Exporting Half Life 2 Characters to a 3D Modeling Program tutorial

[page=The Tools you Need]

The whole process really isn’t that hard as soon as you know how to do it. Lets start from the beginning. There are really 2 ways of doing this. One way is to import the model into 3DS Max then export it to Cinema 4D. The other is to convert the HL2 SMD in Milkshape3D to an .obj file then import it into Cinema 4D. I am going to outline the first method for you since Milkshape 3D has a 30-day trial limitation. You will need these programs/plugins:

-3ds Max HL2 SMD Importer Plugin (choose the file for the version of 3ds Max that you have):

3DS Max 6 or 7

3ds Max 5

-MDL Decompiler

Place this executable in your …/SteamApps/sourcesdk/bin directory since it requires HL2 dll’s to work

If you are missing MFC71.DLL check here:

Dll-files.com

GCFScape

-VPK Tool

[page=The Steps]
1. After you have installed all of the programs above, you need to get the models that you want to work with. Open up GCFScape and go to File –> Open. Locate your SteamApps directory where all of the .gcf files are located. For HalfLife 2 models, open the gcf named “Source Models” (not “half-life 2 content”). Most of the characters are in the folder: Root –> hl2 –> models.

2. Find the character that you wish to extract by name. For example, the Super Combine Soldier is: Combine_Super_Soldier.

3. Select all of the files that pertain to the model that you want to export (they all have the same base, but different file extensions) and extract them to a folder on your computer by either right clicking and going to “Extract” or by simply dragging them there.

4. Now you need the materials for your model. In GCFScape, open the gcf file (in your SteamApps directory) named “Source Materials”. All of the materials are in the folder: root –> hl2 –> materials. If you are exporting a character from HL2, all of the materials are in: root –> hl2 –> materials –> models. For example, the Super Combine Soldier’s material is in: root –> hl2 –> materials –> models –> Combine_soldier –> Combine_Elite.vtf So in other words, you may have to look around a bit but the material is in there, trust me.

5. Once you find your material, extract the .vtf file (not the .vmt, thats just some data for the Source shader engine), and the _normal.vtf file if its available, to a folder (preferably the same folder as your model is in cause it’s easier to find it later). The _normal.vtf file is a bumpmap which is awesome for 3D rendering programs.

6. Open up the VPK Tool and go to the “Texture Tools” tab. Click “Open File” and search for the .vtf file that you just extracted in the last step. Next click “Convert to TGA”. This makes a TGA file of the texture in the same directory where the .vtf file was. Repeat this for the _normal.vtf file if there is one.

7. Open up the MDL Decompiler. Uncheck the box for “Use Steam File Access” (if you want you can do this next time around. Basically it lets you bypass GCFScape. Just make sure Steam is running). Enter in the .mdl file which you extracted from GCFScape into the first box and choose an output directory for the decompiled model. Click “Extract”.

8. Open up 3DS Max and go to File –> Import. In the File Types drop down box, select “Half Life 2 SMD”. Open up the decompiled model that you extracted in the last step. There will be many different SMD files for each model. The basic rule of thumb is to open the one that has “reference” somewhere in the file name. All the files that have “lod” in them are just different quality versions of the same model. The “reference” file is the highest quality. 3DS Max may prompt you for textures if the textures are not in the same folder as the SMD.

9. From here you are basically done. You will need to pose the character in 3DS Max before exporting it to Cinema 4D. Once you are done posing the character, go to File –> Export and export it as a 3D Studio file. I have found that this is the only filetype readable by Cinema 4D that keeps the texture coordinates. This means that the texture will warp to the pose that you made for Cinema 4D.

10. That should do it. Open the file in Cinema 4D and re-assign the texture(s) to the model. You can delete the skeleton object in Cinema 4D since it is now useless. Have fun, I hope this helps!