blockmodel

A Python library that converts Minecraft models to and from various 3D formats.

blockmodel is the core model creation library used by http://printcraft.org to create models on its servers.

blockmodel supports python 2.7 and 3.6

Installation

The easiest way to use blockmodel is to install it with pip pip install blockmodel

Or you can clone this repo and run the usual python setup.py install

Usage

First create an instance of blockmodel.BlockModel with one of its classmethods

from_json
from_png
from_sparse_json
from_schematic_file

eg

BlockModel.from_json(as_json, max_size=None)

The json has to be a multi-dimensional array of blocks [x][y][z] where each block is an array of block ids and data[id, data]. For example:

[
[[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[2,0],[2,0],[2,0]]],
[[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[0,0],[56,0],[3,0]],[[2,0],[2,0],[2,0]]],
[[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[0,0],[0,0],[3,0]],[[2,0],[2,0],[2,0]]]
]

This will create a 9x9 block of dirt with grass on top and a partly exposed block of diamond ore in the middle. (Note this method takes json encoded string not a python array.)

BlockModel.from_png(as_png, max_size=None)

The png reader will create a model one block high in which the block id is taken from the red value of each pixel.

BlockModel.from_sparse_json(as_json, max_size=None)

This is an alternative way to define a block model using json. Instead of using a multi-dimensional array you use an array of individual block locations in the form [x, y, z, id, data]. For example

[[7, 4, 2, 2, 0],
[8, 4, 2, 2, 0],
[9, 4, 2, 2, 0],
[9, 4, 3, 2, 0],
[9, 4, 4, 2, 0],
[8, 4, 4, 2, 0],
[7, 4, 4, 2, 0],
[7, 4, 3, 2, 0]]

This makes a 9x9 ring of grass

BlockModel.from_schematic_file(schematic_file_path, max_size=None)

This uses Minecraft's schematic file format as produced by WorldEdit

Once you have created a model you can save it in one of five formats

• obj
• x3d
• collada
• schematic
• csv

eg

block_model = BlockModel.from_schematic_file(schematic)
obj = block_model.obj

Or you can use the helper methods to save models directly to file

• save_as_stl(file_path)
• save_as_obj(file_path)
• save_as_x3d(file_path)
• save_as_collada(file_path)
• save_as_schematic(file_path)

These functions will create obj, x3d and collada files inside a folder with the correct texture

For example:

earth_json ="""[
    [[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[2,0],[2,0],[2,0]]],
    [[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[0,0],[56,0],[3,0]],[[2,0],[2,0],[2,0]]],
    [[[3,0],[3,0],[3,0]],[[0,0],[0,0],[3,0]],[[2,0],[2,0],[2,0]]]
    ]
    """
block_model = BlockModel.from_json(earth_json)
block_model.save_as_collada(file_path)

This will save out a collada model to file from json.