Jul.26, 2012
Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. It is a sandbox construction game, players could create fantastic structures such as houses, gardens, roads or castles and destroy various types of blocks in a 3D environment. Minecraft was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, As of May, 2012, the game has sold over six million sales on PC and over nine million copies across all platforms.
If you are player of Minecraft, you would also like to bring those virtual creations into the real world - that was how Minecraft.print project was started at the first place. Cody Sumter and Jason Boggess of MIT's Media Lab developed a Python script that outputs a standard model file for printing to either a professional 3D printer or (MakerBot or RepRap). Another programmer Eric Haines has written a little program named Mineways, means a bridge between Minecraft and Shapeways. You can select from a Minecraft world various blocks and trim them up, then render/send it to a 3D printer, or any 3D printing service company like Shapeways.
It is so easy to use these blocks to build 3D objects - some people even suggested to use the game as the basis of 3D design programs. With above software these 3D models can be easily printed on any 3D printers.
In a recently released video PBS uses Minecraft to explain a 'post-scarcity economy'. Host Mike Rugnetta says "Minecraft's creative mode is the perfect vehicle for understanding a Post-Scarcity world; a place where resources are permanently available and constantly regenerated."
"A Minecraftian future where you can print anything you want at anytime might not be that far away." And cheap 3D printers like RepRap, Makerbot are helping to push this form of production to larger society. It wouldn't take long to print editable foods or replica artifacts for museums and maybe sooner than we expected, we could print more functional products such as piano or electronics.
So, happy minecrafting!
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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