Minecraft to Blender
Have you ever wanted to showcase your Minecraft world you've been building for weeks, but do it in style?
If yes, then keep on reading!
If yes, then keep on reading!
Here is an example for what can be achieved with this technique:
This tutorial covers:
- downloading and installing the mcobj Minecraft to .obj exporter by quag
- converting your Minecraft world into usable .obj format
- importing your Minecraft world into Blender
- rendering your first Minecraft image
- how to showcase your world with clay materials with Fabio Russo's Clay Render addon
Blender 2.57 official release was used in this tutorial. Get it here!
Links are updated!
Step 1:
Go to https://github.com/quag/mcobj and download the latest mcobj release. I used version 0.11 for this tutorial
Step 2:
In order to get the mcobj to work, you'll need to place both of the files you downloaded into your Minecraft's saves directory. This is the folder where all of your Minecraft worlds are located. The location should be as follows:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves
In order to get the mcobj to work, you'll need to place both of the files you downloaded into your Minecraft's saves directory. This is the folder where all of your Minecraft worlds are located. The location should be as follows:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves
Step 3:
After you've placed the mcobj files to your \saves folder, you need to use the command prompt to give the mcobj.exe a command to execute the .obj conversion for a specific world.
To do that in Windows 7, type in cmd into the StartMenu search and launch cmd.
You can also find the cmd if you go Start- All Programs- Accessories- and launch Command Prompt.
After you've placed the mcobj files to your \saves folder, you need to use the command prompt to give the mcobj.exe a command to execute the .obj conversion for a specific world.
To do that in Windows 7, type in cmd into the StartMenu search and launch cmd.
You can also find the cmd if you go Start- All Programs- Accessories- and launch Command Prompt.
Step 4:
This brings up the cmd window. My default location was C:\Users\USERNAME
But you need to change the folder you currently are, to the folder where your mcobj.exe is located.
To do that, type in:
cd C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves
cd in front of the line means change directory
This brings up the cmd window. My default location was C:\Users\USERNAME
But you need to change the folder you currently are, to the folder where your mcobj.exe is located.
To do that, type in:
cd C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves
cd in front of the line means change directory
Step 5:
Now you can see that your previous location has been changed to the \saves directory.
Now you can see that your previous location has been changed to the \saves directory.
Step 6:
Now its time to start the conversion. For that, you'll need to type in this line:
mcobj -cpu 4 -s 20 -o world1.obj %AppData%\.minecraft\saves\World1
Make sure to use a proper world name, mine was named TestWorld and I had to type TestWorld.obj instead of world1.obj and TestWorld instead of World1
mcobj -cpu 4 -s 20 -o TestWorld.obj %AppData%\.minecraft\saves\TestWorld
Now its time to start the conversion. For that, you'll need to type in this line:
mcobj -cpu 4 -s 20 -o world1.obj %AppData%\.minecraft\saves\World1
Make sure to use a proper world name, mine was named TestWorld and I had to type TestWorld.obj instead of world1.obj and TestWorld instead of World1
mcobj -cpu 4 -s 20 -o TestWorld.obj %AppData%\.minecraft\saves\TestWorld
Step 7:
Wait until the conversion is finished and close the cmd window.
Wait until the conversion is finished and close the cmd window.
Step 8:
You can find additional info for the commands at the mcobj creator's website under Usage category.
You can find additional info for the commands at the mcobj creator's website under Usage category.
Step 9:
Go to your \saves directory and see if the created files are really there.
Go to your \saves directory and see if the created files are really there.
Step 10:
In order to import .obj files to Blender, .obj importer needs to be enabled from the User Preferences. Go there from the File menu or hit Ctrl+Alt+U.
In order to import .obj files to Blender, .obj importer needs to be enabled from the User Preferences. Go there from the File menu or hit Ctrl+Alt+U.
Step 11:
Go to the Add-Ons panel and Import-Export category.
Go to the Add-Ons panel and Import-Export category.
Step 12:
Find the Wavefront OBJ format addon and enable it by ticking the checkbox.
Find the Wavefront OBJ format addon and enable it by ticking the checkbox.
Step 13:
Now you can import your world by going to File- Import- Wavefront (.obj)
Now you can import your world by going to File- Import- Wavefront (.obj)
Step 14:
Locate your \saves folder and select yourworldname.obj file. You can move the .obj file to a folder to your liking, it doesn't have to be in the \saves folder anymore. But if you'd like it to stay there, you will probably need to tick the Show Hidden checkbox when locating your .minecraft folder in order to see the hidden folders.
Locate your \saves folder and select yourworldname.obj file. You can move the .obj file to a folder to your liking, it doesn't have to be in the \saves folder anymore. But if you'd like it to stay there, you will probably need to tick the Show Hidden checkbox when locating your .minecraft folder in order to see the hidden folders.
Step 15:
Wait a couple of seconds and your minecraft world is inside Blender!
Wait a couple of seconds and your minecraft world is inside Blender!
Step 16:
The world comes in 1 single piece, but it has all of the materials already connected. Go to Edit Mode (TAB) and deselect everything by pressing A(twice) and if you click on any of the materials in the material panel and press the Select button, all of the corresponding cubes are selected. That makes it easy to change the materials if necessary.
The world comes in 1 single piece, but it has all of the materials already connected. Go to Edit Mode (TAB) and deselect everything by pressing A(twice) and if you click on any of the materials in the material panel and press the Select button, all of the corresponding cubes are selected. That makes it easy to change the materials if necessary.
Step 17:
Now its time to make your first Minecraft render. I added a Sun lamp and enabled Ambient Occlusion in the World panel and gave it a Factor value of 0.25.
Now its time to make your first Minecraft render. I added a Sun lamp and enabled Ambient Occlusion in the World panel and gave it a Factor value of 0.25.
Step 18:
Now hit F12 to render your world and the result should be something similar to this:
You can of course, adjust the lighting and materials if necessary.
Now hit F12 to render your world and the result should be something similar to this:
You can of course, adjust the lighting and materials if necessary.
Step 19:
Another cool way to showcase your Minecraft world is to use a Clay Render addon by Fabio Russo.
Go to
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.5/Py/Scripts/Render/Clay_Render#Installation
and right click on the link and choose save link as to download the render_clay.py script.
Another cool way to showcase your Minecraft world is to use a Clay Render addon by Fabio Russo.
Go to
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.5/Py/Scripts/Render/Clay_Render#Installation
and right click on the link and choose save link as to download the render_clay.py script.
Step 20:
Again, go to User Preferences by hitting CTRL+ALT+U and choose Install Add-On...
Find the location you saved the render_clay.py script. Select it and press Install Add-On...
Again, go to User Preferences by hitting CTRL+ALT+U and choose Install Add-On...
Find the location you saved the render_clay.py script. Select it and press Install Add-On...
Step 21:
Now go to Render category and enable Clay Render by ticking the checkbox.
Now go to Render category and enable Clay Render by ticking the checkbox.
Step 22:
This addon gives Render Panel a neat little feature, which gives all of your scene objects the same material. Tick the Clay Render checkbox and choose a color for the materials. You should definitely keep Ambient Occlusion still on.
This addon gives Render Panel a neat little feature, which gives all of your scene objects the same material. Tick the Clay Render checkbox and choose a color for the materials. You should definitely keep Ambient Occlusion still on.
Step 23:
Now your Minecraft world has been rendered in full glory of clay rendering!
Now your Minecraft world has been rendered in full glory of clay rendering!
That's it for this tutorial. I hope you got something out of it. Its a good idea to keep an eye on the future releases of mcobj, because currently it lacks some features like textures, but its definitely a worth to try.
Have a nice day!
Have a nice day!
