(Part 3) Top products from r/Minecraft

Love Ringworlds!

If anyone hasn't read Ringworld by Larry Niven, it's an amazing novel and one of my personal favorites. Highly recommended.

Amazon link:
https://smile.amazon.com/Ringworld-Del-book-Larry-Niven/dp/0345333926/ref=tmm_mmp_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1503494558&sr=1-1

For those wondering how this was made:

1. The raw terrain is created using WorldPainter. That isn't grass; it's two shades of stained, hardened clay.
   
   
2. The large, customized trees are manually placed in using MCEdit. These trees are originally created by LetsLente and are available for download for use in your projects [here]
   (http://www.planetminecraft.com/project/native-trees-of-europe-template-repository-1779952/).
   
   
3. In ZBrush, a 3D model (the giant head) is sculpted or edited before being exported as an OBJ file.
   
   
4. That OBJ is run through Binvox to convert it to a schematic file.
   
   
5. The Schematic file is checked using ViewVox.
   
   
6. The final Schematic file is imported and posed in the WorldPainter-made World using MCEdit. It is then changed from default stone into Quartz.
   
   
7. For the first time, the world file is opened in vanilla Minecraft. Here the terrain is adjusted, with the small houses being built, the caves dug, and the waterfalls added. Smaller trees are bonemealed into existence along the ground, or hand built on the model. The model is also retrofitted to better fit it's surroundings. In my case, I needed to almost completely destroy and rebuild the nose.
   
   
8. The world is opened up using Chunky, excellent software built for rendering Minecraft worlds. The chunks that are visible from where the camera is are selected for rendering.
   
   
9. In Chunky, the render is set up. Light-colored blocks (like Quartz and Sand) have trouble rendering in Chunky under the default setup, so the sun's brightness, the photo gamma, and many other features are adjusted. The sun is also moved to where it best compliments the build. The sky is actually an image called a "Skymap" and there are many available online.
   
   
10. The scene is rendered, a process which can be very time-consuming for the computer based on the complexity of the lighting. While the scene is being rendered, it might be a good idea to leave your computer and read a book. I suggest Ready Player One by Ernest Cline or The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. ^^^DFTBA!
    
    
11. The image, now completely rendered, is imported into Photoshop. Here adjustments are made to the color of the photo. I find the David Nanchin actions to be helpful for this sort of thing, though I never run them full-strength. I also add in a water splash at the base of the water fall, and remove some pesky leaves that floated too far from their trees.
    
    
12. The final image is exported from Photoshop and is ready to be seen by the lovely people of /r/Minecraft.
    
    In Conclusion:
    
    These kinds of renders do take time. A user commented:
    
    > Pretty Certain you just imported a 3D model of a head using Binvox..
    
    And that's absolutely correct. However, that doesn't mean this kind of thing is simple to create! Certainly, this wouldn't be what it is without the help of external software- but the use of that software doesn't mean it can't be respected as a build. Don't say I just imported it-- it took a lot of work!
    
    TL;DR: I used a lotta software and it took a lotta time.

Its kind of for kids, but its still interesting, and i think it would be fun to play after reading the book!
Heres the link: https://www.amazon.com/Minecraft-Island-Official-Novel/dp/0399181776/ref=asc_df_0399181776/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312087669297&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6804308832487185334&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9052178&hvtargid=pla-380563440224&psc=1

Depression isn't always sadness though. I just don't feel like anything for an afternoon or so. Not hunger, not thirst, not any emotion whatsoever. Like when I was little I was a hyperactive kid. ALWAYS smiling and laughing and doing karate in the store and just active. The only time I was ever mopey or sad was when I was sick. Two year old me would just lay on the ground like a beat dog with a frown on my face. That's pretty much how my down days are except I'm bigger. Like I'm sick or something.

I forgot what my point was. I think I was gonna recommend a book lol


Feeling Good is a good book to check out even if you're not depressed. It helps with low self esteem and really all kinds of mood issues. It also has a pretty decent test for depression that isn't strictly about being sad. Helps me out when I'm in a jam.

Wow, that brings back some memories.

If you've never heard the dramatized BBC broadcast do yourself a favor and pick it up, dim the lights, get comfortable, and have a listen:
http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Primary-Collection/dp/0563477881/

If you really enjoy CoC, you might like the Necronomicon, which is a collection of the cthulhu mythos stories by Lovecraft. Also the name of the bible/spell book in the mythos. I found my copy in a used book store, well worth it.

edit: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0575081562/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1383257186&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

The Maze Runner. They're making a movie about it. Both book and movie are pretty dang good.

Ever read Tigana? The setting is a peninsula in the vague shape of a hand with two fingers missing. (And the local sorcerers have to remove those two fingers from one hand to fully unlock their powers.)

Well that would be the name of this book, Farlander. It contains the word Farlander.

However, when I search for "Enderman" it leads straight to Minecraft because the internet search machine has learned what Enderman means. It's a unique-ish word paying homage to Slenderman.

Do you know what homage means? It doesn't mean "ripoff" it means "respect."

I'm the kid who bought this at a middle school book fair

Have you ever read Blood Music? This picture is giving me flashback/nightmare/shivers. o.o

Also on the zon:

https://www.amazon.com/Vanilla-Underground-Minecraft-Plastic-Bottle/dp/B07XSC7CZP

Hey, I have that same textbook. Except that's not a chemistry textbook, that's from this.

PHONY, BIG FAT PHONY

Relevant

A dead body, the owl, California... I read a lot of Michael Connelly when I was in college but this is absolutely unintentional.

http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Night-Harry-Bosch-Novel/dp/0446667900

The class ended its reading with the conclusion of the British campaign; but that was the point at which all of Gaul rose up behind him... so I finished it in English. I was never good at getting the right ending of anything in Latin, and all the pronouns and tenses are entirely within the endings. Knowing the Latin roots of words, though, that stuck with me. And the slide shows our classics teacher had of ancient roman archeological sites were incredible. He visited Italy and Greece every summer, and made his own slides. The stories from antiquity he told with the slides made classical history come alive for me in a way that enriched my life.

As for books: I'd recommend reading Caesar's book. It's a cunning piece of pro-ceasar propaganda, but the military details are quite accurate, because one of the primary ways to become a Roman citizen was to serve in the army, and this portion of the citizenry was the memoir's target audience. If you're looking for a more scholarly work on the Roman Army, this is the one I read in college for a War & Ancient Society class. It has a very high level of detail, to match its very high price, but it is also quite good.

Among my favorite books are Great Lies to Tell Small Kids and 11,002 Things to be Miserable About.

It's actually more complicated than that, but he's not completely off point.

I highly recommend reading "on killing". It's a really insightful read on how our brains prevent us from killing each other, and how hard armies work to overcome it.

One of the steps, btw, is getting soldiers used to shooting at human shaped targets.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316330116/ref=redir_mdp_mobile