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?



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.

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."