Titan Network

Community => City of Heroes => Topic started by: voodoogirl on September 05, 2012, 06:10:47 PM

Title: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on September 05, 2012, 06:10:47 PM
From Arcanaville's: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=296033

I am going to copy and paste as much of Arcana's posts on this process.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on September 05, 2012, 06:12:36 PM
Quote from: Arcanaville
So I was up last night looking over the moving pieces for this, and rather than try to write one big document for it all, I'm going to just post what I can as I can in the thread.

First: I have a dropbox link to OGLE for those that can't find it on the internet, which is probably all of you at this point because the thing seems to be in witness protection.

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.wearysloth.com%2FGallery%2FActorsS%2F15489-22099.gif)
Also, this guys seems really interested in my google searches now

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ysy9hon4f3mf4pe/SA_LZrs-1L (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ysy9hon4f3mf4pe/SA_LZrs-1L)

That link should have two things in it: a copy of GLintercept (source and exec) and OGLE.  GLintercept is basically the OpenGL shim driver.  Running and installing that just makes a directory in Program Files with all its jazz, it doesn't really "install" anything per se.  The OGLE binary distribution also creates a directory that puts its stuff in there. 

Here's how the magic happens.  You take the OpenGL32.DLL file from the GLintercept directory and copy that into your City of Heroes game client directory.  Then you take the OGLE binary distribution directory - all of it - and copy that into the plugins subdirectory of where ever GLintercept installed itself.  The directory should be renamed to be called OGLE if it isn't already (or you will need to make more config file edits).  Finally, you take the gliConfig_OGLE.ini file from the OGLE directory and copy that into your game directory, but you rename it gliconfig.ini and you edit it with what you want.

Here's what's important in that file:

1.  Directories.  There will be some references to the GLintercept directory created when you installed that above.  If you didn't change it, the main thing that you might need to fix is on a 64-bt OS it was probably installed into "Program Files (x86)" and the config file just says "Program Files".  You'll need to fix that, depending on what OS you run on.

2.  There's a line in the config file called "FrameStartKeys.  Its the set of keys you have to press simultaneously to "capture" a frame.  By default I think its CTRL+SHIFT+F.  Change that if you want that (especially since on most people's default keymaps that will cause you character to start sprinting forward at the same time).

3.  In the plugin section there's a setting called FileInFrameDir.  I like to set that to True.  More on what that does in a minute.

For the technically minded, there is a README for OGLE in its distribution directory under \docs.


All this cannot be done while the client is running.  You do all this, and then launch the client.  You should see more or less no change, although its possible the shim driver might slow down the client a little.  I haven't noticed myself.  I have seen the rare occasional crash while the plug in is installed so I don't leave it there all the time.  To disable OGLE once you set this all up, just rename the OpenGL32.DLL you copied into the client directory to something like OpenGL32.DLL.DISABLED.  When you want it, rename again.

When ready, hit your hotkey combination.  The game will freeze.  This is normal.  Upon hitting that key, the next frame the game tries to render will have all of its OpenGL commands being sent to the video adapter intercepted, processed by OGLE, and then spit out into a set of files.  That will of course take time.  On my system, a zippy Core i7-860 this takes about two to six seconds depending on geometry complexity, but I've seen it take as long as ten seconds.  When your client starts moving again, you have captured that frame.

What you get is a directory called something like Frame_006827 in your game client directory.  Within that directory is everything GLintercept and OGLE decided to log.  You should have a directory called DisplayLists which I suppose contain display list information but I've never really looked at carefully.  There should be another directory called Images that actually should contain little bitmap images of all the textures being sent to the renderers.  So those things are actually in there.

Some of it is real obvious:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8318%2F7915637708_a70dc4c2f3.jpg)
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8320%2F7915635604_d721eb3740_m.jpg)

Some are not obvious textures, but I can guess what might be used for:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8437%2F7915635046_af30919f1a_m.jpg)

But character textures use some projections I should probably recognize but don't:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8316%2F7915633102_4219a62a9b_t.jpg) (https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8041%2F7915633582_32e8400d2e_t.jpg) (https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8304%2F7915634046_d3fdd613ec_t.jpg)

Head, hands, and boobs.  According to Rob Liefeld, I've listed those in ascending order by mass.

And of course, sometimes there's:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8310%2F7915638796_9db5f445bd_m.jpg)

There's... uh... Wait.  I'm sorry, but W-T-F is that, Art Team?  Did you guys actually sneak an x-rated x-ray image into the game?  Holy ****.


Anyway, the last two things should be two text files: gliInterceptLog.txt and ogle.obj.  gliInterceptLog.txt is some light reading.  ogle.obj is the money shot (hey, I wasn't the one that put dick textures into the game).  Its a waveform-compatible .OBJ of the entire scene.

Now all you have to do is find you character (or whatever you want to capture) in there somewhere, and get that into something you can print, or alternatively import that into the 3D program of your choice and do whatever you want with it.  People who know how to use 3D modelling software correctly, as opposed to the random flailing around technique I use can take it from there mostly: the .OBJ format is supported by basically every 3D modelling software not made in North Korea.

For everyone else, I'll cover that next.


PS: I know you guys think I'm making up the dick texture, but I'm not.  Do the capture yourself, its so far shown up in every 3D capture I've done.  Whatever it is, its burned into the DNA of the game.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on September 05, 2012, 06:13:16 PM
Quote from: Arcanaville
The "my character is exploded into disconnected pieces" issue is something I now recall I fixed a while back.  I don't remember precisely how, so I'm taking a look at my configs and notes to see.  Stay tuned, but in the meantime here's some things to try:

1.  Turn off ultramode and reduce graphics settings to low values.  Since we're trying to extract the models, it doesn't matter how well the client renders them.

2.  Uncomment out the following lines near the bottom of the gliConfig.ini file:

//      ExtensionOverride = ("GLExtOverride/GLExtOverride.dll")
//      {
//    RemoveExtensions = (GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program);
//      }

What you are seeing are almost certainly the result of the game client using vertex programs, and OGLE doesn't capture them, so objects that are processed by vertex programs to deform and position themselves will end up basically at the origin and "straightened out."  Which is basically what a lot of people are seeing.

I remember sometimes the devs would release a build of the game, and this would break for me, and then the next build would fix it.  The current test client works for me, so I believe it should work or at least can work with the current client.

There are a couple of other issues that I will describe in more detail when I write up my processing post, but I notice in Blender I basically see the scene, albeit often rotated and offset oddly.  In Art of Illusion I see what looks like a giant inverted gemstone shape which is I believe the bounding boxes for the scene, and unless you delete those it will be very difficult to see the scene inside.  Again: not a 3D modeller, so not sure why the difference in the two apps.

So there's no confusion, when I do this on my test client and import the .OBJ into Blender, I get this:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8042%2F7918577968_85761ca2cc_z.jpg)

Zooming out, I get this:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8299%2F7918578208_8b9ec77914_z.jpg)

FYI, I'm standing in the parking lot in Talos: my character is standing with arms crossed to the right of center.  To the far right in the second image you can see the Freakshow that have been trying to steal a car from the hospital parking lot for the last eight years.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on September 05, 2012, 06:13:42 PM
Quote from: Arcanaville
I have a potential fix for the problems of characters being fragmented and then squished onto the origin.  If you're having trouble with capturing .OBJ files, try this:

1.  Add this command line switch to City of Heroes: -useTexEnvCombine

You can add that within the NC Launcher under Properties for the game, at the bottom, in the "Extra Command Line Parameters (Advanced) box.  If you are running demorecords, you can add that to the command line for however you do that.  For now, I've been skipping demolaunchers and just using a shortcut, but any way to inject that command line switch should work.

2.  At the bottom of gliConfig.ini, uncomment out these lines:

//      ExtensionOverride = ("GLExtOverride/GLExtOverride.dll")
//      {
//    RemoveExtensions = (GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program);
//      }

But change the RemoveExtensions line to read this:

RemoveExtensions = (GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object)


Bottom line it should look like this:

          ExtensionOverride = ("GLExtOverride/GLExtOverride.dll")
          {
    RemoveExtensions = (GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object)
    }



Apparently if you try to disable those extensions without the -useTexEnvCombine flag the client doesn't autodetect they are gone and tries to use them anyway, causing a crash.  If you add that flag, the client shouldn't use them either way, but I disabled them in the config anyway just to be on the safe side.

The net result is the game client doesn't attempt to use vertex programs anymore, which are OpenGL programs that can adjust the shape and location of meshes on the fly.  Without them, everything ends up captured in their default positions, which is why everything is scrunched up and in pieces.  In effect, this switch reverts the client to the pre-Ultra mode days of being stuck at OpenGL 1.1.  But interestingly, even when Ultra mode is disabled in settings, the client still uses higher 2.x constructs, just with less enhanced detail.

Anyway, try that everyone, and please report on your progress and whether it works or not.

Also, I'm still working on some documentation for what to do with these OBJ files, but a cautionary for those not knowledgeable about what's going on.  You can capture something that you think is wrong, but is actually right, if you don't understand how the game works.  For example:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8460%2F7924289372_429eecd31a.jpg)

This just looks like another failure.  A cape, floating in a blob of triangles.  But:

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8177%2F7924289602_4e4f6b7052_z.jpg)

Notice the model is actually perfectly intact and assembled.  Its just surrounded by a cloud of geometry that is being used by the FX engine to paint the auras and power effects surrounding the model.  Just delete those, and the model will be there inside.

Just because you don't see it in-game, doesn't mean its not there.  There are all sorts of invisible geometry floating around that is used to "paint" power effects in the air.  Be careful that you didn't get a good capture, but it just didn't look like it.

And FYI, that capture is from in-game, from the Live client, thirty minutes ago, using the recommendations I posted above.


A couple of other caveats:

1.  Capture in small enclosed spaces when you can to reduce the size of the OBJ export.  I notice many 32-bit 3D apps choke on outdoor busy exports.  64-bit Blender seems to do much better.

2.  Turn off auras and powers when capturing unless that's really what you want and are looking to experiment with texture mapping.  It'll just make the capture busier and add work.

3.  Captures work from demorecords, and demorecords can run standalone without the servers.  So if nothing else, demorecord what you want to keep.  Later, you might be able to 3d capture from those demorecords and export to other programs or a 3D printer even if the servers are gone.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on September 05, 2012, 06:14:35 PM
Quote from: Primantiss
2 immediate problems with using Subsurf;

1) The models rip with all tris, gotta get rid of the tris and clean up the edgeflow, or Subsurf looks like crap. This is because Subsurf uses Edge loops, if it cant make clean edge loops it doesn't work so well.

2) The polys aren't 'melded' together. Each one is separate, easy fix for this in blender is select all the vertices, and click the "remove doubles" option in the mesh toolbar. At least this was the case for me.

Here's a little experiment I did last night really quick, tried to up the poly quality of the Incarnate Boots, because they are ever so smexy;

(Thumbnail, click for full version.. dunno why, but my image embeds aren't working)
(https://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a327/Primantiss/th_Boots-1.png) (http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a327/Primantiss/?action=view&current=Boots-1.png)

Now I did a sloppy job, and it took the whole of 10 minutes, but its possible.


Also, ripping it in the T-Pose is your best bet if you want to pose it yourself, makes setting up a skeleton and rigging it so much easier. It's possible to do it without it, but you cant rely on great stuff like mirroring the weight paints.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on December 01, 2012, 08:42:23 AM
Just bring this up afresh to remind anyone who wants to do Figure Printing with their demos.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 11, 2012, 11:52:29 PM
Thanks SO SO much for posting this.  I have it up and running and am eagerly awaiting my first batch of 3d printouts :)

Has anyone had any success getting this to work with the new Icon tool?  I'd love to try and yank the models direct form the costume selector.  Icon crashes for me when I have  GLintercept and OGLE running.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Samuel Tow on December 13, 2012, 12:20:36 PM
What new Icon tool?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 13, 2012, 12:24:03 PM
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,7288.0.html (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,7288.0.html)

The stand-alone costume creator  :D
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: The Fifth Horseman on December 13, 2012, 01:02:54 PM
It's a launcher that gets the game client into costume creator mode without requiring login or connection to a server.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: ducklorange on December 13, 2012, 01:53:02 PM
Thanks SO SO much for posting this.  I have it up and running and am eagerly awaiting my first batch of 3d printouts :)

Has anyone had any success getting this to work with the new Icon tool?  I'd love to try and yank the models direct form the costume selector.  Icon crashes for me when I have  GLintercept and OGLE running.

I know I sound like I keep plugging this, but...

Try saving the .Costume from the character creator, loading it into DEMOlition (http://demolition.mcuznz.ca) and then running GLIntercept/OGLE while playing back the .demorecord file instead.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 13, 2012, 01:58:32 PM
Sweet. I totally missed that elsewhere.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: wei yau on December 13, 2012, 06:34:18 PM
I know I sound like I keep plugging this, but...

Try saving the .Costume from the character creator, loading it into DEMOlition (http://demolition.mcuznz.ca) and then running GLIntercept/OGLE while playing back the .demorecord file instead.

Plug away, my friend.

That tool is a lifesaver, as far as I'm concerned.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: themamboman on December 13, 2012, 06:41:19 PM
So, are there any recommended printing services on the web to do this (for those of us that don't have a 3d printer?)  Also, any chance of color printing of model with textures in place?

I would have loved to do this for my gf for Christmas.  We met on this game 6 years ago.  We were there the final night with our original characters.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 13, 2012, 06:50:39 PM
I've used Shapeways.com, but they seem to be swamped with orders-- I don't think anything ordered today would get out in time for Christmas.    Two other big ones are Ponoko.Com and Kraftwurx.com.

If by chance you are in the Boston area, Artisan Asylum has 3d printing classes on Sundays, then you can use their printer.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on December 13, 2012, 10:30:40 PM
I had trouble trying to order from Shapeways too.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 19, 2012, 11:11:49 PM
I got the Shapeways version of my Warshade back today.  So pleased!  It came out much better than expected. I can even see his little teeth.(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8078%2F8288600997_beba8ba64a_n.jpg)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arachnion on December 19, 2012, 11:34:53 PM
Wow, that looks fantastic!

Congrats!
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: JaguarX on December 20, 2012, 12:14:29 AM
I got the Shapeways version of my Warshade back today.  So pleased!  It came out much better than expected. I can even see his little teeth.(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8078%2F8288600997_beba8ba64a_n.jpg)

Wow that is nice.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Kistulot on December 20, 2012, 12:37:22 AM
I got the Shapeways version of my Warshade back today.  So pleased!  It came out much better than expected. I can even see his little teeth.(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8078%2F8288600997_beba8ba64a_n.jpg)

This might be one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

I am tempted to get one of my toon, even if it'd just be a solid color mass of awesomeness.  Would look good on the shelf next to my heroclix statesman and recluse :)

Of course I'm also tempted to get a purple dark nova and a white dwarf just because that sounds really cool >.>
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Cailyn Alaynn on December 20, 2012, 01:36:55 AM
Hey guys, I stumbled upon what that 'X-Rated' Image is! It's actually a Hair texture for the female statues. Which, Is kind of weird.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on December 20, 2012, 02:03:42 AM
I figured that out sometime ago - it's the center part of the hair and such, IIRC.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: eabrace on December 20, 2012, 03:31:48 AM
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8078%2F8288600997_beba8ba64a_n.jpg)
That is absolutely beautiful.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Ice Trix on December 20, 2012, 10:36:07 AM
I know I sound like I keep plugging this, but...

Try saving the .Costume from the character creator, loading it into DEMOlition (http://demolition.mcuznz.ca) and then running GLIntercept/OGLE while playing back the .demorecord file instead.

DEMOlition is frigging awesome.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on December 21, 2012, 01:20:31 AM
I got the Shapeways version of my Warshade back today.  So pleased!  It came out much better than expected. I can even see his little teeth.(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8078%2F8288600997_beba8ba64a_n.jpg)
Neato.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on December 21, 2012, 04:26:09 AM
I'd use Subdivision Surface in Blender to help smooth out some of the rougher edges.

How much did your print cost you from Shapeways?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 21, 2012, 10:17:55 AM
He was $25ish. I paid more for the ultra-detail plastic.

I'm kind of on the fence about how much to edit the models. For now I'd like to have a "light touch" and go for an accurate representation of what was in the game. Part of their CoH charm is their blockyness.

That said, the temptation of taking perfectly formed DAZ model hands and Frankensteining them on in place of the giant ham fists that most of the models have is also pretty tempting :D

Its very cool to see the difference in how refined the various costume bits are. Old vs. new sets especially. The Arachnos soldier stuff looks so much more refined than anything else. No smoothing required there.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Samuel Tow on December 21, 2012, 01:17:17 PM
That is absolutely beautiful.

Well, it's a Nova so I don't think "beautiful" is the right word, but that's definitely very impressive. Now I want one, too :)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Kistulot on December 21, 2012, 06:14:49 PM
Well, it's a Nova so I don't think "beautiful" is the right word, but that's definitely very impressive. Now I want one, too :)

I think it caaan be the right word, for the right person :)

I've been debating finding the means to nab one, and nab a dwarf too. It feels like it'd be the perfect compliments to my Recluse and States heroclix. Then I'd just need one of my main...

Too many good things out there to get!
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on December 21, 2012, 06:35:35 PM
I'm kind of on the fence about how much to edit the models. For now I'd like to have a "light touch" and go for an accurate representation of what was in the game. Part of their CoH charm is their blockyness.

That said, the temptation of taking perfectly formed DAZ model hands and Frankensteining them on in place of the giant ham fists that most of the models have is also pretty tempting :D
But nightmare fuel in the specific case of the Nova.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on December 21, 2012, 06:53:54 PM
Now, if we could correctly UV Unwrap them we could re-apply the textures and have them printed in color.

Or make new textures from scratch.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 28, 2012, 07:28:19 PM
I made some more-- had to share  :D

These were done on a local printer with pretty crappy resolution, but I'm still pleased with the way they came out.  With the exception of my fire tank who is missing half his face. ???

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8503%2F8319365046_6d3a2dc528_m.jpg)
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8216%2F8319364912_4295a2a5fe_m.jpg)
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8493%2F8319364606_518238d1a6_m.jpg)
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=farm9.staticflickr.com%2F8493%2F8318306165_e2f654c7db_m.jpg)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: therain93 on December 28, 2012, 09:00:38 PM
So, is a 6 inch height typically the standard?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Queen of Eels on December 28, 2012, 09:06:43 PM
6" would be pretty huge-- most printers can't do more than 6 or 8 inches.  I've been doing 3".
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: therain93 on December 28, 2012, 10:37:36 PM
6" would be pretty huge-- most printers can't do more than 6 or 8 inches.  I've been doing 3".
Interesting and good to know, thanks!
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on December 28, 2012, 11:24:45 PM
6" would be pretty huge-- most printers can't do more than 6 or 8 inches.  I've been doing 3".
The maximal print volume of my Cupcake is 100mm x 100mm x 130mm, or about 4in x 4in x 5in.  I got best results printing figures with a maximum height of about 110mm, or about four and a quarter inches.

Current printers have significantly better resolution and often slightly to significantly larger print volumes.  I think most of the RepRap based printers have varying print dimensions but generally similar maximum Z-axis height.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Hotaru on December 29, 2012, 01:05:22 AM
For people interested in 3D model printing in color, I saw something on Japanese TV recently about a printer that does that while forming the model in a mass of powdered plaster. When finished, they lifted the full color models out of the dust. One was a minature basketball, the other a collection of overlapping colored rings, as I recall. A quick search suggests they were using the Zprinter from Z Corporation. But not cheap - the Dezaegg company has some examples, like a 4x4x2 inch architectural model that ran a bit shy of US$500.
Dezaegg's info on the Zprinter (in Japanese, but nice pics): http://dezaegg.co.jp/zprinter/
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: voodoogirl on December 29, 2012, 01:07:39 AM
Shapeways does 3D color printing - the figure needs a texture file mapped to it and exported in a format that will retain that (like Collada.) So if we could find how to correctly UV unwrap the model and attach the texture files (recolored at least,) then they could be printed in color. Worst case scenario you make your own texture file to fit the model. Blender does have a tool that allows you to paint directly onto the model.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on July 24, 2015, 05:33:11 PM
I hate to thread necro, I really do, but since this one has already been started and it is still relevant and in depth I really don't see why I'd need to start anew.

Has anyone tinkered much with 3d capture programs?

is there any new light to be shed in this endeavor?

Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Rejolt on July 28, 2015, 06:31:26 AM
Nifty. I'm interested as well. Two-Plus years of printing improvements as well (I'd think). Any idea of the cost?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on July 28, 2015, 05:55:41 PM
I hate to thread necro, I really do, but since this one has already been started and it is still relevant and in depth I really don't see why I'd need to start anew.

Has anyone tinkered much with 3d capture programs?

is there any new light to be shed in this endeavor?

OGLE was capturing the models directly from the game as it rendered it in OpenGL, so a 3D capture program wasn't necessary to do any of the stuff in this thread.  What some people were doing was taking the raw captures and importing them into 3D modeling programs to do things like smooth some parts out that were jagged or had details that would not render properly in a 3D printer.

I personally haven't done a lot since this thread, but I know the state of the art in 3D printing even for hobbyists has advanced significantly in terms of maximum detail printable.  Two to three times the detail I was getting is now typical.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on August 05, 2015, 02:28:11 AM
I was experiencing problems with OGLE generating zero length files upon capture.

It came to light much later that my nvidia card doesn't play well with capturing any type of geometry. -switched to onboard video, problem solved.

I was wondering if there were any other programs that people might be using for geometry capture. I guess not.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on August 05, 2015, 02:32:03 AM
Nifty. I'm interested as well. Two-Plus years of printing improvements as well (I'd think). Any idea of the cost?

100$  for a standard character. (8 feet = 8 inches)

Custom jobs will be more depending on the complexity and joint assignment.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Rejolt on August 05, 2015, 04:50:26 AM
No color or icon details, correct? I think the chest emblem lighting bolt floats an inch off the chest.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on August 05, 2015, 09:09:27 AM
I was experiencing problems with OGLE generating zero length files upon capture.

It came to light much later that my nvidia card doesn't play well with capturing any type of geometry. -switched to onboard video, problem solved.

I was wondering if there were any other programs that people might be using for geometry capture. I guess not.

I'm unaware of any.  Actually, I had to resurrect Ogle itself from the grave, because it was not being actively developed at the time and it was almost impossible to find in the first place, as were any solid instructions on how to use it.

Whether it works or not has a lot to do with the OpenGL implementation, and often a simpler (and frankly slower) implementation often works better.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on August 05, 2015, 09:31:08 AM
Blank slate, No colors, details depend upon geometry.

That lightning bolt emblem sounds like a particle effect. Floaty lighting details on costume pieces usually are.

It would show up as a cube like structure, a workaround would be a good screenie of the costume piece, that would help me "add lib" something of its shape into place.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on August 05, 2015, 09:46:07 AM
I'm unaware of any.  Actually, I had to resurrect Ogle itself from the grave, because it was not being actively developed at the time and it was almost impossible to find in the first place, as were any solid instructions on how to use it.

Whether it works or not has a lot to do with the OpenGL implementation, and often a simpler (and frankly slower) implementation often works better.

I thank you for that resurrection. Your actions are heroic. Everything about Ogle is a priceless treasure. I'm going to build it a shrine.

Ogle works works perfectly with coh demos, works with diablo and starcraft2.

I haven't tested other video cards yet. I've got my eye on ATI next.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Cailyn Alaynn on September 07, 2015, 05:02:04 PM
You're getting empty files on NVidia due to the addition of ShadowPlay in the drivers. I don't know exactly why, but it breaks OGLE.
Or at least something added at the exact same time as ShadowPlay.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: MysticKitten on February 07, 2016, 04:35:54 PM
You're getting empty files on NVidia due to the addition of ShadowPlay in the drivers. I don't know exactly why, but it breaks OGLE.
Or at least something added at the exact same time as ShadowPlay.

Is there a way to disable Shadowplay?  I'm getting 0kb .obj files when I try and capture from either the server or a demorecord, and I'd really love to be able to do a print of my old characters.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Canine on February 07, 2016, 10:54:04 PM
I don't know if anyone's tried this route, but there's been a tiny part at the back of my brain has been wondering if loading a custom demorecord file in, pausing playback, taking a load of screens from multiple angles and then feeding them to a photogrammetry program like Autodesk 123D (http://www.123dapp.com/catch) might be a way of getting geometry and textures out in a usable form?

And regarding shadowplay, yes, it should be pretty straightforward to disable, open up "nVidia GeForce Experience" (horrible names R us (tm)), Click the Shadowplay button at the top right of the wondow, and click the big power button.

If it's already off, then nVidia must be doing something funky, so uninstalling GeForce Experience, and maybe rolling back to an old, OLD version of the drivers could be required.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 18, 2016, 09:01:20 PM
I'm going to try a  few things in regards to  Geforce settings for capture. Switching to my onboard gets the job done and capture works with Paragon chat flawlessly.

I should also point out that the huge male mesh is completed.

(https://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu291/krakken242/sword2_zpsvh17ytji.jpg)


(https://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu291/krakken242/hands_zpsinvowgpg.jpg)

Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Felderburg on February 19, 2016, 03:34:52 AM
Is that... articulated? How did you do that?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Aggelakis on February 19, 2016, 03:41:12 AM
Looks like pin joints.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Felderburg on February 19, 2016, 04:24:45 AM
Sure, but I meant how did the CoH model, which I thought was a solid piece, get split up into parts with such precision that they could be fitted together in a moving joint.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Aggelakis on February 19, 2016, 06:55:36 AM
Presumably in model editing software like Zbrush. You literally cannot take CoH's models and print them directly from the game, you'd get a pile of crap trying to pass as a Picasso.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on February 19, 2016, 07:46:21 AM
Sure, but I meant how did the CoH model, which I thought was a solid piece, get split up into parts with such precision that they could be fitted together in a moving joint.

I'd say much if not most of what you're looking at is MH's work in a 3d editor, using the CoH model as a base.  Quite impressive.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 19, 2016, 02:45:06 PM
Is that... articulated? How did you do that?

Fully articulated.

Before sunset I was running with "a crew" and we stumbled on the original thread of 3d capture. We went around capturing from other games as well, just for fun.

Sunset hit and life swept me away. Eventually life sort of stabilized so I thought to just tinker with the models. 3d -printing- wasn't much of a thing back then.

A couple of years ago I lucked out and got an Afinia. Iv'e been working (when I can) on translating what models I had images of. Demo records worked as well.

The real kicker was when Paragon chat came into being. With that I have a way to capture, translate and print poseable action figures.

(https://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu291/krakken242/c5ad6005-7f9f-464b-a934-540a55d53d27_zpsh7xkwjak.jpg)

Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 19, 2016, 02:47:06 PM
Sure, but I meant how did the CoH model, which I thought was a solid piece, get split up into parts with such precision that they could be fitted together in a moving joint.

Engineering

(https://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu291/krakken242/Hip%20square_zpstgklne6l.jpg)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 19, 2016, 03:00:05 PM
I'd say much if not most of what you're looking at is MH's work in a 3d editor, using the CoH model as a base.  Quite impressive.

Thank you!

This entire project has been a compromise of what is and is not possible.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Felderburg on February 19, 2016, 04:46:12 PM
I figured that was what happened. Now would you have to do that same "engineering" for every costume piece, or is that work easily translatable if you put (for example) a jacket on the huge model?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 19, 2016, 05:25:51 PM
Yes, every costume piece requires (hours/days of) translation. Costume pieces with geometry work the best. 

For Jackets, skirts, cloaks, capes, sleeves... Things that don't have much geometry and represents fabric and clothing it would be so much better to make your own, think doll clothes.

I have to go full Edna mode because capes ate my lunch a long time ago.

[(https://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu291/krakken242/NoCapes_zpspamaed88.jpg)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on February 19, 2016, 07:04:10 PM
For Jackets, skirts, cloaks, capes, sleeves... Things that don't have much geometry and represents fabric and clothing it would be so much better to make your own, think doll clothes.

Depends on the kind of printer you have, but skirts are possible with filament printing I've found.  Capes kinda sorta.  Clothing in general, not really.  And if you're going to try to make poseable or articulated models, you might as well consider making cloth-based clothing because obviously printing anything won't be flexible like cloth, so won't move correctly when the rest of your model moves.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 19, 2016, 08:16:05 PM
There's so much that a nice 3k resin printer could do for us in that endeavor.

I'd love to be able to put a nice flexible outfit over a printout.

Until/if I get the gear I'll stick with what works and for right now, as is that is going to be solid abs plastic.

As far as non poseable figurines, then yes, skirts, jackets, all of that  I can get done until you get to capes.

Capes would still be a problem, I could thicken them up but they would look very "not capey"   hmmm....
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on February 19, 2016, 09:47:13 PM
Capes would still be a problem, I could thicken them up but they would look very "not capey"   hmmm....

At least when I tried to print one (I haven't been playing around with this for a while now) thickening wasn't the problem because filament printing kinda does that automatically. The problem was that the cape tended to come out looking like it was made out of cardboard for a theater display.  Also, the software I was using decided to put scaffolding around it, which took a lot of plastic to print and a lot of time to remove.

If I can find the model I printed with a cape (it is probably in a box somewhere from when I did some renovations) I'll try to post a picture of what happened there.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on February 19, 2016, 11:19:15 PM
I remember that. Iv'e had a similar experience.

Even tried the upside down method and everything came out looking like.... not a cape.

By all means please share and thank you.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 22, 2016, 02:55:10 PM
Has anyone gotten this to work with Paragonchat? I'm trying to configure my OGLE, but so far I haven't been able to get a capture (or even a pause that indicates a capture) when I hit my hot keys.

Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Felderburg on April 22, 2016, 05:05:18 PM
I would suggest working with Titan Icon - not only are there more costume options (in NPC mode especially), but I suspect that the modifications Paragon Chat makes might complicate things than working with the client directly (but I have no actual idea since I'm not an expert).
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 23, 2016, 02:59:51 PM
Thanks, Felderburg, but still no joy. Checking my configs again to see if I missed something. Could also be graphics card or Windows 10. Anyone have thoughts on how well this works under new operating system? Or making sure I'm running in open GL? (Did CoX have alternate modes it could run under?)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Felderburg on April 23, 2016, 05:51:15 PM
Yes, but I don't know if they will be helpful: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Game_Client#Launching_the_Game
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 24, 2016, 09:52:17 PM
Okay, spent some time trouble shooting and found that the issue. FYI, this works in Paragon Chat as well as in Icon.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 25, 2016, 01:33:30 PM
We need to start a 3d printing thread and post our results :D
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 25, 2016, 02:31:04 PM
Not a bad idea, MH.

I've been able to extract my first mesh, but the results weren't what I was expecting. I had posed the characters in Paragon Chat using emotes, but what I got (After sorting through all the extraneous meshes and triangles that fill the massive scenes) was just the base character sections stacked on top of each other. I could have grabbed that from Icon with less fuss, but  I was hoping to get some posed models that I could build a new, hi-res mesh on top of (adding all the detail from the materials back in.) Still doable--these would be simple to rig on a skeleton--but based on the screen shots I had seen here, I'm wondering what the trick is to get the character to export in position is?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 25, 2016, 04:27:17 PM
Just thought I would put up some notes for anyone new to this, since I'm weaving through the pitfalls myself.

The models come in with UV coordinates, but I don't have the maps with me at work to try and texture the parts. I'll give it a shot later and post results.

Be advised that not all .obj importers like the files OGLE spits out. As a 3D artist, I fortunately had a couple of programs here at work to experiment with. 3DS Max 2016 has a robust obj importer with lots of settings to play with, but I've yet to find the combo that produces more than an exploded mass of triangles from these files. Cinema 4d has no load options, but still produced meshes that I could navigate and pull geometry out of. My pipeline at the moment is to resave the parts I want in .fbx format so I can work on them in Max.

Also, as the screenshots in this thread hint at, you're getting a ton of geometry you don't want. Every LOD model for characters and props and many of the enhanced buildings and geography that they added to improve the look of CoH will be dumped into the file. Just finding my character was a challenge (All the PC character model parts in the scene were lumped together near the world origin, 0,0,0 in my export; I had to sort through other heroes to isolate mine.) If animation data isn't going to save, Icon would be the way to go for character meshes. If posed characters can be exported, finding the most barren environment possible would be smart. I'm not sure where that is, however. Maybe a small, indoor location?

Of, course, CoH used very low polygon assets, so even when you get the model, it's very crude without the maps. Assets from later in the game's life seem a bit fancier; my piston boots have a ton of detail compared to the rest of my avatar. I'll be interested to see how some of my characters who dressed in add on pack costumes compare.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 25, 2016, 07:16:33 PM
Iv'e always had to flip the polys in my modeler. Everything always generates inside out polys for some reason.

As the extra polys are concerned, auras, some projected textures, and a few other things generate them, I tend to leave them out of costume creation.

Iv'e also found that in many cases the geometry captured is most uncooperative in modeler (and others Iv'e tried) and those cases require a complete rebuilding with only the points as a reference.

Kludge. Learn to hate that word. Kludge ruins prints. Kludge slows the create process. Kludge talks about you behind your back.

Kludge is the gathering of points in a poly that makes it scrambled and imperfect.

If one wants a perfect 3d printout one must have a perfect (or near perfect) model.

Removing kludge and aligning points is what makes it so time consuming (and expensive) for just a simple 3D figurine printout.

Those things must be perfectly hollow in order to print correctly. I mean PERFECT. No gaps, no holes, nothing stacked or intersecting or you will be setting yourself up for misprints.

I wish we had the source files, from what I learned everything, textures and all (was) Maya based. For animation purposes that would be ideal.

When capturing through Ogle, I always set my character detail to max. The best place I found to capture in an environment (in client) was on top of a very tall building, that puts most of the unwanted polys out the range of the geometry capture.

Character export position= timing + trigger happy keyframe. At least that's been my frustrating experience.

I have no idea why your poses aren't translating.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: saipaman on April 25, 2016, 07:21:05 PM
Would capture be better in of the unfinished zones?  I'm thinking about the Destroyed Galaxy City map.  Once you get behind the buildings, there is nothing there.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 25, 2016, 09:29:15 PM
The capture function has a fairly large range, that would more than likely encompass the entire starting zone.

All the fire, lights, geometry... it would all be there.

As much as I'd like for it to be...this never was a "plays well with others" kind of thing.

Edit: "Destroyed Galaxy City map"  Refresh my memory, that was the starting zone, right? or something else?

I get busy and I miss things, often, it takes heavy artillery to get my attention.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Felderburg on April 26, 2016, 12:17:42 AM
There should be a way to access that empty dev zone in Icon, or to even make a custom zone that's empty. My searching is poorly done, apparently, but I know that it's possible.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 26, 2016, 12:34:50 AM
Capture can be done in the costume editor, which eliminates all kinds of problematic geometry, and creates new ones depending on... everything.

It's how I was able to capture weapons -and certain poses.

The drawbacks are some of these actions can generate some type of aura. Any aura will come out like extra polys. Dust, wind effects, FREEEM...
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: saipaman on April 26, 2016, 03:49:56 AM

Edit: "Destroyed Galaxy City map"  Refresh my memory, that was the starting zone, right? or something else?


Yes, it was the new cooperative starting zone.  PC has easy access to a test map which is mostly empty.  There are buildings floating over head.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 26, 2016, 04:54:02 PM
Costume editor would definitely be the way to go, unless you want all the poses. I need to see if I can capture a katana there.

Navigating any zone capture will be crazy. You'll want a clear frame of reference to locate the pc. I was trying to put my guys under the statue of Atlas, but since I'm losing ALL TRANSLATION (Animation, position, even relative placement of costume parts) it was a waste of time for me.  The results were pretty freaky, though. Despite the lack of character position data, I was getting crazy rotations on multiple iterations of the geometry. It's like a scene from Inception.

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=s32.postimg.org%2Ffl4u88dmt%2Finception.jpg)

That's Atlas Plaza with the Statue and City Hall near the center of the image. The newer buildings that got a face-lift during the graphics upgrade are also captured. The bulk of the level was apparently built inside the game engine, as I would expect for a game of this age, and is not included in the GLintercept grab. So putting you're character away from landmarks might help isolate the model, but it could also leave you with no frame of reference for finding your hero. FYI to new users, none of this geometry is exported with meaningful names, so you're searching visually.

I'm wondering if my version of GLintercept is causing issues. I wasn't able to run using V 0.5. It prevented the client from running. I grabbed the latest version I could find (1.6 something?) and it seemed to work, but since I'm getting weird translation, I'm wondering what version others are using?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Codewalker on April 26, 2016, 05:38:25 PM
Age of the model doesn't really have anything to do with it, other than some of the pieces of the Atlas Park revamp are much larger (entire city blocks as a single model), so they're easier to pick out of the jumble. The older assets tend to be much smaller pieces that are assembled in the map editor.

The game itself puts the models themselves into vertex buffer objects and uploads them to the GPU. The vertex program on the GPU handles transforming the models into their final positions, as well as deforming the meshes of models with bones. That allows the game to take advantage of hardware acceleration for geometry transformation.

I've never used GLintercept, so I'm not sure what it does exactly, but it sounds like it's pulling the models out of the VBOs. That makes sense -- I can't think of a reasonable way for a software intercept hook to get the final transformed verticies short of emulating a video card and running the vertex program itself.

I'm actually kind of surprised you were able to get a complete costume, as costume pieces are drawn and transformed separately. I guess it makes sense that the untransformed 'resting' position of various costume pieces would align with each other.

Turning off the "Use Geometry Buffers" option in the advanced graphics settings menu may help you get a cleaner capture. That will disable the use of VBOs and vertex programs entirely and force the game to perform all of the transformations in software and send the final vertex positions in the draw calls. It just depends on how good GLintercept is at capturing non-VBO data from the fixed function pipeline.

If you're using icon, you can also intentionally choose an invalid map name. Then you'll have nothing but the player character and the skybox to deal with.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on April 26, 2016, 07:11:13 PM
The game itself puts the models themselves into vertex buffer objects and uploads them to the GPU. The vertex program on the GPU handles transforming the models into their final positions, as well as deforming the meshes of models with bones. That allows the game to take advantage of hardware acceleration for geometry transformation.

I've never used GLintercept, so I'm not sure what it does exactly, but it sounds like it's pulling the models out of the VBOs. That makes sense -- I can't think of a reasonable way for a software intercept hook to get the final transformed verticies short of emulating a video card and running the vertex program itself.

GLintercept is an OpenGL shim: it catches the OpenGL rendering commands and basically spits the primitives out to a file in OBJ format.

It actually *doesn't* do a good job (or any job) with transforms, which is why the only way to run it effectively is to disable ultra mode and to disable those ARB extensions in the opengl config file as mentioned in my instructions.  That forces the client (I presume) to render without vertex transformation programs.  If you don't do this step, you end up with models showing up in the OBJ file as a set of disassembled parts at the origin stretched out like someone ax-murdered the Vitruvian Man.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Codewalker on April 26, 2016, 07:35:02 PM
Oh, ok, I didn't read the full directions. Disabling GL_ARB_vertex_program will have the same effect as turning off the geometry buffers option, so sounds like that's already being done. GLintercept must just not take the worldview matrix into account when dumping objects.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on April 26, 2016, 07:48:50 PM
Oh, ok, I didn't read the full directions. Disabling GL_ARB_vertex_program will have the same effect as turning off the geometry buffers option, so sounds like that's already being done. GLintercept must just not take the worldview matrix into account when dumping objects.

As I understand it, GLintercept attempts to create a literal translation of the rendering commands to your dump file.  In fact, configured correctly it will, if you leave them on, dump the ARB translation commands into the file itself.  Which does you no good, but there it is.  I think the only translations it does are transliterations converting OpenGl draw commands into OBJ format, but not much less.  This can cause weirdness: sometimes the OBJ files contained illegal or other strangeness, like NaNs, which I always assumed were due to rendering errors caused by City of Heroes itself that were being dumped as-seen into the OBJ file.  Most OBJ readers didn't like those much.

The way to tell it to dump the geometry is with a hotkey: hitting the hotkey signals GLintercept to kick in on the next rendered frame: everything rendered within that frame gets dumped to the file, then GLintercept goes back to sleep.  So GLintercept doesn't so much pull geometry out as it siphons geometry as OpenGL draws it.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 26, 2016, 10:38:58 PM
Costume editor would definitely be the way to go, unless you want all the poses. I need to see if I can capture a katana there.

Navigating any zone capture will be crazy. You'll want a clear frame of reference to locate the pc. I was trying to put my guys under the statue of Atlas, but since I'm losing ALL TRANSLATION (Animation, position, even relative placement of costume parts) it was a waste of time for me.  The results were pretty freaky, though. Despite the lack of character position data, I was getting crazy rotations on multiple iterations of the geometry. It's like a scene from Inception.

(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=s32.postimg.org%2Ffl4u88dmt%2Finception.jpg)

That's Atlas Plaza with the Statue and City Hall near the center of the image. The newer buildings that got a face-lift during the graphics upgrade are also captured. The bulk of the level was apparently built inside the game engine, as I would expect for a game of this age, and is not included in the GLintercept grab. So putting you're character away from landmarks might help isolate the model, but it could also leave you with no frame of reference for finding your hero. FYI to new users, none of this geometry is exported with meaningful names, so you're searching visually.

I'm wondering if my version of GLintercept is causing issues. I wasn't able to run using V 0.5. It prevented the client from running. I grabbed the latest version I could find (1.6 something?) and it seemed to work, but since I'm getting weird translation, I'm wondering what version others are using?

Something going on here worth mentioning... it looks like there are multiples being generated. I see at least three Atlas globes.

It seems to be in that one second keyframe there is enough time to generate multiple layers.

That would explain why some models were so difficult to work with, laggy, choppy, system intensive... super combative during subtraction/addition sculpting.

Although they were simple constructs, they had numerous layers and I have no way to discern how many.

Interesting...

 
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dreadnaught on April 27, 2016, 02:27:43 AM
MH, yes, the duplication is interesting, not sure what to make of it. It's consistant, every time I try a grab of Atlas, I get this. I also tried your tip on capturing inside the costume editor. I was able to grab weapons that way, but I couldn't get any poses or even costume geometry.

Codewalker, thanks for the invalid map tip. That certainly simplifies finding character parts.

Arcana, I did follow the instructions for disabling GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program, and GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, but still have the static costume parts stacked at world origin.

I'm using GLintercept v1.3, but whether that matters, I don't know.

Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 27, 2016, 05:08:17 AM
As far as the duplicates are concerned- I don't think it's your GLintercept. This might be hardware/driver related. My zero length files definitely were.

Another thing to consider; seeing as how duplicates are being generated, that's in the outer areas, where only two or three passes get stacked.

One step further means any captures done inner area, like the costume editor, might actually generate many more stacked copies due to not having to render anything else.

I thought I was the only one dealing with multiples. Seems it's a Glintercept thing. <---guessing

Once you do get the geometry you are after you will need to "flatten the image" not just the additional points but the polys as well.

I'm not familiar with blender so I'm unaware of the tools you may have at your disposal.

Stacked geometry, kludged geometry confuses printers.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Garble on April 27, 2016, 03:14:41 PM
I've actually had better luck doing grabs inside of buildings because it limits how much extra info is captured. It's kind of like a paint bomb going off and everything that gets touched gets captured.

If I do it inside City Hall I just have to remove the building parts and some statues in order to get my toon. If I do it outdoors everything gets grabbed. Even buildings beyond the war walls.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on April 28, 2016, 10:00:59 PM
Inside city hall would probably be the best place to do captures.

Location, familiarity, navigation... yeah I'll vote for that.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on April 29, 2016, 02:24:28 AM
There are zones in the game that are test zones that are essentially empty.  I believe you can get to them within Icon.  If you can make GLintercept work with Icon, you should be able to zone into one of them and be able to capture geometry where the only things that exist are your character and perhaps the bounding boxes of the zone.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dyne on May 01, 2016, 04:02:35 PM
 I used this some time ago to try capturing my characters, but I was getting weird scaling issues on parts back then.  My most recent round with Icon a few years ago resulted in frequent crashes due to a dying motherboard, so I didn't get very far.

Having recently got a printer, I'm hoping to do some friends' characters for gifts (I already have costume files).  Unfortunately, I now have an NVidia card with Shadowplay, and I don't have onboard video on my current motherboard.  Installing an old GPU for this seems like a less than optimal solution.

(PS: I'm still alive.  Just been very busy with other things.)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: TimtheEnchanter on May 01, 2016, 10:06:10 PM
There are zones in the game that are test zones that are essentially empty.  I believe you can get to them within Icon.  If you can make GLintercept work with Icon, you should be able to zone into one of them and be able to capture geometry where the only things that exist are your character and perhaps the bounding boxes of the zone.

Or just make your own empty map.

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,7551.0.html
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dyne on May 02, 2016, 01:33:35 PM
I stupidly missed the part where you should choose gLIntercept (I grabbed both arcana's dropbox version and the latest from github) based on the application, not the operating system.  CoH is a 32 bit app.  The 64 bit gLIntercept wasn't responding at all. 

Fixing that made it work.  Sort of.  It was hiccupping for a few seconds and putting Frame folders in the Paragon Chat directory (rather than in the COH folder, where I expected it to put them, and where the config and opengl32.dll are located).  Those folders contained Images and Shaders subfolders, but no object.  But at least it was responding.

Briefly.  Then I realized that I'd forgotten to fix the plugin path in the gliconfig.ini, so it wasn't using Ogle at all.  After fixing that, I can't get ParagonChat to start COH.   All it says is "Failed to launch client".

If I deliberately break the plugin path, it starts opening CoH and creating folders again, but (obviously) not saving an object.  I don't think it likes ogle.  This happens with both the 0.5 version of gLIntercept and the current 1.3.3 version from github.  I "reinstalled" ogle to no effect.

I tried to figure out how to pass -useTexEnvCombine to CoH.  Unless Paragon Chat passes any unrecognized command line switches to the client (which it might, but I can't recall), I can't see any way to use that option.  Either way, putting it in the PChat properties doesn't help.

I also tried putting the system's opengl32 into the game directory and setting GLSystemLib, but that didn't help either.

Unless the lack of -useTexEnvCombine is the problem, I'm stumped.  Given that the DLL and config files are in the COH directory and the Frame folders are ending up in the Paragon Chat directory, maybe something is confused?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Pengy on May 02, 2016, 02:34:40 PM
I tried to figure out how to pass -useTexEnvCombine to CoH.  Unless Paragon Chat passes any unrecognized command line switches to the client (which it might, but I can't recall), I can't see any way to use that option.  Either way, putting it in the PChat properties doesn't help.

I also tried putting the system's opengl32 into the game directory and setting GLSystemLib, but that didn't help either.

Unless the lack of -useTexEnvCombine is the problem, I'm stumped.  Given that the DLL and config files are in the COH directory and the Frame folders are ending up in the Paragon Chat directory, maybe something is confused?
I'm pretty sure you need -useTexEnvCombine to keep your character from appearing as a pile of miscellaneous parts at the origin.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dyne on May 02, 2016, 03:02:07 PM
I'm pretty sure you need -useTexEnvCombine to keep your character from appearing as a pile of miscellaneous parts at the origin.

Back in post number four (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,4947.msg45382.html#msg45382), voodoogirl quoted this:

Quote from: Arcanaville
Apparently if you try to disable those extensions [nb. referring to a GLIntercept setting] without the -useTexEnvCombine flag the client doesn't autodetect they are gone and tries to use them anyway, causing a crash.

I cleared the "Use Geometry Buffers" otion in CoH that was mentioned upthread, so it may not be needed.  But since I'm out of ideas otherwise, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it.

Hm.  Maybe I can convince someone that has it working with Paragon Chat to do some character captures and put them on dropbox or whatever for me, for the time being.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on May 02, 2016, 08:00:49 PM
Sharing my experience, Confirmed: Nvidea's shadowplay breaks capture.

Iv'e had success with an older ATI, a laptop onboard, and my desktop onboard (intel hd same as laptop).
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: saipaman on May 02, 2016, 11:03:23 PM
Is OGLE .3b (the version in link in the first message of the thread) the last version?

Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dyne on May 03, 2016, 03:55:11 PM
Sharing my experience, Confirmed: Nvidea's shadowplay breaks capture.

Yeah, I saw that.  I was just wondering if any progress had been made in the meantime.


Is OGLE .3b (the version in link in the first message of the thread) the last version?

As far as I can tell, yes.

I'm a little surprised nobody has put OGLE up on github, actually.  It is open source, after all (GPL v2).  While there are a number of github repos for projects called "ogle" on there, none of them appear to be the same program (OpenGL Extractor).

Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.  While I could easily put it there myself, it'd just be something that others could download or fork.  I don't have the skills or time to do anything to maintain it.

There is a sourceforge page (https://sourceforge.net/projects/ogle/?source=navbar), but it doesn't seem to have any files.  It just has a link to http://ogle.eyebeamresearch.org/ (OGLE's Eyebeam Research download page, which is a dead link).  And, well, it's Sourceforge. 

The no-longer-updated Eyebeam research project page (http://archive.eyebeam.org/projects/ogle) has the same dead link to the download page.


I came across this (http://superuser.com/questions/297000/software-to-capture-3d-geometry) while looking for the correct link to the Eyebeam page.  Might try to fiddle with the other two programs mentioned there (the fourth bullet point is a dead link and the program wasn't named, so it's hard to figure out what that one was).
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Arcana on May 03, 2016, 06:18:21 PM
I came across this (http://superuser.com/questions/297000/software-to-capture-3d-geometry) while looking for the correct link to the Eyebeam page.  Might try to fiddle with the other two programs mentioned there (the fourth bullet point is a dead link and the program wasn't named, so it's hard to figure out what that one was).

I should point out that the OGLE distribution I linked for people is actually a combination of GLintercept and the OGLE plugin.  GLintercept is the OpenGL shim that intercepts OpenGL commands and OGLE is the plugin that takes those commands and converts them into OBJ format and spits them into a file.  Technically they are two different pieces of software but they work together: OGLE can't do anything without GLintercept.  3D Ripper is another program I discovered when I was originally researching this, but I believe it is DirectX only and I found it to be even more finicky than OGLE.  Of course, my information on that software is several years old at this point.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Dyne on May 03, 2016, 08:21:52 PM
I should point out that the OGLE distribution I linked for people is actually a combination of GLintercept and the OGLE plugin.

Yeah, I've used it in the past as mentioned upthread.  At the time, it worked (sort of -- at least it captured obj files).  But that was not while using Paragon Chat, and not on my current motherboard or GPU.

Quote
Technically they are two different pieces of software but they work together: OGLE can't do anything without GLintercept

On my system it apparently can't do anything with GLintercept, either.  :)

More accurately, GLintercept works fine, but Ogle does not.  As soon as OGLE is brought into the mixture as a plugin, Paragon Chat will no longer launch the COH client after logging in.

If I start the client myself (using -project "cohtest" on the commandline to skip the ncsoft launcher) without involving Paragon Chat, it doesn't crash; I just get the typical CoH "Loading" on the screen for about a second, then it exits silently.  I'm not sure if that says anything useful or not.

When I get a chance, I'll try testing with Icon and see if that fares better.

Quote
3D Ripper is another program I discovered when I was originally researching this, but I believe it is DirectX only and I found it to be even more finicky than OGLE.  Of course, my information on that software is several years old at this point.

Yeah, I have an installation of it on my machine from 2012, and at the time it was DirectX only (indeed, the program is actually called "3DRipperDX").  Apparently the page I that linked was incorrect, because they were discussing it in the context of OpenGL and claimed it did both, but the website they link to still says OpenGL isn't supported.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Plextorette on January 17, 2018, 02:03:55 PM
I know this thread is a bit old, but thanks for all the work that went into it. I am finally printing my character with my FlashForge Creator Pro! Had to learn a bit of Blender and what I could not figure out was fixed with Microsoft 3D Builder (Simplify 3D was not able to create supports without fixing in 3D Builder).

- Plex

Update: I've since learned there are a lot of steps needed to make the character printable (I was only able to initially print the legs). Sculpteo has a great set of tutorials to help you make your character printable at https://www.sculpteo.com/en/tutorial/  (https://www.sculpteo.com/en/tutorial/)
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Matt Bold on November 21, 2018, 04:04:48 AM
Sorry for necroing this thread.  Anyone ever run into an issue with 0 byte ogle.obj files?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Velluminous on March 07, 2019, 07:50:29 PM
Sorry for necroing this thread.  Anyone ever run into an issue with 0 byte ogle.obj files?

Sorry to Necro-post, but this 0 byte ogle.obj files is the exact problem that I've been running into.   I've been trying this with different configurations all day with no success.

Icon crashes whenever I uncomment the ExtensionOverride (see below)
//      ExtensionOverride = ("GLExtOverride/GLExtOverride.dll")
//      {
//    RemoveExtensions = (GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_fragment_program);
//      }

Could someone who has gotten this to work successfully maybe upload their gliConfig.ini ?
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: Mister Hassenpheffer on March 08, 2019, 08:23:39 PM
Capture does NOT play well with Nvidea cards. 

Shadowplay breaks OGLE capture.

Switch to onboard video if its an option.

A cheapo laptop could also be a viable solution as long as the graphics chipset is NOT Nvidea.
Title: Re: Figure Print Process [Arcanaville]
Post by: DrBoston on June 02, 2019, 12:27:03 AM
Here's how to clean up a part, once it's exported.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XF9QWSRDltgij1sYPBGctl-3XksFavU9DeneU2S5SRI/edit?usp=sharing