OGLE
OGLE: The OpenGLExtractor is a tool that lets you grab 3d data out of an OpenGL application and output it as models again.
What does that mean?
- It means that someone with a 3d printer can get 3d statuettes of their Second Life character. They can send it off to be manufactured, if they like.
- It means that you can snag any 3d model you like out of someone else’s game data, and insert it into your own 3d scene. So much for stealing textures… 😉
The most intriguing results are of course from bringing the virtual stuff into meatspace (MMO companies have talked forever about making custom action figures of cherished characters, and now it looks like that business opportunity window might be closing…). There are so many applications there the head spins.
But I suspect the other use will be more likely: people using models to learn from and to repurpose.
So much for limiting your range of avatar poses, for example — now anyone with this software and 3d modeling software can build any scene they like. (They usually like pr0n). And what goofy game remixes will we get — freeware shooters where you shoot the Horde?
Very promising for machinima, though.
Ah, if I was still stubscribed, I’d want to capture my Star Wars Galaxies character with that (BTW, on that topic, Raph, do you have any involvement in the doings of SWG nowadays whatsoever? I’m not against the NGE like so many other people are, but I also think that the game is in a far less stable state now than it was at launch.).
The idea is definitely very clever. Might even motivate me to improve my 3D Animation skills so I can export and animate models from games. Very very promising and definitely makes such a field more user-friendly.
I haven’t been involved with SWG since around the time Holocrons started dropping — so, literally, since a few months after launch. I started phasing out right as the game launched, and the last stuff I was really involved in were The Warren, cities, mounts, and (barely) vehicles.
Have you followed or played at all? I was just always rather curious about the circumstances of your departure, considering that you had put so much into the game. Did you disapprove of the direction that the game was going before launch?
The circumstances of my departure are that I was offered a promotion a few months before the game launched, and I took it, but said I had to stay on until launch. After launch, I transitioned off over the course of a few months.
I stay away from discussing the game on this blog.
Not so fast.
To do this you need a game which a) uses OpenGL (although similar tools exist for DirectX and, what’s more important b) has very, very simple vertex shaders. For a game with reasonably complex skeletal animation, compressed vertices and maybe several vertex streams, and it quickly becomes an exercise in reverse-engineering. Not at all impossible, but a far cry from casual user stuff.
Yeah, on their webpage they actually have a list of games they have tried it with. The ones that use vertex shaders tend to come out in the bind pose, based on what I read there…
That sounds like what I’d expect, yeah. Though, you could presumably repose the model using another piece of software, prior to printing, if that was your goal. (Still a pain in the neck if you’re just the average player.)
Slashdotted! 😉
Darn it, Zonk, you knocked “Moore’s Wall” off the Top 10. 😉
hey all, author of OGLE here. I discovered that some games don’t actually require Vertex Programs for positioning. Using GLIntercept to disable Vertex Programs actually allows for a much better capture (i.e. positioning as you see in the game), as I have just added to the FAQ:
http://ogle.eyebeamresearch.org/readme#faq
Thanks for all the interesting feedback!
All very interesting… or you can always buy cardboard cutouts of your characters via eBay.
In case anyone is interested, I blogged about the implications of this last year when I used HijackGL to grab data and then converted it over to “solid” geometry typically used for manufacturing. In effect, I was showing how 3D data could be not only ripped from a stream, but how it could be turned into manufacturable CAD data intended not just for rp systems, but mass production… with the associated repercussions on a wide range of topics.
The details of the conversion are at the end of a rather long post that’s actually more about marketing than engineering or design. You can read that here: http://blog.rebang.com/?p=186
If the convergence issue is of interest (i.e. you slugged through the whole post), you might want to read something more recent (and even longer, sorry): http://blog.rebang.com/?p=577