- Left-click and drag - move around map.
- Right-click and drag - select or resize volume to export. Left-click and control-key also works.
- Middle-click - Change the lower height of the volume selected.
- Mouse wheel - zoom in and out.
- [ and ] moves the lower depth up/down by one level, adjusting the bottom of the model.
- E/Q and PageUp/PageDn and +/- zoom in/out one level.
- Home and End zoom all the way in and out.
Mineways Menu Items
File Menu
- Open World - select from list of worlds. The world name is shown to the left, the folder name to the right.
- Open... (Ctrl-O) - select the level.dat file of the Minecraft world to open.
- Reload World (R) - reopen loaded world. Handy for changing your Minecraft world itself and then reloading it.
- Set Terrain File (Ctrl-T) - select a Mineways terrainExt*.png file provided or one you've made with TileMaker.
- Import File (Ctrl-I) - import a previously-exported model (OBJ, WRL, STL's TXT file) to continue where you left off. Or, run a script of commands.
- Export for Rendering (Ctrl-R) - export the selected volume into a file appropriate for rendering. Tip: preview with G3D.
- Export for 3D Printing (Ctrl-P) - export for 3D printing, making solidity checks and simplications.
- Publish to Sketchfab (Ctrl-F) - put your model up for display at Sketchfab, a free service.
- Export Schematic (Ctrl-S) - export the model for use in WorldEdit or MCEdit.
- Repeat Export (Ctrl-X)- do an export again with the same export options. Handy for exporting, looking at result, and modifying volume until it's what you want.
- Close (Ctrl-Q) - exit program.
View Menu
- Jump to Spawn (F2) - view your spawn location.
- Jump to Player (F3) - view the player location.
- Jump to Model (F4) - once you've made a selection, move the map view to this location.
- View Nether (F5) - switch to the corresponding Nether level, if any.
- View The End (F6) - switch to The End level, if any.
- Show all objects (F7) - by default, small objects such as signs and ladders are not shown on the map.
- Show biomes (F8) - show the biome coloring for the world.
- Elevation shading (F) - higher elevations are brighter.
- Lighting (L) - an evening view of the world.
- Cave mode (C) - shows the presence of underground caves.
- Hide obscured (H) - mostly useful for The Nether, it shows what's under the topmost level at Max height.
Colors Menu
- Color Schemes... - defining one of these lets you change which block types are output, and what the block color is for display.
Help Menu
- About ... - shows version number.
- Give more export memory! - if you get an "out of memory" error from Mineways, try this to minimize memory use.
Mineways Export Options
You can usually ignore this scary dialog box and just click "OK" or hit the Enter key to skip it.- World coordinates selection: the lower and diagonally-opposite upper corners of the volume you're exporting.
- Create a ZIP file: this file is the one to upload to 3D print services. It's also handy for packaging up all the files produced.
- Export no materials, etc.: whether the model has a single color, solid colors on blocks, or full textured colors.
- OBJ file export options: various professional settings allowing you to make the data easier to modify.
- Make Z up: some systems use Y as up, some Z.
- Center model around the origin: if turned off, Minecraft coordinates are used instead. Useful for professionals.
- Use biome: use the biome's attributes to color the blocks. Currently uses only the single biome at the center of the export.
- Create block faces: if you don't plan on seeing the sides of your export, uncheck to make the file smaller.
- Tree leaves solid: for interactive applications such as VR, exports noticeably fewer polygons.
- Rotate model clockwise: useful mostly to pick a view for display in Shapeways' store.
- Scale options:
- Make the model 5 cm in height: set the physical height of the model.
- Minimize size based on wall thickness...: make the walls as thin as possible while still being printable.
- Make each block 2 mm: the default safe wall thickness is shown, and can be changed.
- Aim for a cost of $25.00: roughly choose the cost of the model, which will scale it in size.
- Fill air bubbles: hollow "bubbles" in the model are made solid. Usually a wise move. Can also reduce polygon count when rendering.
- Seal off entrances: use torches to seal off an entrance, so that the building interior can be filled in (and then hollowed out).
- Fill in isolated tunnels: if a tunnel pokes out the side but does not reach the surface, fill it in.
- Connect parts sharing an edge: if a part would otherwise float in space, add a block to connect it to a nearby part.
- Connect corner tips: if a floating part touches another by just the corners, add blocks to connect it.
- Weld all shared edges: for any blocks touching only at the edge, add a block. Usually overkill, but can be useful for sloped roofs.
- Hollow out bottom of model...: make Shapeways and Sculpteo models more affordable by hollowing out unseen blocks.
- Superhollow: aggressively hollow, carving away into nooks and crannies.
- Melt snow blocks: pretty obscure, meant for making "weep holes" larger after all other processing.
- Export lesser, detailed blocks: normally blocks are either printed as full blocks, or not at all. This allows many "partial" blocks to be printed.
- Fatten lesser blocks: some detailed blocks can be very thin and will not print well. This makes them thicker.
- Debug: show floating parts...: any parts that are not fully attached to the main model will be made obvious.
- Debug: show weld blocks...: any blocks added by Mineways to make the model printable are shown as lava and pink wool.
Mineways Command Line Options
mineways.exe [-w X Y] [file1.mwscript [file2.mwscript [...]]]
script file
Specify the file name and path for a script or model file to load on startup.
-w X Y
Specify the X and Y resolution in pixels of the startup window. Values must be positive integers.
Mineways Files
- Mineways.exe - the main, 64-bit executable.
- Mineways32.exe - the 32-bit version, if the 64-bit does not run on your machine.
- terrainExt.png - the default Minecraft block tiles texture read by Mineways, if present.
- terrainExt_*.png - various popular resource pack block textures.
- docs/index.html - the starting spot for documentation, same as mineways.com.
- mineways.bat - run Mineways and first apply whatever scripting commands are in scripting/startup.mwscript.
- register-Mineways-run-as-administrator.bat - run once to associate *.mwscript scripting files with Mineways.exe. More here.
- README.txt - some quick notes, mostly leading you to documentation.
- scripting/*.mwscript - script files for automatically controlling Mineways in various ways. View the script itself to see comments about what it does. More here.
- BlenderScripts/* - useful scripts for importing into Blender. More here.
- TileMaker/TileMaker.exe and TileMaker32.exe - a program to make a new terrain block texture set (terrainExt*.png) from a resource pack. More here.
- TileMaker/terrainBase.png - the basic template for textures. The same file as terrainExt.png, just to be safe.
- TileMaker/blocks - the directory where tiles (block textures) for TileMaker are put for processing. You provide the blocks you want to change.