Minecraft creations go 3D

Geeky Gadgets reports.

Mineways takes models from Minecraft and sends them to 3D printers or 3D printing services, such as Shapeways.

According to developer Eric Haines, a large, detailed model of his Minecraft spawn area, measuring 15.0 x 3.9 x 9.8 inches, would cost $633.14 to print in colour, VentureBeat writes.

This is about the largest colour model one can create on a Zprinter 650 printer (at least in terms of base area). By contrast, a small Minecraft Eiffel Tower model, measuring 4.8 inches high, would only cost around $25 to print, in colour.

To make life easier, the Mineways program has a built-in scaling option, where users can specify a budget for their models, such as “aim for a budget of $50″.

According to Engadget, the Mineways program is based on the open source mapping tool, Minutor, and creates both a data and texture file ready to be pinged across to the Shapeways site.