It’s still not in it’s final form, but even if it evolves significantly I’m pretty sure that Minecraft will stick to it’s roots – it’s a basic CAD (Computer Aided Design) program. A CAD program with monsters. Now, thanks to two MIT researchers, Minecraft players can have 3D models of their in-game creations, just like CAD users can make prototypes of their designs.
Cody Sumter and Jason Boggess of the MIT Human Dynamics research group call their creation Minecraft.Print(). It’s a Python script that takes a marked Minecraft creation and outputs an .STL file, which you can then turn into an actual object using a 3D printer. Watch the video below to see how to tag an object for printing and to see a sample print:
Yeah, it’s not a 1:1 scale model. I’m as disappointed as you are; I was fantasizing being able to walk on the stairs of Escher’s Relativity. Still, I imagine it would be quite thrilling for many Minecraft users to see their creations actually turned into an object.
Check out the Minecraft.Print() website to download the script and to check out more sample printed objects.
[via MIT Media Lab via Hack N Mod]
