Using 3D assets from games?
gibrril_fa945a6cee
Posts: 550
in The Commons
Hi, I was wondering, is it possible to use 3D assets from games for Poser or Daz Studio Projects?
Is there a way you can export a building or a part of a city (or the entire thing if it cannot be divided up into smaller parts) out of a game like GTA or Assassins Creed and bring it into Poser or Daz Studio? (I see a lot of people making "mods" of popular games, so I was thinking these 3D assets could maybe be accessible somehow...
Thanks a lot,
Me
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Comments
There are ways to achieve this and actually an entire site dedicated to it (which I won't link because I don't know if it's legal), but their assets aren't rigged and I wouldn't know how to manually extract such files.
Depends on the game engine. There are tools available to access the data files for many older games like Skyrim. It is possible to extract the contents including meshes and textures using the software provided by developers, which could then be modified and used in D|S to make renders. Obviously, there are copyrights on the contents of games. However, a 2d image made using that content is probably fine so long as it is fan art and not sold for commercial use.
You would need to check the EULA for the game - as far as I am aware most would not permit this.
Aha, legal issues... Did not think about that... But reading this, it is indeed obvious.
Thanks a lot,
Me
It's entirely possible and some game companies even encourage fanart. As pointed out, check the EULA, and especially don't redistribute/share any mesh/textures you use from your games.
I am a gamer and have a few assets saved that I use from my games. Here are a few examples I have done with DS
Nice renders, FSMCDesigns.
Did you created these assets yourself?
If you have a purpose that falls within fair use, it's permitted, otherwise the EULA applies.
Some of the games, especially GTA, have fan made models available to add to the games as "Mods"... I don't use them, but have noticed them at sites like GTA Forums... I suppose you would look for them in forum section specifically for mods... Some of them are pretty big and detailed... I know for the Liberty City GTA, there were a couple of whole islands available... Mostly they had race tracks and courses, but there were other things too... Offhand I don't have any links, but just looking for "GTA game mods" should reveal lots of stuff. Usually the restriction on these is no commercial use, no redistribution of the model, and no passing the model off as your own work. Also they are usually in a format that the game uses, so they would require conversion to a format that DS or Poser uses.
EDITED TO ADD- I was curious, so I looked a bit into it... GTA Forums is not as easy to figure out where the mods are, like there does not seem to be a list of stuff to browse through... There is a site called GTAinside that does seem to have items in a gallery sort of format that can be browsed through... There are some buildings, but mostly it's vehicles and character skins.
Skyrim can be bought on sale for $5 on Steam, but I recommend the edition with all the expansions which is often on sale for less than $20. The publisher gives away a mod tool called the Creation Kit for modding the game. There are a ton of excellent mods available for free that include environments, homes, armor, weapons, etc. There are tools for extracting the BSA data files and converting NIF to OBJ format. Most of the modding community is happy to see their work used by others so long as credit is given to the original creators. Heck, if you've never played Skyrim, you might find yourself a new hobby...
Screenshots of Skyrim: http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/screenshots/
Speaking of Skyrim...do not leave out the older Elder scrolls titles.
the modding community might be happy to see their work used but I'm not sure commercial game devs want to see their assets used, especially if those assets are owned by a corporation. A crossbow that fires hello kitty cat heads that someone made in silo and a daedric sword the developer artist made under contract for Bethesda may be under two very different legal usage clauses.
OT, but tell me this exists...
I'm not sure it does...but I'll see if my daughter will do it...after she get the current dozen or so mods she's working on done...
Ah if it doesn't already exist, don't worry about it. Skyrim's still in my backlog (yes, I'm horrible, I know), and I can probably get a friend of mine to model one for me.
in the next tomb raider if you preorder you get chicken bombs, hello kitty arrows that would be so cool/funny to see though
I'd be shocked if it didn't. They had Zoidberg from futurama as mud crabs for cryin' out loud!
