Guild Wars 2

Is it possible to rip character models from the game in order to 3D print them as figures?

Highly illegal or so I understand.

If Anet ever wanted to have some sort of official department to do this for the earnings it would bring in then I for one would take advantage of it. Figurines of my own people! How cool!

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

It would appear that, as long as I am doing so for personal use only, I am allowed to do this.

This says no, but it sounds like it’s talking about commercial use and resell:

May I use your art or images for items, such as clothing, toys, or other game-related goods?

Our art assets-be they concept art, in-game screenshots, verbal content, or renders-are all copyrighted materials. Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet. Specific questions concerning the appropriate use of our content should be directed to community@arena.net.

Am I wrong in assuming that as long as this figure is for personal use (Sitting on a table or bookcase in my home, for example,) then Arena Net is ok with that?

Please inform me if I am incorrect or correct as I will probably not be doing this unless I am absolutely sure it is ok.

Even if I am given the OK on the forums, I will probably still contact community@arena.net.

Edit: I don’t even really know how to go about doing this to be honest. I have no idea how to get the model off of the game in the first place. I don’t even know if the model is even accessible.

I know figure prints makes very high quality figures. Not sure if they make for more than a couple of games though. Might be worth getting in touch with them.

Fernling.1729:

I know figure prints makes very high quality figures. Not sure if they make for more than a couple of games though. Might be worth getting in touch with them.

Just MineCraft and WoW by the looks of their site.

zenleto.6179:

If Anet ever wanted to have some sort of official department to do this for the earnings it would bring in then I for one would take advantage of it. Figurines of my own people! How cool!

There exists software that you can give it a series of pictures of an object and it turns them into a 3D model, which you could then print. I see no reason you couldn’t use screenshots for this well… your character swishing or moving in any way might make be a good reason it wouldn’t work.
I have no idea what this software is named, and I have never used or have direct knowledge about it myself, I’ve just heard it exists… and I’m sure it’s expensive.
As for how legal it is… iuno. Gaile linked the ToU, so I’m guessing reproducing stuff from the game is covered in there somewhere, but: I would guess that as long as you aren’t selling it, Anet wouldn’t pursue you. also, how would they even know?

there are diverse tools for that (texmod was popular in gw1, doesn’t work on gw2, though.). with most tools you’ll only capture the textures which you would have to remodel in 3d by hand in order to print it. it’s for sure possible. not so sure about it being allowed. however, who is gonna find out/do anything about it?

I’m not sure there is much of a difference between printing out a screenshot and hanging it on your wall or pulling a image into a 3d printer and placing the model on your desk.

zaced.7948:

there are diverse tools for that (texmod was popular in gw1, doesn’t work on gw2, though.). with most tools you’ll only capture the textures which you would have to remodel in 3d by hand in order to print it. it’s for sure possible. not so sure about it being allowed. however, who is gonna find out/do anything about it?

With the stigma against 3D printing currently making rounds, I’m not going to risk putting it in the spot light of a copyright claim or worse. With every new technology, there are people that see it as something that shouldn’t be around. 3D printing something that could otherwise be sold by the company is not something I’m willing to do.

What might happen if Arena Net wanted to one day sell figures of player characters for a cost, and it turned out that players had already 3D printed them? That would give 3D printing far to much negative publicity within the gaming community.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/fangen/I-always-wanted-a-Rytlock-action-figure/first#post1274897

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2jrlzc/3d_printed_pink_quaggan/

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Using-3D-Ripper-DX-Bannable/first#post4023948

Anet has alot of things they could franchise. I bet Asura cuddlies would blast the market, just as an example. Or making a “Dungeon Siege” type game with miniatures (even with different versions of our beloved dungeons from the game, Arah table top offline woohoo!)… as a anniversary collectors item.

A technical note though: A lot of the in-game models feature 2d planes, which are not suitable for printing. Generally speaking, a 3d printer needs a complete 3d mesh to work with. GW2 characters are made up of several loose parts: Head, torso, legs, feet, arms, and accessories. Even if you rip the models from the game, you still need to do a lot of welding, and modelling to make them into printable objects. Plus, any loose garments are just flat 2D surfaces with a double sided texture. You need something 3D in order to print it. So you’d probably have to extrude those 2D surfaces yourself, this is where the modeling comes in. There are also a lot of sub-sections of models that cut into one another. Obviously, if you want to print it, you can’t have this in your model. You can’t have intersecting meshes. Worse yet, if your character has transparent textures, this becomes a real problem. A transparent texture gives the illusion of depth, but to a 3D printer it is simply a solid plane. You’d probably have to manually model holes in the mesh, to make it 3D.

So all in all, it is still a lot of work. It’s not as simple as just ripping and printing. Sorry to shatter anyone’s dreams.

I posted about this two years ago.

Regardless, Anet should release a ‘poser’ / green room / photo room feature in the game, to allow you to pose your characters and take snaps.

Pure Heart.1456:

Regardless, Anet should release a ‘poser’ / green room / photo room feature in the game, to allow you to pose your characters and take snaps.

Please. I would so much want to take pictures of all my characters and put them all together. I really would love to see how their sizes are compared to each other.

I know it is possible to do now, but it would be so much easier if we could even have a blank background somewhere in game.

Posing a character you say? Oh if only that were possible. Sadly I have no knowledge of how to do that. Besides, if Gaile says it is not okay, then I suppose that’s that.

If you got some knowledge on how to work with 3D Models, you could extract them with a tool called 3D Ripper DX. I’m not sure how far this affects the third party software policy, as it should not interact with GW2 itself, but with the memory it uses. It returns a whole “3D Screenshot” for dx9 applications, and I know a lot of people used it in GW(1).

(If it’s not okay bringing such things up here, I apologise.)

Yep, either ripping the models directly from memory, or by modeling them yourself. The latter I’ve done for some of the old GW1 Horrorween videos, and it’s quite a chore. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Had to remodel the Mad King and an entire Bone Dragon just to make a short Halloween video. And had to make the textures by stitching screenshots together. That was before TexMod came along and made that a lot easier.

As a side note, all my work is none-commercial. I don’t make a penny from it, and it’s all just to promote the game and our lovely community. And I always mention it is for Guild Wars.

Fernling.1729:

I know figure prints makes very high quality figures. Not sure if they make for more than a couple of games though. Might be worth getting in touch with them.

They are able to do so because the models can easily be “extracted” from other games. For example WoW has a program called “Wow Model Viewer” which reads the game files and lets you reproduce any in-game content in the viewer and export it to 3D rendering applications.

This makes it easy to reproduce an exact replica of your toon and print it. However, GW2 does not let you view the files in such a way, so I seriously doubt they would be able to print a model for you.

It would mean sculpting it in a 3D programe from scratch and be a time-consuming process. It’d also not be 100% accurate. I’m not sure how copyright comes into things then as well.

Such a shame they lock the game up so tightly. :\

By the way, if you extract a model from the game, it will be just the mesh. You’ll still need to rig it yourself, in order to pose it the way you want. You will need to have knowledge of 3d modelling.

Maybe anet could supply the 3d rendering for a fee and then we can use the data for what ever we want, short of any commercial or profit that way we would get the 3D renderings and Anet could make money off of it. Please make this happen, I would love a real figures of my characters.

I would totally pay to have a figure of the Asura that I make.

Mystic.5934:

There exists software that you can give it a series of pictures of an object and it turns them into a 3D model, which you could then print. I see no reason you couldn’t use screenshots for this well… your character swishing or moving in any way might make be a good reason it wouldn’t work.
I have no idea what this software is named, and I have never used or have direct knowledge about it myself, I’ve just heard it exists… and I’m sure it’s expensive.

Such software exists… though the one I know of is still in R&D phase because it requires a battery of CPUs to do the triangulation. It would be interesting to see if it could work on game screenshots but it would be way easier to use a ripped model because you need to stop it moving while you’re taking pictures… I suppose you could use a petrify from a Box of Fun but it’ll mean post-work to fix the texture.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

A technical note though: A lot of the in-game models feature 2d planes, which are not suitable for printing. Generally speaking, a 3d printer needs a complete 3d mesh to work with. GW2 characters are made up of several loose parts: Head, torso, legs, feet, arms, and accessories. Even if you rip the models from the game, you still need to do a lot of welding, and modelling to make them into printable objects. Plus, any loose garments are just flat 2D surfaces with a double sided texture. You need something 3D in order to print it. So you’d probably have to extrude those 2D surfaces yourself, this is where the modeling comes in. There are also a lot of sub-sections of models that cut into one another. Obviously, if you want to print it, you can’t have this in your model. You can’t have intersecting meshes. Worse yet, if your character has transparent textures, this becomes a real problem. A transparent texture gives the illusion of depth, but to a 3D printer it is simply a solid plane. You’d probably have to manually model holes in the mesh, to make it 3D.

So all in all, it is still a lot of work. It’s not as simple as just ripping and printing. Sorry to shatter anyone’s dreams.

And you have to paint it as well. I’m tempted to have a bash at it now… though I’d need a way to extract the model, and that’s the bit I don’t know how to do. I’ll also want to do some refinement on the mesh, because charr are pretty blocky by default and the result from a 3D printer is not going to be pretty without some work, particularly on the face, mane, hands and tail.

Will also need to find a 3D printer.

Ben K.6238:

And you have to paint it as well. I’m tempted to have a bash at it now… though I’d need a way to extract the model, and that’s the bit I don’t know how to do. I’ll also want to do some refinement on the mesh, because charr are pretty blocky by default and the result from a 3D printer is not going to be pretty without some work, particularly on the face, mane, hands and tail.

Will also need to find a 3D printer.

Don’t even get started. You have no idea what you’re getting into. Those models are a mess. I mean they are fine for the game, but absolutely horrid if you want to 3d print them. I highly recommend that you don’t even bother. It is so much work, and not a whole lot of fun. And yeah, you have to paint them too. There are a few 3d printers that also paint the model. But I don’t think you should expect all the detail of the textures to carry over. And that is another problem, even if the 3d printer does apply paint as well, the textures are not nearly detailed enough for a full size model, nor even one the size of an action figure. You’d need to do a lot of custom painting. I am of course speaking theoretically….. ahem….

I have a fair idea already – I’ve worked with game models before. Cleaning up a mesh is a lot easier than reconstructing a complex object by hand, I can say from experience.

Ripping the models out of the DAT file would be against the Terms of Use, as you would be reverse engineering the content.

You agree that you will not alter, disassemble, decompile, reverse-engineer or in any other way modify the content

You’d need to sculpt the model yourself or hire a sculptor/modeller to do it for you.

You do not need to rip the DAT file. You can pretty much rip any model that is loaded from memory, and you would not be breaking the terms of service…. well unless you used it commercially, which you cannot do.

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

If you have something to say, you should flat-out say it. Linking to a lengthy legal document and assuming that everyone knows what part you’re talking about AND can fully and correctly understand it is … well, it’s not good communication, for starters.

InfernoHero.5687:

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

…Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet…

Am I wrong in assuming that as long as this figure is for personal use (Sitting on a table or bookcase in my home, for example,) then Arena Net is ok with that?

You are wrong, unless you obtain permission in writing in advance, Anet is not okay with that.

tolunart.2095:

InfernoHero.5687:

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

…Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet…

Am I wrong in assuming that as long as this figure is for personal use (Sitting on a table or bookcase in my home, for example,) then Arena Net is ok with that?

You are wrong, unless you obtain permission in writing in advance, Anet is not okay with that.

Then the project shall be forgotten.

Oh well. Maybe they’ll sell figures at a later date. I’d love to get a statue on my Norn to sit beside Rytlock.

Palador.2170:

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

If you have something to say, you should flat-out say it. Linking to a lengthy legal document and assuming that everyone knows what part you’re talking about AND can fully and correctly understand it is … well, it’s not good communication, for starters.

Don’t assume Gaile has a full knowledge of everything you can and can’t do with GW2 IP. That link is there in case something on that page answers the question.

Afaik, as long as you don’t make a profit or claiming that those models are strictly yours and sell them as such, you’re free to make them for personal purposes. There’s no copyright infringement as far as I can tell on that.

InfernoHero.5687:

tolunart.2095:

InfernoHero.5687:

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

…Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet…

Am I wrong in assuming that as long as this figure is for personal use (Sitting on a table or bookcase in my home, for example,) then Arena Net is ok with that?

You are wrong, unless you obtain permission in writing in advance, Anet is not okay with that.

Then the project shall be forgotten.

Oh well. Maybe they’ll sell figures at a later date. I’d love to get a statue on my Norn to sit beside Rytlock.

He’s right. It is illegal to do it without permissions whether it’s personal or commercial use. That said, if you did it yourself and didn’t brag about it they aren’t likely to come after you.

Also, as others have stated, if you don’t know how to do 3D modeling or know someone that does this is a project you should stay away from. There is a lot more work to be done than most would imagine.

Ryuu.5608:

Afaik, as long as you don’t make a profit or claiming that those models are strictly yours and sell them as such, you’re free to make them for personal purposes. There’s no copyright infringement as far as I can tell on that.

The law doesn’t work like that. Copyright is literally the right to make copies. There are “fair use” exceptions, but not for personal or not-for-profit use. Only Anet, as the copyright owner, can grant permission to make copies of game content, your rights are spelled out in the EULA.

There’s a difference between “I am allowed to do this,” and “I probably won’t get caught doing this.”

There’s no explicit permission to take these steps but it’s fairly clearly in the spirit of the terms of use, and easily defensible in any case. I can’t speak for everywhere, obviously, but there’s no chance of being prosecuted for that here.

It’s not about being sued – it would obviously cost the company more than they could ever recover to sue players for misusing the property. But it’s explicitly stated that you do not have permission to do this kind of thing unless you obtain that permission in written form before doing it.

Just because you won’t be punished doesn’t make it ok. If no one sees you kick your dog, you aren’t going to be punished for doing it. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to do it.

Palador.2170:

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

If you have something to say, you should flat-out say it. Linking to a lengthy legal document and assuming that everyone knows what part you’re talking about AND can fully and correctly understand it is … well, it’s not good communication, for starters.

There are lots of things on there, but here is one thing Gaile might of been referring to:

I’m interested in using Guild Wars or Guild Wars 2 art on a website, in a project, or on a Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 or ArenaNet fansite. What is your policy regarding copyrights and trademarks? May I use ArenaNet, Guild Wars 2 and/or Guild Wars content, such as images, text, sounds, or video?
Yes, you may use our content-that is images, text, video and audio files-within the following parameters:

• The content must be used in a non-commercial context for private, personal use only
• You must include all copyright and other notices associated with the content
• You acknowledge and agree that no title nor any other form of ownership to the content has been or will be transferred to you from ArenaNet nor from anyone else
• You agree that you will not alter, disassemble, decompile, reverse-engineer or in any other way modify the content
• You agree that ArenaNet has the right to require removal of our content at any time, for any reason

You may not use our content on sites that contain or link to sites containing:

• Hacks or cheats
• Pornography
• Inflammatory Content
• Unlawful content
• Objectionable content, as determined by ArenaNet

or maybe:

Gaile Gray.6029:

May I use your art or images for items, such as clothing, toys, or other game-related goods?
Our art assets-be they concept art, in-game screenshots, verbal content, or renders-are all copyrighted materials. Their use is strictly prohibited unless approved in advance and in writing by ArenaNet. Specific questions concerning the appropriate use of our content should be directed to community@arena.net.

It doesn’t specifically say it, but I’m guessing the 2nd one is implied to say ‘goods for sale’ instead of just ‘goods’. As it’s written, when these are applied to 3d printing, I would say they conflict with each other.
Based on the first quote, just put a GW2 copyright logo under the foot of the model and you’re good to go. And apparently you can’t make changes… so your 3d print must be something direct from the game (you couldn’t move the arms to make a Y, M, C, and A pose).

Mystic.5934:

And apparently you can’t make changes… so your 3d print must be something direct from the game (you couldn’t move the arms to make a Y, M, C, and A pose).

This would be hard to do if you want good details or a larger statue.

The way I print figures (Due to having a small printer) is by making the torso, head, legs, and arms separate and then “Click” them together like a doll.

By it’s nature, it would be moveable.

I’ve tried to do elbow and knee joints, but I haven’t really found a good way to do that AND make it easy to put together.

To be honest I’d settle for 2D first. Not having a way to conveniently take screenshots of characters that you can easily cut out and make art with is a pain.

But yeah, for some reason GW2 is hugely lacking in merchandise.

CrashTestAuto.9108:

To be honest I’d settle for 2D first. Not having a way to conveniently take screenshots of characters that you can easily cut out and make art with is a pain.

But yeah, for some reason GW2 is hugely lacking in merchandise.

Well, there are definitely ways to do that. BTW, awesome bumpmaps, yihaw!

https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/169943/maldanexample.jpg

Gaile Gray.6029:

Ben K.6238:

Palador.2170:

Gaile Gray.6029:

The Content Terms of Use may help you.

If you have something to say, you should flat-out say it. Linking to a lengthy legal document and assuming that everyone knows what part you’re talking about AND can fully and correctly understand it is … well, it’s not good communication, for starters.

Don’t assume Gaile has a full knowledge of everything you can and can’t do with GW2 IP. That link is there in case something on that page answers the question.

Please note that the OP didn’t indicate whether the question was about making a single figure for personal use, or a bunch of figures to sell. I’m sure you can appreciate that making one t-shirt for your own use is entirely different than making 1,000 to sell on eBay.

Context is important, and a full resource like the CToU is the right thing to review to learn about acceptable use of our assets. We’re not in a position to review each request, because each request can be a bit different. So we ask that the person who wants to know about using our content please review the document with an eye to his/her specific project. Consider the project, review the legal document, and then figure out if the project falls under the permissions granted by the CToU. If it does, than the use of our assets would be fine.

The way that document is worded would suggest that printing out screenshots and posting them online is against the rules here.

I know that’s not the case, but that’s actually what that document says, and that could freak a few people out. ArenaNet is awesome with community stuff (Fan art and Screenshots included,) but the way your legal documents word things are pretty scary for someone who isn’t that versed in legal speak.

Maybe a bit of common sense is also assumed. If your work is none commercial, and either clearly advertised as being part of Guild Wars 2, or merely for yourself, then there probably is no harm. I’ve made several Machinimas in the past that used Guild Wars assets, and never received any complaints from the devs. I think that’s because a video about the game is pretty much a free advertisement, and it would be silly to take a positive advertisement down. I even won a prize! Twice! So if that isn’t a clear sign that anet supports some of these fan projects, then I don’t know what is. They clearly love their community, and fan projects.

Which makes me wonder when they are going to be bringing back the Halloween and Wintersday art contests.

Make an own gw2 t-shirt to wear…! Sounds awesome right there =D

Gaile Gray.6029:

We absolutely adore fan art, fan projects, Machinimas, videos, and the whole lot! We love them, we often share them internally and with our fans, we offer a forum to host them… yep, yep, they’re great!

The difference between “it’s ok” and “it may be disallowed by copyright” comes down to how the assets will used. It’s pretty much a simple question: “Is this personal and non-profit?” Whether a video or a t-shirt, a single use of the assets for non-commercial purposes is great. (And sure, a video is going to be seen by a lot of people—so that might raise a question about “personal use”—but the video would be ok unless someone were to create a gated, pay-per-view video.)

Concerns and copyright issues arise when someone designs clothings, toys, books, or other items with the intent to sell them. Basically, profiting from the work of another — be it a writer or a software developer — is strictly protected by international copyright law.

But again, non-profit fan projects are wonderful and perfectly fine, as expressed in the CToU.

And, as always, the way you treat your community is completely and totally awesome.

That legal document could still scare a lot of people, but that could be said for all legal documents.

Gaile-

That said, awhile back I was trying to get a few custom-printed mugs with our guild logo on them. One for me, one for my girlfriend, and one for a giveaway to guild members. The logo got caught in a copyright filter. I directed the company to your legal page, but they told me I needed authorization.

You have an email address for the purpose and I sent an email there, but I never heard back.

We’re in the process of doing a guild t-shirt contest, but I have the same worries: will our art assets (probably the Quaggan image from the API with a unicorn horn added and our guild motto #getunicorned) get flagged? And if they do, will somebody’s hours of work creating the design go to waste because we can’t get a quick “this is okay” from the email address you guys have left?

Anyway, just a minor concern I thought might be appropriate to mention. I know there’s a real “it’s not ArenaNet’s job to okay fan art” problem here, butcomeonquagganwithaunicornhatsooooocuteanetplz.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

CrashTestAuto.9108:

To be honest I’d settle for 2D first. Not having a way to conveniently take screenshots of characters that you can easily cut out and make art with is a pain.

But yeah, for some reason GW2 is hugely lacking in merchandise.

Well, there are definitely ways to do that. BTW, awesome bumpmaps, yihaw!

https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/169943/maldanexample.jpg

If that was done conveniently, I’d love to know how. I realise you can just manually cut out a character in Photoshop, but depending on lighting and colours that’s a bit of a pain.

Gaile Gray.6029:

We absolutely adore fan art, fan projects, Machinimas, videos, and the whole lot! We love them, we often share them internally and with our fans, we offer a forum to host them… yep, yep, they’re great!

The difference between “it’s ok” and “it may be disallowed by copyright” comes down to how the assets will used. It’s pretty much a simple question: “Is this personal and non-profit?” Whether a video or a t-shirt, a single use of the assets for non-commercial purposes is great. (And sure, a video is going to be seen by a lot of people—so that might raise a question about “personal use”—but the video would be ok unless someone were to create a gated, pay-per-view video.)

Concerns and copyright issues arise when someone designs clothings, toys, books, or other items with the intent to sell them. Basically, profiting from the work of another — be it a writer or a software developer — is strictly protected by international copyright law.

But again, non-profit fan projects are wonderful and perfectly fine, as expressed in the CToU.

Thank you, that’s much better.