Aperture Science Weighted Charge Storage Cube

Introduction

This project intends to construct a cube in the style of those found in Portal 2, with wireless charging coils and LED lights behind every face.
I have successfully extracted textures and the 3D models from the game.

The 3D model extraction is somewhat lossy, losing some decimal places during the conversions. Thanks to the great descriptions of the model file formats a lossless converter could most likely be built.

Reference material:

• Guide to Portal 2 texture extraction by reddit user the-internet-vent.
• I use HLMV in the Portal 2 Authoring Tools to view the ground truth models.
• Decompiling .mdl files with Crowbar yields .smd files that can be converted to .obj files using AnyConv.com.
• The Valve software developer wiki has a lot of good info about file formats etc.
• The Models Resource has flawed 3D models of the cube.

Other tools:

• GCFScape can be used to unpack the .vpk archives in the Portal 2 source files to yield the model and texture files.
• I use HxD hex editor for my hex editing needs.

How to view models with Portal 2 Authoring Tools

• Download the tools from the link above.
• This will put it in your steam library.
• Run it from your steam library, and select Model Viewer in the list that appears.
• In File -> Load Model, open \props\metal_box.mdl for the cube.

Weighted Storage Cube Measurements

Nobody is perfect, and this apparently includes Aperture Science too. The cube looks perfectly symmetrical and geometric in game, but a closer look reveals unexpected 'defects' and strange modeling choices:

• The circular section with the logo is not centerd within the circular light-up section.
• The four main faces are slightly warped.
• The inner arc of the edge bumpers do not form a circle concentric with the other circular details; the centerpoint is offset slightly inwards.
• The smaller, dark gray, edge details have different geometry on different faces.

With that in mind, the following measurements are often simplified from the in game ground truth. For the ground truth model, use Crowbar tool linked above.
These measurements are meant to capture the essentials, while ignoring minor warps and offsets and differences from face to face.

Face circular details

Construction

Useful links:

• A potential method to light up the faces.