Friday, February 21, 2020

Extracting 3D models as base references for papercrafts from yaz0r's ModelViewerWX D3D9 without distortion


When I started my Kingdom Hearts Leon papercraft, I showed you how I used yaz0r's ModelViewerWX D3D9 together with Roman Lut's 3D Ripper DX to extract the actual 3D game model to use as a base reference. I used that method because I used it before and I knew it worked, even if the 3D model has a scale distortion (which is easy to fix).

Just as I was finishing the papercraft model though, Paperlegend read my extracting tutorial and sent me a message telling me about a method using the Ninja Ripper tool by blackninja instead, which will  extract the 3D model without distortion so I wanted to share that method with you too! 🙂


  • NOTE BEFOREHAND: I had to tell my antivirus software to exclude the Noesis folder from its scans or it would block the tool from working (it seems to be fine with ModelViewer WX and Ninja Ripper). Only do this if YOU trust the tool as well of course, and NEVER turn off your antivirus software completely!!


Capturing Kingdom Hearts 3D models with ModelViewerWX D3D9 and Ninja Ripper

- The steps to extract the Kingdom Hearts .mdls model files and .mset animation files that you will need with yaz0r's ModelViewer WX D39D are the same of course, so for that I will refer you to the first part of the original tutorial: https://ninjatoes.blogspot.com/2020/01/image-burners-dumpers-model-viewers.html

- Download and unpack the .7z archive containing yaz0r's tools from the MediaFire link in the XeNTaX forums and find the ModelViewerWX D3D9 tool (in the "Final Fantasy X, X-2, XII soft > yaz0r sorf forum backup" folder after unpacking the .7z file).


- Now, instead of 3D Ripper DX, download the Ninja Ripper V1.7.1 tool by blackninja here: http://cgig.ru/ninjaripper/

- Ninja Ripper works similar to 3D Ripper DX, in that you have to run the application you want to capture from through Ninja Ripper. So start Ninja Ripper (after unpacking the downloaded .7z file, you can find a 64-bit version in the x64 folder, and a 32-bit version in the x86 folder; both of them seemed to work for me, but try the other if one doesn't work of course) and set the Target (DX 11/9/6/7/6 application) by clicking the three ... dots next to the Exe: box and then browing to the ModelViewerWXD3D9.exe file.

- Ninja Ripper will automatically determine an Output Directory, but you can change it if you want by clicking the three ... dots next to the Dir: box.

- You can choose several wrapper modes from the dropdown menu depending on the DirectX version of the application you want to capture from, but the Intruder Inject mode worked fine for me so that's what I used.

- Now click the Settings button and make a mental note of the All Rip key (F10 by default, but you can change it if you want). Close the settings windows again and then finally click the Run button to start ModelViewerWX D3D9 through Ninja Ripper.



- Open a Kingdom Hearts .mdls file and its animations in ModelViewerWX as explained in the original tutorial: https://ninjatoes.blogspot.com/2020/01/image-burners-dumpers-model-viewers.html


- Once you've found a pose you like, press Ninja Ripper's All Rip key (F10 by default) and the tool will create a new in the Output Directory specified in its configuration screen (by default, it will be in the folder with the .exe file of the executable you're trying to capture from; you can also quickly find it by clicking the Browse button next to the Output Directory box in the Ninja Ripper configuration screen).

- You will find that Ninja Ripper captures the texture images as .dds files (which you can convert using an image editing program, a special tool, or an online image conversion website) and the actual 3D model as .rip files.

- To open the .rip files, Ninja Ripper comes with several plugins for GIMS Evo (Game Indefinite Modding Suite Evolved), 3DS MAX, Blender and Noesis. For this tutorial, I will show you how to use Noesis, because it's a small program you don't even have to install.



IMPORTANT NOTE: what you might need to do though, is to have your antivirus program to allow you to run the Noesis tool (mine would block it, thinking it was a malicious process). Only do this if YOU trust the tool, and NEVER turn off your antivirus software completely of course!!



Converting Ninja Ripper's .rip files to Wavefront .obj files with Noesis

- Download Noesis version 4.4191 from Rich Whitehouse's website and unpack the .zip file to find the Noesis.exe tool inside: http://www.richwhitehouse.com/index.php?content=inc_projects.php&showproject=91

- Now before running Noesis, copy and paste the fmt_ninjaripper_rip.py file from Ninja Ripper's noesis_importer folder to Noesis's plugins > python folder.


- Start Noesis, and in the file tree on the left, browse to the Output Directory where Ninja Ripper exported the .rip files. Double-click one of the .rip files to preview the 3D model. Although the body parts are exported separately, you will see that they don't have the distortion that the captured 3D model from 3D Ripper DX had.


- Choose Export in the File menu to open the export dialog box. For papercraft, I always like to export the game models as Wavefront .obj file, which you can choose from the Main output type dropdown list.

- Click the Export button. By default, Noesis will export the file to the same folder of the .rip file you're converting (you can change this by clicking the Browse button under the Destination File(s) box).

- Do the same for the other .rip files so you will have .obj files for all the separate body parts of the model.





Putting Leon back together in Metasequoia

- I like to use Metasequoia for working with 3D models for creating papercrafts so that's the method I'll be showing, but you can use other 3D programs as well. Open the first .obj file in Metasequoia.

- In the OBJ Import dialog box, make sure the Move to center and Invert V of mapping boxes are NOT checked, but the Flip left and right and Invert faces boxes ARE checked! (this way, the separate body parts should be imported in their correct positions, the textures orientation should be correct and the faces (polygons) should be oriented correctly too)


- After opening the first .obj file, click File > Insert and select the second .obj file

- Again, make sure the Move to center and Invert V of mapping boxes are NOT checked, but the Flip left and right and Invert faces boxes ARE checked to make sure the speparate body parts are inserted in their correct positions and the textures will be oriented properly. Do the same for all the other exported .obj files.



- Now you can assign the exported .dds texture image files to the materials created in Metasequoia (note that you will have to convert the .dds texture images later on if you want to use them with Pepakura Designer!) and you will have a 3D Leon without any distortions that you can use as base reference for a new papercraft model! 🙂


As you can see, this method involves a few more steps than using 3D Ripper DX, but the big advantage of course is that you won't have to "guestimate" correcting any distortion of the 3D model, so this is a very good alternative to 3D Ripper DX!

Tools used:
- ModelViewerWX D3D9 by yaz0r: https://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?t=7538 (has a link to a MediaFire archive with many other of yaz0r's tools as well)
- Ninja Ripper V1.7.1 by blackninja: http://cgig.ru/ninjaripper/
- Noesis version 4.4191 by Rich Whitehouse: http://www.richwhitehouse.com/index.php?content=inc_projects.php&showproject=91

If you liked this tutorial and want to save it, you can download the combined steps as this single image:


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