5 arrested in Taiwan for making guns..info from video games.

[twoblink]

Eating dinner, they show something that almost made me choke..

Mini Grenade Launchers, Derringers, Berettas, S&W's etc..

So some guys were basically making handguns with their mill and some diagrams..

Nothing new.. What _WAS_ new was the fact that most of the schematics of they guns they had (which they then fed into their CAD/CAM system) they got from VIDEO GAMES!!

They wouldn't name the video game, but it the police say that they used the video games schematics to make near perfect replicas. The advantages sighted about the video game schemas vs just regular exploded diagrams downloaded from the internet was that it was 3D, and even rotated, and so they could freezeframe, and with green gridlines as guides, they were able to make all the guns to spec..

The police said they had no clue as far as metalurgy and that the materials used to mill out the guns would have blown up in the user's face, which I'm sure they didn't care...

But it's fairly incredible where they got their gun information.

It seems guns are at high demand this month, because school is officially out July 1st, and all the bored rich teens playing video games (This season here, the "hot" video game is one called True Crime, Streets of LA ) So they were merely trying to make "supply meet demand."

We are at the point in technology where a 3D schema of a gun can be fed into a CAD/CAM system and have it produce a handgun. I think attempts to "control" and "regulate" guns is just going to get more and more useless.

I wish someone in the Taiwanese government would wake up and smell the Hoppes #9..

 

[Sven]

Where there is a Will...

 

[4v50 Gary]

And here in America we can do the same thing. As said above, where's there's a will, there's a way. Banning firearms only results in people resorting to other means of procurement.

 

[Justin]

I call BS.

The 3d models used for videogames have far too low of a resolution to be useful for any kind of CAD/CAM software. On top of that, they don't include any of the internal detail or models of the small moving parts.

I think it would also be pretty unlikely that they'd be able to export the video game models into a file format readily readable by CAD/CAM. (Though it could be done. It would just take patience and knowledge in the black art of file format transmogrification.)

You could *maybe* make a shoddy replica based on a video game, but you'd be out of luck when it came to all the internal bits that actually make a gun work.

 

[Third_Rail]

Knowing the intracacies of game development/engine modification (UT, UT2K3, SOF 2, SS, B&W, older engines as well) I call BS.

The 3d models in games do not show springs/rifling/exact specs. I think they'd be better off with a cheap book on guns and working from the diagrams.


And I'd like to agree that in an age of computer literacy and CAD/CAM software and CNC machines, trying to restrict or ban guns is ridiculous. I don't expect politicians to realize that though, why would they?

 

[WonderNine]

Pretty soon they'll have to license/register all their copies of CAD and all of their CNC machines with the government over there.

 

[mattf7184]

The 3D wireframe models I've seen in games do not show internals, but they can give you an idea of exterior dimensions and proportionality of a firearm. Maybe that is what they meant?

 

[Jim March]

Actually, it's "where there's a will there's a bunch of squabbling relatives..." but that's beside the point.

 

[twoblink]

The Derringer was fully functional, I can assure you. (Then again, how much is there to one). The Grenade Launcher looked pretty good too.. The rest, looked pretty good, but I doubt the internals were workable.

Here in Taiwan, 100% of all guns are illegal, (unless you are in the military or a STREET COP)
Take a look at an airsoft. It is almost 100% replica'ed. I can CAD/CAM the outside of a glock to a near perfect replica if you give me an airsoft of a glock..

 

[RooK]

Believe me when I say they did not get the 'deminsions' from the 3d models within a game. I've made some myself for OFP, and they're just 3 or 4 sided 'faces' that are layed around in such a fashion to make a 3d object. In most games, 90% of the shadows and deminsions you see are just textures.

The only game I can think of even coming close with realistic models in Rainbow 6: Ravenshield. Anyone know if any of these games included some form of blueprints to inform the player of firearm stats? That would be the only place I could get where they would find 'schematics'.

Until I see proof, I'm like Justin and going to call it BS. Chances are they got real plans either off the internet or from a person.

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

I call shenanigans.

mostly because

We are at the point in technology where a 3D schema of a gun can be fed into a CAD/CAM system and have it produce a handgun.

is wrong.


you need a lathe, a mill, a rifling machine, spring making machinery, and someone to assemble the mess to produce a handgun

 

[RooK]

A CAD program and a CNC mini-machine cover 90% of the manufacturing. Besides, who says you have to have rifling? It can still shoot, albeit innaccurate without it. Springs can be scavenged from a multitude of other devices.

Anyway, you aren't going to get anything even remotely close to real firearm deminsions if you import the 3d model from one used in a game.

BTW, here's some of my work, sans the textures.

All were made by basicly outlining a picture of the firearm in the program, doubling the flat copy of the picture I made and connecting the two to make a 3d image. They're close, but nowhere near accurate enough for a CNC machine.

 

[c_yeager]

Anyone who has spent any kind of time with a CAD type system can tell you that this is BS. These machines are NOT easy to use. And anyone with the knowhow to use one properly wouldnt need to get the dimensions from a video game. They would also be able to choose materials that WOULDNT blow up in ones face.

 

[Feanaro]

I have never, in my 9+ years of serious gaming, seen an engine capable of rendering the insides of a weapon. Some of the newer engines are capable of render the insides of the action(Although you won't see it for long. ) of the firearm but the actual parts? Nuh uh. No way. Even if the engine was capable of it, it would simply be a frivolity. Having actual parts(Especially moving parts) on the inside of the weapon model would simply take up extra CPU/RAM/Video memory.

 

[Pilgrim]

Why not just make dolls of your enemies and stick pins into them?

Pilgrim

 

[bokchoi]

If I recall, the introduction to Hitman: Contracts, has a cute (and slightly inaccurate) little "Educational" bit on the functioning of a semi-automatic pistol. It's probably the most detailed description of firearms operation I've seen in a video game, but since they mentioned the spectacular 3D accuracy and all that jazz, I'm doubting that that was where it was came from.

Nice to know that criminals are well on their way to doing "homegrown" while the government sings happy songs about how they don't need to de-invent something that they've stopped at the borders.

 

[Destructo6]

These machines are NOT easy to use. And anyone with the knowhow to use one properly wouldnt need to get the dimensions from a video game.

Some software suites make it pretty easy, but it's relative. I don't know why they would want to get the dimensions from a game when stuff like M16 receiver prints can be found on the net pretty easily.

 

[Yowza]

I believe the game "Far Cry" has gun schematics that show up when you first install the game. They're not something you can interact with, it's just like looking at a mechanical drawing of a firearm. I don't think that what twoblink is talking about is the computer models. Those would not have any technical detail whatsoever, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some game out there right now that has actual schematics of various firearms.

And we're talking about Taiwan here. I'll bet there are quite a few people there that have easy access to CAD systems and machining equipment.

Rick

 

[odysseus]

It's crap that they got all they needed to mill all the parts for the gun only from a "video game". Smell big BS here. The internet on the other hand...

It's a headline grabber type story like Enquirer would use...

 

[BerettaNut92]

Cool! I want the MP5/M203 from Half-Life! Where does the line form?

 

[Correia]

Wannabe gun designer here. I'm going to jump in on the BS bandwagon. No way in heck is that possible.

 

[Frohickey]

You would think that a tiny little island with a large and agressive Communist country that has missiles targetted at the island would encourage its citizens to be armed at all times.