April 09, 2013

WIP 003 - 3D Capturing Death by Degrees' Nina Williams




Death by Degrees Nina Williams CG
WORK.IN.PROGRESS To extract the games higher-poly in-engine 3D assets I had to play through Death by Degrees for what felt like the 47th time, this time frantically meticulously capturing frame after frame. Ughhh...

Death by Degrees Nina Williams CGI
Death by Degrees Nina Williams Character Art
Death by Degrees Nina Williams PlayStationCharacter Model
Death by Degrees PlayStation Character Model Extract
Death by Degrees Anna Williams Character Model
Death by Degrees Heihachi Mishima Character Model
Death by Degrees Nina Williams 3D Mesh
Death by Degrees Nina Character Model Extraction
Death by Degrees Nina Playstation Cutscene Model
The images above represent the scenes that were the easiest to work with in a 3D environment during the later editing process, providing additional options for viewing angles different to those used in the game, and these are the ones I will most likely be working on. More action heavy scenes produced heavily skewed character models and environments that would only work from a very specific angle (/the exact same one used in the game). As you can see, I have finally had the chance to confront Heihachi as the final boss of the game. His introduction was both hilarious and fitting, basically just kicking Anna off the screen. 
I could have easily smoothened the models with just one click, but I really like that polygonal look, at least for this previewing purpose. Once I have the textures extracted and ready to be applied, I will start working with smooth meshes, so the character models will look exactly like they did in the game (only better!).

13 comments:

  1. How do you manage to take rip from the game?

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    1. Hi Alex,
      I use PCSX2 to extract 3D data and then edit the meshes using both Blender and 3DS Max. If you don't have 3Ds Max, don't worry, you don't really need it, you can just use Blender for editing, which is free. PCSX2 is free too, all you really need is a copy of the game.

      Here's a great tutorial covering the whole process (incl how to get textures and fix them):
      [Tutorial] Ripping PS2 3D Models

      Hope it helps!

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  2. Is there any way you can provide some of the model and texture captures in the future?

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    1. I'm waiting for the extraction tools to improve so the assets can be axtracted in their actual dimensions. I'm checking several boards that research this stuff from time to time, and I will post once significant progress has been made. It's only a matter of time.

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  3. Death by Degrees is a wicked sweet game!
    Do you by any chance have its official guide book? I should be getting it sometime this week!

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    1. Yes, infact I do. I have several copies of the 2 official Japanese guide books and the American one.
      You're getting yours now? How come, if you don't mind me asking? Have you just discovered this game or have you just never gotten around to getting the book when it was released? That's really exciting. Which one are you getting?

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    2. Apologies for the ''Anonymous'' post, it's me.
      Actually I'm from Europe (UK) and the book was never released here or maybe I simply never found it. Since I love books I always wanted the strategy guide to remind me of it as I don't always have time to play. Around a few days ago I replayed Death By Degrees again and thought it was finally time to get it.
      I should be getting the American version and plan to upload a solid walkthrough on youtube when I got the time.

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    3. Hi Chase,
      good to have a name to put to the comments :-)
      Let me know if you like the book when you get it. Very much looking forward to watching you play the game on YT!
      I replay it at least once a year myself. There's something in the game (duh...Nina!) that makes me go back to it.
      Funnily enough (is that even a word?funnily?), the other 2 games I replay almost as often as DbD are the first Buffy game for the original XBOX and Xena for the PlayStation. I figured I might just put this information out there for you ;-)))

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    4. That's fantastic!
      As you may have noticed, I love the Buffy and Xena universe.
      The Buffy games (mostly the Xbox one) is such a good game, the Xena ones are acceptable to fans :)
      Will be looking forward to starting Death By Degrees. Nina is a very interesting character for being part of a huge line-up, no wonder they gave her a game, a very underrated one.
      Thanks for your reply ;)

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  4. These models are easy to unpack T-pose
    here http://nitrocart.deviantart.com/gallery/

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    1. NO WAY!!!! How did you pull that off? That's huge!!! CONTACT ME NITROCART!!! lol

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  5. I'm here,I like your project,super!

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    1. Thank you, but you have gotten much further than me!
      With your help I may actually be able to start working on this project again.

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