and I'd love to contribute. Also, when other people rip models you always say that they should include textures with it? How would I go about doing that? It's necessary to do that, right? And as such, I would include a .PNG of the model's textures in with the .ZIP that the model's in (then again I dunno how to rip textures or anything )?

And um, this is probably a silly question but what does "rigging" mean for models? Like being able to position it however you want?

[Shadowth117]

Yeah pretty much, but it would likely be multiple .png's since games often use lots of small ones rather than one large one. Texture ripping is usually easier than anything else with this though honestly so I wouldn't worry about it. There are exceptions to everything though.