Tools

I use a number of different tools to extract ships models from the EVE files and create the sigs.

TriExporter

I use TriExporter to extract the ship models and base texture files from the EVE data files. There is a useful EVE forum thread on TriExporter and how to use it.

nVidia DDS Tools

I use nVidia's DDS Tools to extract the texture images from the .dds files extracted by TriExporter. I just stick with the command line tools and don't use any of the more advanced plugins available.

PoseRay

PoseRay is used to import the .obj files created by TriExporter and convert into POVRay's mesh format

POV-Ray

The actual sig images are created in POVRay, a free raytracing program.

Have a look at the EVE Ship Models page for a description of how these tools can be used to extract the EVE ship models from the EVE data files.